The impact of music on people's lives | Thedy Corrêa | TexLaçador

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
In this talk, Thedy Corrêa shares touching stories which he experienced with fans of the band Nenhum de Nós, and shows us how music can positively impact the lives of several people.

I come here with a terrifying mission

which is, somehow,
to disagree with Marcelo

about our human race being
doomed to extinction.

In a few million years?

In a few billion years?

So we have time.

(Laughter)

Time for what?

So we differentiate ourselves

from the races that were
extinct more quickly.

I cling to a philosophical concept

that says that what differentiates
us from these races,

from animals, from irrational beings,

is thinking and, for many
philosophers, art.

I know that many people disagree,
but music, especially rock,

is art.

I am in a rock band,

even though I don't look
like I am, dressed like this.

I wear this, so we can make
a counterpoint to it.

I will lay out for you

the impact that I observed
doing the work that I do.

Nenhum de Nós is a band
that will be 28 years old

and its first big hit,

in the hit parades,

was a song called Camila
that talked about a hard theme:

violence against women.

That's why her "shame at the mirror,
of the marks, the insane eyes

that passed the days watching me."

No band goes into the market trying to be
successful with such a theme, do we agree?

But we dared to do it.

And this has been
our agenda through today,

reinforced by these stories
that I am about to tell you.

Because such impact,
maybe some of you will notice,

because you remember our songs
that marked some moment

and became a soundtrack, as they say,

of a special moment in your life.

However, these stories
that I will tell you went beyond.

There is a moment,
I mentioned the hit parades,

that you have to choose:

a way that takes to the hit parades,

or the other way, that takes you,
to say it simply, to be an artist,

someone who bets
on the progress of human race.

My first example
is of a 12-year-old woman.

You will say, "What do you mean,
a 12-year-old woman?"

In Caxias do Sul,

we went to give a concert,
and a 12-year-old girl

came to me with a letter,
before the concert,

handed it to me asking me
to not to read it right away.

I asked her, "Are you coming
to the concert tonight?"

She said, "I can't, I am 12.
Read it later."

We played the concert,
I noticed that she wasn't there,

I got the letter, which I brought here.

We can tell from her writing, right?

"I love Nenhum de Nós,

it was a band that,
without knowing about me,

was always next to me,
through their music, through words..."

Through words.

"through lyrics..."

Through lyrics.

"through a perfect combination of notes.

Just by enjoying listening
to your CDs several times,

without getting sick of it,
I already felt well."

I loved "without getting sick of it."

(Laughter)

"I just wanted to reveal
my feelings for you guys

and thank you for all that you did for me,

without even knowing
that you were doing good to someone."

I imagined it was going to be
one more great letter to get,

saying how nice we were,

and how the Nenhum de Nós
songs were cool

and how they enjoy it, how she, our girl,

really enjoyed Nenhum de Nós,
but the letter took a different direction.

This girl, at the age of eight,

lived with her mother and dad,
and the dad left the house.

They separated.

She had to live together with a stepfather

who started to abuse her
when she was eight.

At eight, she started to face things
that we know from stories we hear

that are very hard,
and for her it was even worse

because she was constantly
threatened, if she told anyone.

It was terrible,

because the community started to find out,

they started to isolate
the girl at school.

Then we start to see
some of the things that she says,

"I became withdrawn, wouldn't go out,

didn't have fun, wouldn't go
to my friends' houses,

didn't do anything except
listening to Nenhum de Nós."

At that moment, without knowing,

I was doing a lot for that girl.

At that moment, in my house,
playing, composing, without knowing,

I was giving support to someone
who was completely unsupported,

she couldn't even tell her mother.

At some point, her mom found out
and kicked the stepfather out,

who didn't give in,

and one day came back to take the girl.

I won't get into details,

but the story ended tragically for him.

After that, in the letter,

come some of the most shocking
statements I have read;

someone referring to their own life,

and to the relationship
she had with our music.

"In times like these,
we see our real friends,

and a few stayed by my side."

When the story came to the surface,
she was left alone.

"Today, I am 12.

I love my mom, my family, I have fun,
and I still have good grades at school."

She's still worried about having
good grades at school.

The final phrase hits me the most:

"I know all I have to do now

is to let flourish the girl
who is still asleep inside of me

and let go the woman
who was born prematurely."

Imagine reading this,
knowing that your music

was the friend that she needed.

It was the support that she needed.

There is no way to measure that.

That day, if I already thought
that I had to do something

not aiming the hit parades,

but for the improvement
of the human being,

that letter was decisive for me.

If I already thought
that I had a mission as an artist,

which was not just delivering the circus,

but helping people to make the bread,
which is not the obvious bread,

but the spiritual bread, maybe.

The cases that I will narrate here

seem so heavy, the next one
is a little heavy,

but I have a surprise at the end
which is sensational to us.

Fábio Santos is a friend,
I can already say that, from Taubaté.

I will give you his testimony

about the importance
of the music of Nenhum de Nós.

(Video) Fábio Santos: I had a brother
named Marcelo, born in 1984,

he was younger than me.

