Bard, Fairy and music. This is the story of a father, a mother, two daughters, a dog and even Kombi Elvira. “We left Porto Alegre for what was just a musical tour and became a nomadic life, which has already visited more than 300 Brazilian cities, with more than 1000 shows performed, on the best stage the world has to offer: the street” , Bardo told us in a chat at the beginning of 2020.
If you haven’t had the luck yet to hear our guests on the streets of your city, watch the clip below and let the music be the soundtrack, while we tell the story of the Bardo and the Fada, a family of artists that travels across Brazil playing good music out there! Want to hear more? So play on Spotify!
On their birth certificates they are Ricardo and Vanessa, but to understand who they are you need to meet the Bard and the Fairy, the parents of a super cool family who are traveling around with their two daughters, Lavínia and Mônica, and with the dog, Rock. In this family, we also cannot forget the person responsible for taking everyone to and from the Brazilian roads: Elvira, the Kombi!
They left Porto Alegre on November 16, 2016. At the time, the car was a loan, a Doblô, which had an expiration date for it to be returned – two months. This was the period in which they would need to work to be able to buy a new car.
“We did approximately 7 shows a day, under the scorching sun on the beaches of Santa Catarina. It was there that we met our partner, Elvira, a friendly Kombi who delivered pies to Balneário Camboriú. We struggled to buy it and continue our journey.”
Elvira undergoes a review every 3 months, with a list of specific care for oils, greases and rubbers, which suffer a lot of wear. “The Kombi is an infinite car, which never breaks down, if you drive it little, slowly and with the necessary maintenance. It still had problems along the way, but they were all caused by us still not knowing how to use it correctly.” Nowadays, Elvira is fully equipped and is a jack of all trades.
Like any good artist, their road has been long, tiring, but no less happy for that. For Bardo, the option of living on the road, taking culture from big cities to small towns, is what truly gives pleasure. “It could have been different, we could have accepted contracts from bars and concert halls, but the street offered us a magic that no amount of money could buy. There we find the human being in his pure essence, with his arm full of bills, his face tired from hard work, his eyes asking for faith and hope that life can be better.”
When asked how they plan the cities where they will stop or if they simply find a nice place and stay along the way, Bardo explains that they keep a record of the trip, which includes 250 cities visited, more than 1000 shows and 40,000 km driven across Brazil. in more than 1150 days of travel.
To choose the cities, they go where their hearts and Elvira tell them. “Up until this point, we have lived one day at a time. So let’s go where the opportunity offers. Our focus is people, so we make friends along the way, we come back to visit them again, we go to cities where there is a large crowd or to some countryside to rest. There were places we stayed for 40 minutes, others we stayed for almost 30 days. There really aren’t many rules for that.”
During these thousands of kilometers traveled, the many fans of this family of artists began to ask for a CD to be recorded. It was the fans’ desire to listen to them all the time, all the time, that made them save money and face the challenge – their first CD, with 20 tracks, initially had a thousand print runs.
And the proposal worked. Super right! “Today there are more than 5,000 physical CDs spread across the country, with people paying the amount they can for them, and often that amount being nothing. Our family on the road growing every day. Lots of love and music being spread through the streets and art brought daily to everyone, without distinction”, says Bardo.
Bard, Fairy and music: life on the road with two daughters
When they started the trip, Lavínia was 11 years old and Mônica, 7. Today, they are 15 and 11 years old, respectively. The girls are with them everywhere and it’s very interesting to see their growth throughout the adventure. If you want to check it out, take a look at their Instagram.
This life, of being on the road with them, was a great desire for the couple. The Fairy grew up on the road with her father and always believed that growing up seeing different cultures, being able to experience different things, seeing how people behave, how everything is different in each place they arrive, would be very enriching for her daughters’ future. .
“They are meeting people, having different perceptions. And when the time comes for them to choose something for life, it will be easier. For us, it is totally enriching and a dream to be able to take our daughters to so many places”, says Fada.
Being on the road for so long ended up keeping children away from school, but that didn’t stop them from receiving an education. For the father, “this is a very controversial issue, because Brazilian law obliges children up to the age of 14 to go to school, but does not provide the structure for this. We teach at home, with practical classes in all subjects. The focus of their education is a real understanding of the world and the development of values that make them good human beings for the world they have received.”
Did you like the story and want to know a little more about the Bard, the Fairy and their music? How about taking a look at their social media?
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