I am not going to sit here and write a bunch of lies down on this piece of paper about how I've always been a fan and how I loved the performance or even how I understood everything that happened at Nilton Cesar's Bermuda Festival performance on Saturday night at the City Hall theatre.

The truth is, I understood very little that went on on Saturday evening, for one simple reason ... I don't speak Portuguese! Yes, I confess ... I don't speak any other language than English (and they say I don't even speak that well! Oh woe is me).

So why did I agree to go and review the world renowned Brazilian balladeer Nilton Cesar's performance? Well, because I didn't know he did not speak English (and no one bothered to tell me either). So while I'm sitting up at City Hall feeling like a mono-linguistic relic, a room full of Portuguese-Bermudians were enjoying a show that was fantastic in any language really -- I just wish I had caught the apparently very funny jokes he dropped between his outstanding songs.

I arrived late (I know, I know), which means that I missed the performance by the Portuguese Cultural Association Dancers and the Sweet Girls, but the latter group came back on later, so I got to see Carlos Brum's delightful choreography after all (and I saw you too Sarah -- you go girl!). But when I did arrive, there was this group of youngsters putting on a show that was as hot as their name suggests; they were, of course, the Hot Dancers, and their performance was very much appreciated by the near-capacity crowd.

The Hot Dancers consists of three young ladies and three young men who put together somewhat of a Latin flavoured Swing Dance thang. All the choreography was done by the very talented Bruno Ferreira (who hasn't quite finished high school yet -- watch for this kid people, he's going places!), and this group was easily the pick of the local segment of the show; the applause were emphatic! But wait! I haven't mentioned the stage decorations ... the City Hall stage was quite lavishly set on this night, with potted plants giving it the feel of the rainforest, and the Brazilian, Bermudian and Portuguese national flags lending a distinct Latin feel to the proceedings.

Eddie DeMello really put together an impressive ensemble, from set to cast, this was a show designed to entertain and instil pride.

It seemed that a very large chunk of our local Portuguese community was out that night, and believe you me, they were expressing quite a bit of pride in their very rich cultural heritage.

Even I wished I could understand what Mr. DeMello was saying when he switched over to Portuguese to address the audience just before the intermission; in fact, I was vexed that I couldn't! I sat there thinking back to high school and wondering why the only language options available to me were Spanish and French, when such a large and culturally rich community of Portuguese residents was present right here in Bermuda.

OK, maybe Spanish is the second largest language in the Western Hemisphere (colonialism was indeed a success on all fronts people), but we have people here that we can't even understand.

And besides, if we studied Portuguese, then wouldn't more Bermudians be inclined to visit Portugal? And isn't Portugal right next to Spain? The transition isn't very difficult, and then we'll be a nation of tri-lingual peoples (wouldn't that be something); and then I'd have been able to enjoy Mr.

Nilton Cesar's wonderful performance last Saturday night! Notice the reckless mixing of tenses in the last sentence ...that's why they say I don't speak English very well (heh-heh).

Nilton Cesar came on to a shower of applause from fans that have obviously been following him for a few decades. They treated him like an old friend as he waded through his catalogue of Portuguese favourites with the ease and smoothness of a Sunday afternoon in May.

They were singing along to words I couldn't understand, but I could understand that this audience was loving this man, and quite happily lapping up the luxuriance of his voice; this really was a treat for this group of hopeless romantics. Oh, did I mention that this man's music was exceedingly romantic (I have dates lined up for the rest of the week now ... not really).

And the band; the band was outstanding! I was very impressed that they got such a huge sound out of just three instruments, and when they broke into the heavy Reggae beat of -- ER -- their fourth song (I didn't catch many titles ... he said them in Portuguese you see), I was blown away! The amazing band consisted of Hermani Raposo on electric guitar, Luis Leite on the keyboards and the tireless Robinson Santana on the drums, and their repertoire ranged from heart-rending ballads to all out carnival bashment bombs (I know I'm mixing terminology, but isn't that the point of life anyway?). And even though I could understand nothing of what was being said, any fool could have seen that this show was an extremely entertaining one. I'm still mad that I couldn't understand them, but I'm glad that I got the opportunity to witness such a culturally moving event.

Thanks for inviting me Mr. DeMello, and congratulations on another well-put-together event. And people, push for cultural education in our schools! Our Island's equation is African 1 English 1 Portuguese Q Bermuda; our national curriculum should reflect that. It's time to heal.

Veejay Steede