Marcelo was a kid who, since birth,

couldn't see, walk, and talk,
and had many seizures,

and each time he had a seizure
my parents took him to the hospital.

During one of his seizures, in 1989,

my parents took him to the hospital,

but he didn't survive.

It was a very hard time
for us, with a child,

and at the time I couldn't understand
all that was happening.

That same year of 1989, Nenhum de Nós
released the album Cardume

and another phrase that stood out for me

was "I want a chance to try
to live without pain."

It allowed me to see that my brother
wasn't suffering anymore.

Another moment

that stood out about Nenhum

was in 1996, when they released
the album Mundo Diablo.

The first song of this album

was called "Vou deixar que você se vá,"
that means "I will let you go."

The process of inner healing,
both for me and my family,

was through the songs of Nenhum de Nós,

especially "O astronauta de mármore"
and "Vou deixar que você se vá."

Thedy Corrêa: Can you see a little
of the connection that he made?

"I will let you go."

Something tied the family
to the memory of the brother.

His mother went through depression,

and, as he said, this song
helped them heal

and understand that it was time
for the family to let go

of such a painful memory.

Not forgetting him,
but letting go of the pain.

He talks about family healing.

Again, at home, composing,
I didn't know that this was happening.

But I need to have such a notion.

I need to grasp the idea
that what I'm doing,

if well done,

I am, in a way,

helping to build a humanity
that won't be extinct that soon.

I am in a way dreaming

that art can do a little more

than they make us believe.

When I talk about hit parades,

I don't want to deal
with it with prejudice,

but we know that, especially in Brazil,

a song that has a little more content

has lost its place in the hit parades,

and those who choose to go
the other way have a price to pay.

But it is a price worth paying.

Oh, it is worth paying!

I will show you why.

Our next case,

"Someone special", Pedro Otávio,
six years old, Brasília.

I will give you guys
a glimpse of who Pedro is.

His mom sent us a letter,
saying what was happening to Pedro.

He is in the autism spectrum.

He doesn't communicate
with his mom or with anyone else.

Autism has several characteristics,
and one of the main ones

is that people with autism
live in their own world.

His communication with his mom
was practically zero,

to the point that if she left him
sitting on a couch,

or on a park bench and left,
he would stay there.

He never cries, he is a child
who is always smiling.

His world then has a lot of happiness.

This is motivating.

At one and a half, he learned
to read by himself.

Another characteristic of the autistic.

The extraordinary ability
to do things that we,

not autistic, take a long time
and have a hard time to do.

He has speech impediments.

He can express things through speaking,

but not to communicate the way we do.

He has trouble with his treatment because,

as he has several symptoms of autism,

the doctors can't determine a diagnosis.

One beautiful day, 6am,
his mom Joana was lying down

and he knocked on her door
asking her to play a DVD.

She thought it was Galinha Pintadinha
for the millionth time.

It wasn't, he asked her
to play Nenhum de Nós.

You will see what happens to Pedro

when he plays a Nenhum de Nós DVD.

(Music) (Video)

♪ Take me away

a new life

begins today ♪

TC: Now you will see the piano,
which he is playing on the counter.

We went to Brasília and met Pedro.

It was an unbelievable experience.

He wouldn't stay still,
he lived in another world,

and when someone started singing
a Nenhum de Nós song for him

he would stop and pay attention.

His mom, watching that happen,

found a way to communicate with Pedro.

She said a brilliant phrase,
"Pedro has his own world,

and, somehow, Nenhum de Nós
went inside it."

Nenhum de Nós opened the door
for his mom to get in.

You will see what happens now,

how he communicates.

(Video) (Music)

♪ Call the family

warn the uncle and grandpa

today they will all know

that their little girl got married.

Forbidden, hidden,

too young to choose

her mom almost faints

her father says he wants to die.

I had been her boyfriend.

Flowers on the head

our bare feet

our whole life

of peace and love.

Flowers on the head,

our bare feet,

our whole life

of peace and love.

Flowers on the head,

our bare feet,

our whole life

of peace and love.

Peace and love. ♪

(Applause)

Someone could say,
"Does he understand the words?"

He does.

He started to tap on his head,
for the flowers, and on his feet.

His mom started to do the heart gesture
to communicate with him

at that moment when he knew it was time.

Now, I ask you, wrapping up,

if we can use music, rock music,

to make a human being better,
for us to reach another level

of this concept that we are all humans,

why not do it?

Why do we always have
to target the hit parades?

Why?

There are some relations,
which Sam talked about at the beginning,

invisible things, which sometimes take us,

compel us to do things
as if there was only one way.

I want to tell you that Nenhum de Nós,

living in Porto Alegre,
refuses to accept that way.

We pay the price, because it is hard.

To the rest of Brazil, we sound strange.

But after seeing things
such as these, we won't give up.

If for many, Nenhum de Nós
is an outdated band because of it,

because we talk about upsetting topics,

"I want party, I want
to repeat the tche-tcherere

and have fame doing that,"

well, we are not doing that.

If we have a mission here,

for 28 years together as a band,

it is to try to make the human race
not to extinct itself so quickly

and if we can help with our music,

we will be much happier than if we were
on top of the hit parades.

(Applause)