‘Kátia Flávia’: Fausto Fawcett remembers the history of the song that was born from a news story from DIA | Fun

“It was a prominent piece of news, almost half the page, about a woman, and what caught my attention was the name Kátia Flávia and the confusion she created in this nightclub. I found her an interesting character because, according to the news, she already had a he has a long record of complaints, as he took customers from others”, recalls the artist.

Composed in 1987 by Fawcett in partnership with Carlos Laufer, the song about the “provocative blonde Beelzebub” was born as a 12 to 15 minute short story, but, due to the good public reception, it became a composition lasting just over 4 minutes. , which became popular in the voice of Fernanda Abreu and took over the country’s radio stations.

“I got interested and decided to increase it. Just a call girl causing trouble wasn’t enough. Then, I remembered the story of Godiva, a queen who defied the king, asking him to lower taxes. I put it in the suburbs, being a woman of a criminal, and a third element, which was the exocet missile, famous in the Falklands War”, describes the artist, explaining that he opted for an exaggerated aesthetic when portraying the character walking naked through the streets of Irajá, at dawn, in a White horse.

“Living up to the news, she ends up being chased and escapes to Copacabana. I’ll tell you the route… She takes the 434 (bus), passes Maracanã with her silenced pistol, kills the linesman at the Fluminense game, escapes stealing a ladybird (the police Beetle), picks up the car radio and says: ‘hello police! I’m wearing an exocet, panties'”, details the composer, reciting an excerpt from the song.

First popular rap

Fausto Fawcett confesses that he was surprised by the repercussion of “Kátia Flávia”. “It’s the first popularly successful rap, spoken quickly and with a certain diction. Furthermore, it was something unexpected for everyone, this characteristic of a lyric with information that leaves people with a flea behind their ears, like exocet, godiva and the expressions in English”, he says, having even heard of fans who named their daughters after him, in reference to the song.

The musician says that the lyrics entered people’s imagination and he has fun with the popular versions. “‘Get out’ became ‘general’ and ‘exocet’, ‘I’m sexy’. People like it without understanding, and that’s really cool”, says the artist, amidst laughter.

Partnership with Fernanda Abreu

Ten years after it was written and released by the authors, “louraça satanás” was recorded by Fernanda Abreu, who became almost the owner of the hit, as Fausto Fawcett himself has said over the years.

According to the performer, the idea of ​​recording “Kátia Flávia” came from DJ Memê, who thought the song was the singer’s style. “It ended up becoming more mine than the composers’. It’s quite emblematic, as it was one of the first raps of the 1980s, when rock was predominant. It was very innovative for the time”, comments Fernanda.

The singer, who has already recorded other Fausto songs, such as “Rio 40degrees”, states that these hits are mandatory in her shows. “The public waits for me to sing, they buy tickets to listen. It still surprises me to this day, because there are young boys, 20 years old, who congratulate me. Incredible.”

Kátia Flávia in film

The phenomenon of “Godiva do Irajá” resulted in two music videos, one with Fausto Fawcett and the other with Fernanda Abreu, and almost became a film, but the idea, including actress Maitê Proença as the protagonist, did not come to fruition. However, the composer does not rule it out: “Film, comic book… They are always likely to happen. So, every now and then there is a nod to it, but, until today, it has not happened.”

For Fausto Fawcett, “Kátia Flávia” is more current than ever. “Rio was once a city with a problem within. Now, it’s the opposite: a city within a problem. In this sense, a character like this with these connections is more on the front line than ever. It has not yet appeared in popular music Brazilian woman as powerful as she is”, he concludes.