Tiririca

Francisco Everardo Oliveira Silva (born May 1, 1965, in Itapipoca, Ceará), best known by the stage name "Tiririca", is a Brazilian singer, composer, actor, clown, comedian, humorist and politician. He currently represents the state of São Paulo in the National Congress of Brazil.

Silva went on a meteoric national success in 1997 when his first album Florentina went to top charts, breaking sales records. Being a one-hit wonder, Tiririca went to work on the television in humor programs and returned to the Brazilian headlines in 2010, when he became the second most voted congressman in the history of Brazil.[1]

Contents

Early life and career

Born in Itapipoca, in the Brazilian state of Ceará from a extremely poor family, Tiririca began working at the age of six. When he was eight years old, after seeing a circus performing in his home town, Tiririca joined then and started working as a clown. His stage name "Tiririca" ("Coco-grass") dates from this period; he got it from his mother because of his very strong, bitter ill-tempered personality as a child.

His humorous singing performances in small local circuses were met with great success, so the circus owner he worked for together with some local businessman sponsored the launch of the first 1,000 copies of his first album. Soon his album became a great success in the Northeast Region of Brazil selling about 1.5 million copies; grabbing the attention of big record companies such as Sony Music who bought the record and launched it nationally in 1997. Florentina soon became a meteoric success breaking charts sales records previous established by Mamonas Assassinas in just a few weeks. Tiririca also broke TV audience records whenever he appeared.

His first CD also gave rise to much controversy; it contained the song Veja os cabelos dela ("Look At Her Hair"), which many branded as racist. The album's copies were seized from stores, this song banned from radio stations, and Franciso was tried for racism. In the end, he was acquitted and a second version of the album without that song was released.

Tiririca also went on to record two more albums, trying to profit from Florentina success: Tiririca (1997) and Dança da Rapadura (1999). Both of then failed to get anywhere close to Florentina sales level. From 1999 onwards, Tiririca focused on his actor and humorist career.

On TV

As his musical career was on decline, Tiririca went on a stint in a show for children on the now defunct Rede Manchete. Soon after, he joined the Rede Record network in 1999 becoming a cast member of the comedy show "Escolinha do barulho" . After the cancellation of "Escolinha do Barulho" in 2002 he transferred to SBT, where he held a segment in the show "A Praça é Nossa".

After leaving SBT in 2004, Tiririca recorded a new album called "Alegria do Forró" which was a commercial failure.

After a hiatus, he returned to Rede Record in 2006 after being invited by his fellow comedian and personal friend Tom Cavalcante to take part in his "Show do Tom" comedy show. Tiririca again met national success with his character 008 of the Bofe de Elite (meaning "Elite Fag", a parody of The Elite Squad movies) segment of "Show do Tom".

2010 elections

In 2010, Tiririca hit the headlines again when he announced he would run for congress after being invited by the Partido da República. He appeared on TV ads in his "Tiririca" persona and used slogans like "O que é que faz um deputado federal? Na realidade, eu não sei. Mas vote em mim que eu te conto" ("What does a federal congressman do? I really don't know - but if you vote for me, I'll tell ya") or "It can't get any worse, vote Tiririca" ("Pior que está não fica, Vote Tiririca" and even "Se eleito prometo ajudar todas as famílias brasileiras...especialmente a minha" ("If elected I promise I will help all Brazilian families... especially mine").

Such slogans moved a group of state congressional candidates to complain with the electoral attorney's office that Tiririca was insulting the National Congress and all public offices because of his lack of political projects and also his satirical approach to the traditionally corrupt Brazilian political system. The complaint, however, was filed away. [2]

Tiririca was denounced as illiterate by Época magazine in its September 24, 2010 edition. This statement, if true, would invalidate his candidacy. [3] Soon after the Época edition that claimed about Tiririca illiteracy was released, prosecutor Maurício Lopes sued Tiririca for forging his signature in his candidacy forms. Despite the trial having not yet taken place and all the negative propaganda about his alleged illiteracy, on October 3, 2010, Tiririca became the most voted-for Congressman in the 2010 Brazilian general elections (and the second most voted-for in Brazilian history, after Enéas Carneiro), winning his seat for São Paulo state with 1,348,295 votes (6,35%). [4]

On October 30, 2010, Tiririca's defense team alleged that he suffered from dysgraphia, which prevented him from holding a pen firmly. They further alleged that Tiririca's wife helped him write the literacy statement in his own hand, as demanded by Brazilian electoral law. She is said to have placed her hand over his to help him hold the pen firmly as he was writing. Also because of this condition, the defense said, Silva could not take any writing tests.

The explanation, however, runs counter to a video recorded by Época in September that gave rise to the suspicions of illiteracy. The pictures show Tiririca giving his autograph to a fan. On foot, suddenly, Tiririca secures a notebook with his left hand and scribbles a circular signature with his right hand. He further writes the letters for his name. He shows no trouble whatsoever holding the pen. [5]

After many discussions and judicial tribulations, Tiririca underwent a simple reading and writing test and on November 11, 2010 he finally proved that he was indeed literate. Although the prosecutor appealed against this decision, claiming that his 30% score in the test was too low to prove anything, the federal judge Walter de Almeida Guilherme rejected the appeal.

Thus, Tiririca received his federal congressman certificate under heavy applause by the people present in the ceremony on December 17, 2010. That same day Tiririca revealed his political project, focused primarily in helping circus artists, financing cultural projects, helping fight the prejudice against Northeastern people that is present in the southern regions of Brazil and increasing funds to primary education. [6]

A curious fact is that two days before he received his certificate (December 15, 2010), during his first visit to the Brazilian Congress building, the Brazilian congressesmen had approved a salary raise of 60% for themselves. When asked about the fact by a news reporter, Tiririca said "Dei sorte...no meu primeiro dia ganhei um aumento!!" ("I guess I'm lucky... on my first day I got a raise!!")

References

External links