Dino d'Santiago does not forget it: it was there that "everything began". The D. Dinis School, in Quarteira, rebuilt a few years ago, is very different today, but nothing takes away from his memories of when, in the 90s, he was just another student. «Here I started to draw; here I started to sing », she says. Like a good son who returns home, the birthday boy Dino returned to his school yesterday and from there took even more memories to keep.
«The last time I had heard my name at this school was to be called to the principal's office for drawing on the tables», says Dino, between laughs, surrounded by students, teachers, staff, family and friends.
The same office, he joked, that yesterday, December 13th, invited him to go to the D. Dinis School, on a different morning.
The chosen date was not innocent: Dino had been celebrating his birthday. 40 – and marked them at his old school.
Twice, hundreds of people sang happy birthday to him, even before the musician, who now names D. Dinis's music room, took the stage to sing with the school band and also solo.
O hall The entrance to the school was too small to accommodate so many people: the hundreds of students talked about “Dino”, almost as if he were a colleague, a friend, and sought him out again and again for selfies and autographs.
Hence, naturally, the highlight was when the Algarve musician took the stage to sing three songs: “Como Seria”, “Mbappé” and “Kriolu”.
The audience went wild.
One of the most euphoric with everything that was going on was Maria Agosto. Vocalist of the school band, she had the opportunity to sing “Como Seria” with her idol.
“He is an inspiration. It was very good and motivating to receive Dino's visit. It's good to know that those who went to my school also made it this far», said the 14-year-old teenager at the end.
For Pedro Santos, aged 11, who is also part of D. Dinis' band, the experience of having shared the stage with Dino d'Santiago was also «wonderful».
«I didn't know he had been here at school», he shot.
The young student is an example of what Dino says is the great asset of this school: multiculturalism.
Pedro came from Brazil three years ago. In the class, he has «many classmates from many countries», but he always felt «very welcome».
To give you an idea, there are, in that school, students of 40 nationalities.
«I am already so used to this diversity and this is only possible because this is a public school. Here you can really enrich yourself culturally: at the same time that you are eating cachupa, you can also eat cod with cream», said Dino d'Santiago, between laughs.
The return to D. Dinis was, for the singer, an incredible experience. «Here, I started building my first dreams and realizing that maybe one day it would be possible to make them come true», he recalled.
And it was. Today, the man from Quarteira is a renowned singer, acclaimed by the public and the critics, and he wanted to “repay and express” his gratitude for “everything” that that school gave him.
Aníbal Soutinho remembers this young man. In the 90s, the Music teacher had Claudino Pereira as a student, who today is… Dino d'Santiago.
«He is a great reference for our school and I am very happy to see him here again, not as a student, but as an example and reference for all these young people», he said.
The teacher, who also coordinates the school's band, remembers a Dino who, in the classroom, already "sang and liked music".
It was today this pair of passion – for music, but also for his land – that the artist took to D. Dinis. Listening to it is enough to understand it.
«I have already been to the Coliseum, I did NOS Alive, I sang at the Festa do Avante and I was more nervous here to go on stage and sing three songs».
Photos: Pedro Lemos | Sul Informação
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