“Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela”: hope and disappointment in a song

On December 1988, Gilberto Gil ended the tour of concert Soy Loco por Ti America at Roseland, a traditional concert venue in New York. The concert promoted the same title album, another international release of the singer, issued by record label Celluloid.

There was a novelty for the fans, as the singer and songwriter would perform in the concert an unreleased song, which would turn very popular in the following year, “Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela.”

Back in Brazil, Gil had work ahead of him: the singer was about to go into the studio Nas Nuvens, in order to record the album O Eterno Deus Mu Dança and would also serve a term as councilman in Salvador.

He would take office on January 1st, 1989 and stay on duty until 1992, taking further the political project he had started while at the presidency of Gregório de Mattos Foundation, an arm of the Municipal Secretariat of Culture of the Bahia’s capital.

O Eterno Deus Mu Dança would be the album featuring the new track. “Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela” would turn into his first big hit after joining politics.

The song would be a hit on the radios and get into the opening sequence of O Salvador da Pátria soap, broadcast by Rede Globo channel in 1989, which immortalized character Sassá Mutema, portrayed by actor Lima Duarte.

“Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela” was, by the way, a picture of Brazil in 1989 – year in which Brazilians have voted for presidency for the first time in nearly three decades, two of which ran by a military dictatorial government.

The song united hope and a sort of disappointment with the real world in its verses, which proposed, at a time when Brazil had its definitive contact with redemocratization, that rural workers should focus on their dreams.

Se os frutos produzidos pela terra / If fruits produced by the soil
Ainda não são / Still ain’t
Tão doces e polpudos quanto as peras / As sweet and fleshy as the pears
Da tua ilusão / Of your illusion
Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela / Tie your plow to a star
E os tempos darão / And time will bring
Safras e safras de sonhos / Harvests and harvests of dreams
Quilos e quilos de amor / Kilos and kilos of love
Noutros planetas risonhos / In other smiling planets
Outras espécies de dor / Other species of pain

The year of 1989 was also one of a clash between rural workers and landowners. During the election, Ronaldo Caiado, president of the Democratic Union of Landowners [UDR, in the Portuguese acronym], an entity that gathers landowners, had left the chair so as to run for the Presidency of the Republic.

He lost it in the first round, arriving at tenth, and ended up supporting Fernando Collor de Mello, who won the runoff that year, after running against Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In such a year where tensions between UDR and the Landless Workers Movement [MST, in the Portuguese acronym] were daily headlining in the newspapers, the issue of “private property” would come up in every debate, which turned Gil’s song a very hot subject.

“Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela” touched, gently, on the dreams of those who produce the fruits and handle agricultural tools. Some have noticed the spiritualist side of the lyrics, which propose workers to set aside worldly things.

This quote is in the article O Mistério na Tessitura da Vida: A Espiritualidade de Gilberto Gil [The Mystery in The Weaving of Life: The Spirituality of Gilberto Gil], written by theologian Faustino Teixeira, researcher of Theology Studies of the Juiz de Fora Federal University (Minas Gerais state).

Before O Eterno Deus Mu Dança hit the stores, “Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela” was already a part of Brazilians lives. The night soap O Salvador da Pátria, broadcast by Rede Globo channel, premiered on January 9th, 1989, featuring the song as its theme.

The soap lasted until August 12th and its 186 chapters featured an opening sequence designed by Hans Donner, a well-known graphic designer, in which character Sassá Mutema—the “country’s savior”—showed up walking on the arid land of Northeast.

He would then cross beautiful fields and get to the Ministries Esplanade, in Brasília. It would end with him walking around the earth, as “citizen of the world”—until he got to the stars, just as in Gilberto Gil’s lyrics.

Se os campos cultivados neste mundo / If the cultivated fields of this world
São duros demais / Are way too hard
E os solos assolados pela guerra / And beligerated soils
Não produzem a paz / Cannot produce peace
Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela / Tie your plow to a star
E aí tu serás / And then you will be
O lavrador louco dos astros / The crazy agriculturer of the stars
O camponês solto nos céus / The crazy peasant wandering the skies
E quanto mais longe da terra / And the furthest from the Earth
Tanto mais longe de Deus / The furthest from God

Gil’s lyrics were a perfect match to the story written by Lauro César Muniz (in collaboration with Alcides Nogueira and Ana Maria Moretzsohn).

The naive and illiterate farm worker Salvador da Silva (who goes by Sassá Mutema) was picked by congressman Severo Blanco (Francisco Cuoco) to marry his mistress Marlene (Kiki Lavigne) and deviate public attention from his adultery.

The topic was approached with sensationalism by radio host Juca Pirama (Luiz Gustavo), and Juca and Marlene ended up being murdered. Sassá was then appointed as suspect and was even arrested for it, but was eventually proven innocent, with the support of the population and of teacher Clotilde (Maitê Proença).

A political climb started for Sassá, who caught the eyes of influential people. Sassá became the mayor of Tangará city, but decided to follow his path without the help of the local politicians, counting on Clotilde’s support, dreaming of the Presidency.

At the end of the soap, Sassá denied the label of “country’s savior” [the soap’s title, Salvador da Pátria, translates to country’s savior in English], and delivered a speech saying that nation “does not need saviors, a country is to be saved by its people” and led a workers march. Ultimately, the closing credits appeared backgrounded by Gil’s song.

In a video published by the website Memória Globo, collaborator Alcides Nogueira remembered it was not an easy soap, precisely because the plot came up during election year. “We had Collor on one side, Lula on the other…

“… the soap, I can vouch for that, was truly impartial, yet the audience, in a way, would connect the role of Sassá to Lula,” he said. Some would even interpret the “star” from Gil’s song as a reference to the symbol of the Workers Party.

However, at that time, Gilberto Gil was connected to the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party [PMDB, in the Portuguese acronym]. In an interview to Mauro Ferreira for O Globo newspaper, on November 5th, 1990, Gil celebrated the fact he was soon to receive the 10th Shell Brazilian Music Award for life achievement—he had a 25-year-long career then. 

Topics such as the reception of O eterno Deus Mu Dança and his time in politics would be featured in the text published in the newspaper. Gil recalled that his most recent album had been his most well-received in the United States.

About politics, even though he was still serving, he said he had had “changes in expectations.”

“I can take deceptions and surprises, yet it is natural for us have setbacks. What is unnatural is to be upset over it…

“… so I do not get upset over politics,” he said.

As for O eterno Deus Mu Dança, the album, it had followed its natural path at stores and radios, producing other hits, such as the title track and “Batuque,” a partnership with Chico Buarque.

As an artwork, it was once more a proof that Gil, as a song creator, was paying attention to his times.

In spite of its clearly political subject, “Amarra o teu arado a uma estrela” was written with far more peaceful intentions. Gil composed the song in 1988 for a contest at his sister-in-law’s high school, Fafá Giordano. She currently is executive director at Gege Produções.

“She got home one day with this subject, ‘tie your plow to a start,’ and was due a song the next day. It was midnight, I was tired after spending the day campaigning (for councilman), had had one of those busy days…

“… Nevertheless I grabbed the acoustic guitar, wrote and recorded it,” said Gil during a concert at Canecão venue, on November 27, 1988. “A few days later, I asked her: ‘Fátima, can you bring me that tape back? I was thinking there is something to it…

“… so I played it now for you to prove it: if there is something to it, there is. If there is not, there is not,” joked Gil under applause, revealing that a friend had also heard the song during the Canecão tour.