Fernanda Takai talks about her passion for dogs

On the recent solo CD Na Medida do Impossível, the singer from Minas Gerais Fernanda Takai43 years old, sings You and Me and the Bright Blue Sky, which describes, from a dog’s point of view, friendship for its owner. The song is the theme of a clip recorded in the desert of Salta, Argentina, and accessed on YouTube. If, as the singer says, the new album deeply represents her tastes and inspirations, this song highlights one of her great passions even more. “The music was written by Charles ‘Cholli’ di Pinto, an American who has lived in Brazil for a long time”, says Fernanda about the clip, in which actress Andrea Lombardi, 29, acts with her dog Goro, 3.

In the “plot”, the dog – who curiously is not a “hired actor”, the production found him sitting by the side of the road waiting for his owner – “interprets” the affection of a mongrel for his owner. “Everything is important when they are together and any moment apart is worse. He thinks he won’t see her anymore, but she always comes back”, describes Fernanda. A kind of feeling that her dogs – Branquinha, 8, Tatá, 5, and the Dalmatian Plug, 2 – must experience, since the singer has traveled a lot, fulfilling a series of presentations with Pato Fu, the band of which she is lead singer, and the Na Medida do Impossível tour.

The Pampulha neighborhood, in Belo Horizonte, where she lives with her husband, John Ulhoa, 44, Pato Fu musician and producer, with whom she has been married for 19 years, and their daughter, Nina, 11, is the point of reunion with the dogs who, according to her, “smile just by looking at her” when they see her again. The large backyard of the house is free territory for the animals. “They live in the garden, they have plenty of space to run around, bugs to chase. At the same time, they are very obedient, they do everything to please us.”

The perception of dogs is something that always impresses the singer when she returns from exhausting trips and hours spent in airports and hotels. “I think they try to get closer when they realize our energy reservoir is low. Kind of say, ‘Hey, I’m here. I do everything for you to be well! Want to scratch my belly? Can I sit on your lap?’” she jokes. “As a child, I always had pets. I remember that it was a daily exercise in love and humor. How many times did I not feel better for being important in the life of a pet?”, he asks himself.

healthy balance

It was such memories that, as soon as Nina grew up, Fernanda wanted to give her daughter. “Taking care of another being makes us better, even if it is a small plant”, she comments when explaining that having a dog as a child gave her important notions of communication, affection and even responsibility. “I hope Nina is a happy girl and makes her choices genuinely, from her heart. My parents taught me to be good company, be polite, know how to listen, speak clearly. I am a mother who values ​​discipline and limits, but I also belong to the time when a child had to be a child, with time to play, to make mistakes, to learn. Today they are overcharged,” she says.

Despite living with the travel routine for a long time, Fernanda says that she tries to maintain a healthy balance between home and the road. “When I’m in BH, the mornings are dedicated to Nina, who studies in the afternoon, and managing the house, supervising schoolwork, having lunch, tidying up. I leave the afternoon to take care of interviews, meetings, recordings, consultations, shopping, supermarket. When I’m on tour, I’m on call 24 hours a day: airport, hotel, interviews, soundcheck, meeting with fans. Everything was very rushed.”

Because of the rush, a family leisure day is always very well spent. “It has to have some special gastronomic moment, a movie or a beautiful view and a lot of comfort”, he says, laughing. But Fernanda also takes the time to be quiet in her corner. When she needs to develop a musical idea, silence is her best companion. “I like to compose at home, with my childhood guitar, paper and pen. It’s funny that I had a column in two newspapers for six years and I wrote in the airport, taxi, hotel… But music I prefer to do in my little corner. Looking at everyday life with less haste inspires me. It makes me feel happy for nothing because of a landscape or a hug from my daughter.”

special audience

It was in this intimate atmosphere that the CD To the extent of the impossiblein which Fernanda sings her own songs and re-records hits like The poor, by Renato Barros, 71. “I like to mix worlds, but always in a delicate way. Having more of my songs requires putting a quality filter on par with other songs that are already proven to be good and consecrated. I tried to do that”, says the singer, who had her husband as a producer. “John knows me very well and is extremely versatile. He knows how to create the ideal atmosphere for each song, listening to my thoughts. We have more similarities than differences in life, which is why our marriage works out so well”, he talks about the partner he met at a musical accessories store he owned in the early 1990s. participate in Pato Fu.

Determined to stay closer to Nina and make the most of family time, Fernanda and Ulhoa set up a studio at home. She says that when she’s shooting away, it’s very easy to lose track of time. Working in the next room helps you manage time and stay focused. Best for Nina, who can enjoy her parents’ company. And, to boot, for Branquinha, Tatá and Plug.

The trio gained a privilege that is the envy of many of the singer’s fans: they are entitled to first-hand audiences and don’t even need VIP wristbands. Fernanda Takai delivers: “They like to stay at the studio door listening to me sing during recordings and rehearsals. I think it’s cute.”