My first memory is dressing up in my costumes of Madonna and Michael Jackson, it was my first contact with the artistic world.
From my mother I’ve inherited my fearlessness; I'm not afraid of people, my mother would always go and see people, ask questions, she had a natural curiosity for travel and new discoveries. From my father: Say thank you all the time! my father is a man who is very grateful to be alive and for all that he has succeeded in his life he taught me the importance of what we have now
The most useful advice I’ve been given is ‘Come to Europe!’ My cousin who lived in Europe, believed in me before I believed in myself. After the leap, I did a lot on my own too, and I usually give more advice than I take!
The hardest thing I’ve had to overcome was the death of my parents. Losing a parent, even if it's the natural order of things, is devastating.I have seen friends age physically at the loss of their parents and in my case it was quite complicated too, I was young when my mother left and I did not understand much, it remains an absence irreplaceable
The most beautiful thing someone has done for me was to give me food when I was hungry. My mother and I went though some difficult times in Brazil when I was a child and that marked me for life.
The music that most marked my upbringing was Reggae music; Peter Tosh, Bob Marley, Toots and of course all the traditional Brazilian music, the forro, the samba, the xote, the urban sounds of Rio de Janeiro, Baile Funk, hip hop. I grew up in the middle of everything without thinking of becoming a musician
What is the most important issue for me right now is the rise of the extreme right and populism, I never thought that we were going to arrive there, it is a very sudden backward step, I do not understand for whom of countries with philosophical vision so much developer have this need falling back on patriarchal ideas like that retrograde limits…
The living person I most admire is my father, a very brave man who has accumulated two jobs all his life to meet the needs of the family, the one who also encouraged me a lot to continue to sing whatever happens and to go to Europe
Two things I’ve discovered the importance of later in life are forgiveness and patience, learning to do both is a remedy for the mind and really helps to get rid of things that pull us down
I’d like to say thank you to my mother because she left very young and I was a child, the more time passes the more I see and value what she taught me
My favourite word is motivation
I believe in infinite love, to forgiveness
Falvia will be playing at The Jazz Café tonight Thusrday 20th Feb. Buy tickets here
