Jorge Palma “had genius energy,” says Palma’s Gang member

O musician and producer Flak, who joined the Palma’s Gang, recalled Jorge Palma, who died on Monday at 76 years old and with whom he learned so much, as a “genius person”, which was made of “a powder of the very special stars”.

For Flak, Jorge Palma “had that energy of the genius people”.

“ When he wrote, when we were in the studio, he did the most amazing things. I didn't believe it very often... For example, after one night of the glass studio, when everyone had drunk so much, I said ‘Jorge, go to rest’, he would go out and, in direct, write, for example, a string quartet and come back the next day. And I said, ‘This man, this guy, is not human’. He did unbelievable things”, Flak, one of the founders of Radio Macau, shared in statements to Lusa.

Flak and Jorge Palma had already crossed paths many times on the road, but it was from the recording of the Palma’s Gang album, live at Johnny Guitar, from 1993, who came to know better the author of songs such as “Bairro do Amor”, “Fragil” or “We will continue”.

“At the time it was impossible to have the band all available. He was doing solo concerts and invited me to play with him in a duo. I spent almost ten years traveling with him, both alone. We ran the whole country, it was a unique experience, where I learned a lot, both on a personal and a musician level”, he recalled.

Flak, who produced three solo albums from Jorge Palma, in addition to Palma’s Gang’s album, was always impressed when the musician arrived with a new song.

“ I thought ‘how does this guy do these great things?’. Working with such a person is a pleasure, one is always learning new things, and always being confronted with things that we are not expecting and that the common mortals would not have the ability to do,” he said.

Flak reinforces that Jorge Palma was “a genius person”: “There was an energy that was not common, I used to say that it was made of a very special star dust, because it had a capacity for recovery, an energy, when it composed, when it came on stage. It was a hurricane, a very special and generous person. We were always good with him. Everyone felt good about Jorge”.

Still processing the news of death, Flak confided that he thought Jorge Palma “was immortal”, taking into account “his capacity for recovery”.

“ Many times we were recording records and he was in those periods where he drank more and I said ‘Jorge, you can’t drink because you have to record voices’, and suddenly he stopped drinking and when he appeared, he looked like someone else, from one day to the next he seemed to be reborn. It was impressive,” she shared.

After death “it becomes a completely genius work”.

“ He was a true genius and many of those geniuses we admired today, Beethoven, Mozart, Picasso, Stravinsky, were people who had the energy, perhaps, that Jorge had,” he said.

The difference lies in the fact that Jorge Palma is “much more chaotic, much more disorganized” and has had a life “in which he took advantage of all this energy and this unusual capacity also to live”.

“ It was not that person who was always devoted in a methodical way to his work, because otherwise, perhaps, he had been even more genius than he was”, he said.

In addition to “out of the ordinary” creativity, Jorge Palma was also, personally, “a very generous type”, with whom he was always well.

“ The concert went well or badly, when we went out we were always laughing, never talking about it, life was always forward, it was a super positive kind. He also had a great ego that helped him, he knew he was a talented person and a person with these qualities, which helped him a lot to overcome those bad moments and those bad concerts many times he gave”, he recalled.

Jorge Palma, one of the most striking singers and composers of contemporary Portuguese music, died on Monday night, at the age of 76, announced the family on social networks, asking the author to be remembered “for his songs and words”, thanking “every friendship demonstrated over the years”.

Information on funeral ceremonies will be released later.