-Buy the album

(Brazil) Chico César is one of Brasil's foremost songwriters, and he is also an outspoken champion of the poor, both urban and rural. He was raised as he says "on a little plot of land beside a dirt road four kilometers away from the town Catolé de la Rocha in Paraiba state." He became a journalist upon moving to the city, and although his music has brought him fame, he has never forgotten the social inequities he grew up with and has observed as an adult. "Desejo y Necessidade" is about migrants who have to leave their homelands in search of work for a better life. "Desejo" or "desire" is the wish to stay with family and loved ones, while "necessidade" is the reality of having to go where the work is. César sings the song with a soulful, yet stoic ache, and even throws in some rootsy footwork. The string ensemble Quintento da Paraíba accompanies him in this performance videotaped in Sao Paulo, in 2006.

-Buy the album

(Brazil) Chico César is one of Brasil's foremost songwriters, and he is also an outspoken champion of the poor, both urban and rural. He was raised as he says "on a little plot of land beside a dirt road four kilometers away from the town Catolé de la Rocha in Paraiba state." He became a journalist upon moving to the city, and although his music has brought him fame, he has never forgotten the social inequities he grew up with and has observed as an adult. "Desejo y Necessidade" is about migrants who have to leave their homelands in search of work for a better life. "Desejo" or "desire" is the wish to stay with family and loved ones, while "necessidade" is the reality of having to go where the work is. César sings the song with a soulful, yet stoic ache, and even throws in some rootsy footwork. The string ensemble Quintento da Paraíba accompanies him in this performance videotaped in Sao Paulo, in 2006.