Coquelino Romão Ferreira is known as Coque and he has never had an easy or secure life. Since he was a child he has had a passion for the music of regional guitar players who performed at local festivals. He would always ask to play but the answer was smacks and shoves. “They laughed at me because of the defect on my hand. They would throw me on the floor, and kick my backside.”
But he got even soon enough. Coque decided he would learn how to play the guitar, and more over he would make a guitar from scratch. The only materials available were pieces of wood and buriti palm tree leaf stalks. So he started making his little guitars. “I started inventing as I went along.
The letters decorating them are initials of people’s names. I listened to the radio and learned how to play.”
Today, Coque performs at regional festivals, playing with expertise and only one hand a standard 10-string guitar he eventually was given as a gift. His life isn’t easy, but he is proud of showing how he learned to play and make the small buriti palm tree leaf stalk guitars – with which he earns some money. Nobody makes fun of him because of his disability anymore. |
