Pedro Bial remembers worst interview and how he is redeeming himself: "Traumatic"

Presenter Pedro Bial, 68, spoke for the first time about what would be his worst interview throughout his 40-year career. The experience, which he considers traumatic, happened in 1985, when interviewing Tom Jobim for Globo Repórter.

During his participation in the Mesa da Rita videocast, the journalist opened up about an interviewee who gave him butterflies: "Tom Jobim, I was nervous, I was embarrassed, it was a disaster. I even beat myself up, you know when you have a traumatic memory that, every time it comes up, you feel the same shame you felt at that moment? To this day, when I remember the mistakes I made with Tom."

Bial recalls that, in 1985, Tom Jobim visited Catetinho to stage the "Sinfonia da Alvorada", when he sang "Água de Beber", a bossa nova classic. Upon the composer's arrival, the press immediately surrounded him, repeating almost always the same questions. "It's a lack of imagination... I was stupid, I didn't see that everyone had the same question."

After all the press spoke to Jobim, Bial was finally able to do his interview for the program. "'What's up, Tom? Was it drinking water?'", he remembers asking and acts out the musician's reaction, worn out from talking about the song: "'I can't talk about drinking water anymore. I'm fed up.' He was absolutely right; I was careless, inattentive, I was stupid. That's it. I've never told this story, I'm so embarrassed."

Despite carrying the shame for 40 years, Bial says he found a way to redeem himself from the interview by being the director of a documentary series that celebrates Tom Jobim's centenary, which will be completed in 2027. "I'm having the joy of sleeping, waking up, eating, drinking... I spend days and nights just with Tom Jobim. Life, work, music. I'm absolutely in love."

Remember hits by Tom Jobim, bossa nova icon

Source: CNN