She wants peace, and desires a land where life is beautiful. She also sees God as a poet. The cross, central to salvation, though vulgar and ugly, Regina Mota says, can be viewed as God's poetic expression. She sings about these things in her Christian mu
She wants peace, and desires a land where life is beautiful. She also sees God as a poet. The cross, central to salvation, though vulgar and ugly, Regina Mota says, can be viewed as God’s poetic expression. She sings about these things in her Christian music in Brazil, a land she talks about in her songs.
On her way back to Brazil after appearing at the Seventh-day Adventist world church Session in St. Louis, Missouri, Mota visited the world church headquarters, and was interviewed by Adventist News Network.
As a member of the Adventist Church and an artist, Mota says she has a responsibility to talk about the social injustice she sees in her country, from a Christian perspective.
“We have to be responsible, yes. There are people who are living in ridiculous conditions. Nobody should be living that way. But the solution is not a political one. The solution is not this political party or that political party,” she says. “Whatever human beings can plan is not going to solve the problem.”
Atheism is “where artists meet in Brazil,” Mota says. This is one of her challenges—to present a Christian message through the arts. Her music, which she describes as “very Brazilian,” is not what typically plays on Christian radio. “That has been a very positive aspect of my work in terms of reaching these people.”
She adds, “This has been our challenge—to go to these people who would never listen to Christian music and say, ‘Hey, Christian music can sound like this too.’”
One thing that everyone has in common is the desire for peace, she says, but the problem is that “People just have no idea where they can find peace. And who doesn’t want peace? We want peace. We don’t want violence. We don’t want wars. ... It struck me how people just talk about it but never knew where to get [peace].”
In one of her songs, she offers a suggestion on where to find peace. “What will be the future of our country?” she asks in Pra Cima Brasil. “This question is in the eyes and the souls of our people. Each day there is more hunger in the streets, in the hills. Each day there is less money to survive. Where is the justice we once had?”
The song continues: “Brazil, look toward the sky, look up. There is a chance of being happy again. Brazil, there is hope. Turn your eyes to God, the just judge.”
Mota produced a CD in response to September 11, 2001 called “Where is Peace.” She was to fly to the United States on that day to do a music tour of Portuguese-speaking communities, but, of course, was not able to. However, she and her husband came three days later, on Sept. 14, and her experiences influenced the new project, which includes songs that have already been recorded in Brazil, but reflect on a world in need of peace. Mota, a music teacher at the University of Sao Paulo, takes her music around the world, spreading out to cultures who would respond to the message she speaks of. “It’s such a great way of preaching the gospel because you’re talking about music. You’re not talking about going to church or a sermon. You’re saying ‘This is music.’ It’s a universal language.”
She didn’t always want to be in music ministry. With a father who was a singer, and a mother who is a music teacher, “music was in my blood,” she says. “I just didn’t want to work with it. Even though I was born an Adventist, my conversion was when I turned 27. I sang in groups, choirs, and did solos. But I didn’t have this ministry mindset. Music was just music. After my conversion, I finally began searching for whatever God wanted me to be doing and then that’s when I found out ... actually, He wants [me] to sing.”
One of Mota’s goals is to help other Christians see Adventists in a different light than they currently do in Brazil. “Seventh-day Adventists are viewed by the other Christians [in Brazil] as very legalistic people,” she says, explaining that, although Adventists are loving people who have a great message to share, it sometimes doesn’t come across that way.
But, she adds, Adventists in there are also known for their good music. “All these churches in Brazil, they respect our music. In Brazil the [Seventh-day Adventists] are doing the best music in terms of quality and production.”
She calls God an artist in another of her songs. “One thing that humbles me is to think that this God who is the master of the universe is willing to use human beings as instruments to talk to other human beings,” she explains. “This to me, it amazes me to the point [that] ... I have no words to talk about it.” It’s different to have a perfect God talking to you and to have a human being who maybe has had problems similar to yours talk to you about this God. I see [us] as these works of art still being made.”
Making music is a matter of prayer for Mota. “Every time I record a new CD, it’s a time of prayer and looking for God’s idea of what I should be doing. ... I know God is directing this work and taking me to all the places He has taken me. ... I’m confident that what I’m doing is according to what God wants me to be doing right now,” she says.
Mota sings to everyone, rich and poor, in Sao Paulo, in the Amazon. “This is God’s work,” she says.
