Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 28 January 2020
'Magic' gloves let acclaimed Brazilian pianist play again

By MAURICIO SAVARESE tins never takes off his new
Associated Press gloves, even when going
SAO PAULO (AP) — A few to bed.
days before Christmas, re- "I might not recover the
nowned pianist João Car- speed of the past. I don't
los Martins summoned his know what result I will get.
friends to a Sao Paulo bar I'm starting over as though
so he could show off the I were an 8-year-old learn-
best gift he'd received in ing," he said, joined by his
years: a new pair of bionic poodle Sebastian. His dog's
gloves that are letting the name, of course, is a tribute
79-year-old play with both to Bach.
hands for the first time in The pianist's return was
more than two decades. first reported by the Brazil-
Considered one of the ian newspaper Folha de
great interpreters of Jo- S.Paulo. Reporter Ricardo
hann Sebastian Bach's Kotscho said Martins hur-
music, the Brazilian classi- ried to the bar near his
cal pianist and conductor home before Christmas
had retired last March after "like a boy who got a new
24 surgeries trying to stop toy."
pains from a degenerative Martins said he has re-
disease and a series of ac- ceived more than 100
cidents. His limitations had Brazilian pianist Joao Car- gadgets in the last 50
forced him to work mostly los Martins poses for pictures years as miraculous solu-
as a conductor since the wearing bionic gloves, at his tions to his hand problems.
home in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
early 2000s. Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020. None worked well or long
But since the closing days Associated Press enough.
of 2019, friends have been "But these gloves do. I can
returning to Martins' down- Costa said. "I approached even tune them accord-
town penthouse to hear the maestro at the end ingly," he said, showing
him bring Frédéric Chopin, of a concert in my city of how he can rearrange the
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Sumaré, in the Sao Paulo glove's internal pads to play
and his favorite Bach back countryside. He quickly no- at a faster or slower tempo.
to life at his Petrof piano. ticed they wouldn't work, "That doesn't mean it's all
Before the gloves, which but then he invited me to sorted. The muscle atrophy
were especially developed his house to develop the plays a role. Sometimes I try
for him, the pianist could project." to play a speedy one and
only play songs slowly with Brazilian pianist Joao Carlos Martins poses for pictures wearing Costa and Martins spent get depressed because it
his thumbs and, sometimes, bionic gloves, at his home in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. the subsequent months just doesn't happen yet."
his index fingers. 22, 2020. testing several prototypes. The "extender gloves," as
"After I lost my tools, my Associated Press The perfect match came in their inventor calls them,
hands, and couldn't play December, and cost only gave Martins a goal: Play
the piano, it was if there board. on images of his hands, but about 500 Brazilians reals the piano again at New
was a corpse inside my "I did the first models based those were far from ideal," ($125) to build. Now Mar- York's Carnegie Hall in Oc-
chest," Martins told The As- tober, when he is sched-
sociated Press. uled to conduct a concert
Martins' health problems celebrating the 60th anni-
date back to 1965. He fa- versary of his first appear-
mously rebounded after ance there.
every setback — nerve Martins, meantime, is prac-
damage in his arm inflicted ticing early in the morning
during a soccer match in and late at night, to the
New York, a mugger hitting delight of his neighbors, un-
him over the head with a til he can interpret an entire
metal pipe while he toured Bach concert perfectly.
in Bulgaria, and more. But "It could take one, two
even friends expected the years. I will keep pushing
latest surgery, on his left until that happens," he said.
hand, to mark the end of his "I won't give up."q
days on the piano bench.
That might have been his
fate, were it not for a de-
signer who believed the pi-
anist's retirement had come
too early. Ubiratã Bizarro
Costa created neoprene-
covered bionic gloves that
bump Martins' fingers up-
ward after they depress the Brazilian pianist Joao Carlos Martins plays the piano wearing bionic gloves at his home in Sao
keys, and which are held Paulo, Brazil, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020.
together by a carbon fiber Associated Press