Post 17
With my dad watching Brazil play @ Fulham, 2011
My dad watching Brazil play @ Fulham stadium, 2011
With my cousin Jafro in 2010, the first time we played football together in the UK. Jafro is also a big music act @officialjafro on instagram
When my Papa took me to my first Brazil game, I couldn’t believe it, I couldn’t sleep, it was like Christmas when I woke up because I was about to see my heroes.…..
I never grew up with a TV but sports was something my Dad would take me out to watch. I never thought anything could match it but this time was even better. I had finally saved up enough money to take my Papa to a game, I'd been saving for weeks, only my Mama knew, but as I got older, I realised that he must have known (but let me hold onto my childhood naivety)…
As I got older I also realised how much my family had hidden from me, how hard my parents had fought to make me strong and proud of who I was and where I came from. The earliest example I can remember is Pepperpot, roti and XimXim on the table, Sergio Mendes album blasting on my Papas record player and I as I was signing up for my first bank, (does anyone remember the Halifax Children banks?) it asked me where I was from. I must have looked at the page for ages until I asked my parents why there was no box for South America or at least Latino. With a smile on his face, my Papa told me: “be proud of who you are, they call us other, but what you are is special”.
Pride is what my Papa gave me, and I remember as we prepared to be let into the football stadium (it was Fulham) I was so excited to give him the Brazilian top I had got him with his favourite player Jairzinho (i mention this on my song with Jafro and Guala Joga Bonito). The drums, the dancing, it was like being at a carnival and for once in the UK, I didn’t feel alone.
Growing up in the UK when you’re Afro Latino, can feel quite lonely. Not only are you a minority (black and South American), but you’re also a minority within the minority, because you’re not part of the Caribbean or Africa like the majority of black people in the UK, and you aren’t Spanish speaking like the majority of South Americans, leaving you in a little grey area, which not many people really understand. You tell them you are from Brazil, they expect you to play football and be some sort of flamboyant Casanova. You tell them you are from Guyana they say Ghana? As if you got the country of your heritage wrong. You tell them Suriname and they just look back at you confused!
But here, at this football match, I felt like I belonged. It was such a special moment, I remember the Brazilian fans began to sing
Oaria raio
Obá, obá, obá
Oaria raio
Obá, obá, obá
Tamo Junto - I can’t exactly explain what this means because the direct translation doesn’t make much sense, but it’s something like when the 3 musketeers say “All for one and one for all”. In Guyana there is a similar motto which goes “One People, One Heart, One Mind, togetherness is what I crave”. I have always asked my Papa why South America is the only continent in the world where people don’t call themselves by their continent name, why don’t we unite together regardless of language differences, or country lines? You have to remember that going from Guyana to Brazil is as easy as going from the UK to Wales. He explained to me that South America was El dorado and they needed us divided, they needed us distracted, because when we work it out and come together no one can stop us. As we watched the match, he showed me the team we had. We had some amazing players, Neymar, Ronaldinho and more, but it was Leandro Damaio who scored, it wasn’t about stars when we played, of course we had stars but it was about working together to create free flowing football as if each player were the limbs of the same body, in a fierce dance of Samba!
Half time came and the dancing began, I have no idea how they managed to get food in but there was a lot of Brazilian food being shared around, I particularly saw the smiles and wide eyes of the young children and decided in that moment I would give them what I never had, I would give them something in Europe to be proud of while they were here, I knew i was going to be an artist.
Then at half time the Sergio Mendes album Timeless came on; he beautifully blends the brazilian sounds and culture with the western world, with reggae, dancehall, rnb, hip hop and more, I couldn't believe what I was hearing! As I watched that game cheering and shouting, dancing and chanting I felt like I was being charged up by my ancestors, I had a mission and as I write this years later, I really hope I have made them proud if not, that’s ok because Anansi is just getting started!
Anansi (@officialanansi)
