Regina Casé: “Gil, ever since he was young, has the wisdom of an elder”

I’ve always been to Bahia a lot. I stayed at Caetano Veloso’s house, but I also stayed at Gil’s house. I went to the Filhos of Gandhy with him, during Carnaval. Only men can be on the act, but I stayed next to him, on the other side of the rope. Everything was smaller in the Carnaval of Bahia.

I have somewhat fuzzy, but very beautiful memories of those times. We spent long seasons, all together. We’d go to the beach together.

Gil couldn’t accept the fact that I didn’t play anything, and he gave me a guitar as a gift. But that was already in Rio. I lived in an apartment in Botafogo. One day, I opened the door and he (Gilberto Gil) gave me the guitar.

I spent several nights at his house with Roberto Pinho and other intellectuals who talked, talked, and I was speechless, just listening, sitting on the floor. I was very young. The talk went from fasting in the Himalayas to flying saucers, passing through quantum physics and poets I didn’t know.

I have always been interested in meditation, spiritual retreats and related themes. That esoteric side only comes up with Gil. With Caetano, I think I have a more mundane relationship. Well, so, one day, Gil and I were talking about Osho and we decided to do this concert at a theater in São Paulo.

I think we had a lot of Rajneesh friends and we wanted to get them together in a different kind of concert.

Gil lived in Los Angeles for a while. Before he left, we already missed him. Then I got work he would come to Rio de Janeiro for a very short time. We tried to adjust our schedules, but I was devastated because the day he would be here, I would have to travel for work.

I was really sad. And what do you know, when I arrived at the airport, I bumped into him departing! He called me “Queen of Coincidences” for a long time.

Well, on one of those parties, an accordion player played “Esperando na janela.” The next day, everyone wanted the accordion player to play again. And the next day, too. Then I told (director) Andrucha Waddington: “This song will be an absolute hit.”

Andrucha wouldn’t listen to me, saying that the soundtrack was Gil’s and that was it. But days went by and that was turning into our music. Until it was time to record the last scene of the film.

I agreed with all the actors that we would sing the song we loved with our mouths wide open, so the director would have to use it to synchronize the audio with the image.

Stevie Wonder might be my biggest idol, in terms of international music. Gil always knew I was crazy about him. One day, a normal day, like a Tuesday or something, I was home and Gil and Flora invited me for dinner.

I was in my pajamas, I almost didn’t go. But since they were inviting me, I went. When I got there, who was with them? Stevie Wonder! You know that gift of a lifetime? I remember that night very fondly.

I think I inherited my friendship with Gil from my father (Geraldo Casé. Because my father directed Sítio do Picapau Amarelo, a Globo TV series, and Gil wrote the main opening theme.

Years later, I was going to present Esquenta, on the same network, and we needed a song. We called Arlindo Cruz and Gilberto Gil and spent a whole day at Gege Produções working on the song “Central da periferia.”

This gift became my show’s trademark, since it was about issues face by people in poor areas. I’ve always been interested in black culture. This brought me very close to Gil. Refavela was his album that I heard the most, I think it gave direction to my work.