By Shirley Farmer 
Today, comedian Herman José mourned the death of singer Marco Paolo, recalling the singer's encounter at one of his performances with the character Seraphim Soudad, after overcoming “initial rejection” of the caricature.
Speaking to Lusa, he said: “Our relationship is very funny because it started with some tension: he did not think that the caricature I drew of him with the character Seraphim Soudad was funny.”
“at that time [da criação do personagem Serafim Saudade] I even told him: Don't worry, this is more Dino Mira [1940-1993]“It has nothing to do with you,” Herman José also recalls, adding that over time, Marco Paolo realized “that the character functions more as a tribute than a criticism.”
Both of them – Marco Paolo and Seraphim Soudad – will meet on stage at a show in Montemor or Novo, Alentejo: “It was a reunion,” commented Herman José, who began to maintain “very friendly relations” with the singer. “We got closer and closer, and in the final phase, I went to his show on [estação de televisão] Such and such. This unequal battle that he waged against the disease made a big impression on me,” the comedian lamented to Lusa.
Herman José noted that Marco Paulo's repertoire “is drawn from international hits, but he has always had the talent – with an unusual voice and unusual music – to create versions that always win. If we listen to the originals, they are always weaker than Marco's.” Copy Paolo,” said the 70-year-old author, actor and musician.
He gave as an example the song “Our Lady” by the Brazilian singer Roberto Carlos, which “gains in Marco Paulo a strength that the original version does not have,” or even the song “Maravilhoso Curaçao” by the Spanish artist Rafael, “which is much more fragile.” “He had an extraordinary voice, with a clear timbre that was universally rare. This voice would work in any country in the world,” Herman José said, highlighting the “natural ability to improve” the originals.
The singer, whose career has been linked for some 34 years with music producer Mario Martins, at the record label Valentim de Carvalho, has built a repertoire of mainly Portuguese-language releases, having chosen the acting model in the wake of names like Toni D. Matos (1924-1989), Rui Mascarenhas (1929-1987) and Antonio Calvario (1938).
Marco Paulo was born on January 21, 1945, in Murau, in the Évora region, and settled with his family in Alenquer, in the Lisbon region, in the late 1950s, then in Barreiro, in May 2022. The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, decorated the singer with the Infante D medal . Henrique, on his 50-year career, at a ceremony at Belém Palace in Lisbon.