Seu Jorge and Dona Ica, the patriarchs of the Assad family, lived a life marked by love, challenges, uncertainty, failed attempts, a few successes, and big dreams. Their firstborn, Cito, born in 1948 in São João da Boa Vista - the city where Seu Jorge and Dona Ica met - faced serious complications at birth. His umbilical cord, wrapped around his neck, caused three brain injuries and epilepsy, a condition that accompanied him throughout his 64 years of life and always required the family’s constant care and support.
Seu Jorge, a watchmaker by trade, after the failed attempt to open his first watch shop in São João da Boa Vista shortly after Cito’s birth, had to move to Vargem Grande do Sul in search of new customers. This relentless search for livelihood would accompany the family through much of their lives. In the new town, when a second attempt at starting over also did not work out, Seu Jorge - self-taught amateur mandolinist - received an unexpected invitation: to host an amateur talent show in Mococa, which led the entire family to move once again. It was in Mococa that the brothers Sérgio (1952) and Odair (1956) were born.
To support the family, he juggled multiple roles: besides being a watchmaker and a musician, he and his wife began managing a small bar, living in a cramped back room with no comfort or privacy.
The bar quickly became the town’s musical gathering point and earned the nickname “Boate Astral.” Despite the bustle and the music, stability remained distant. With the small savings they had managed to accumulate, Seu Jorge dared to take a bigger step: he became a construction foreman and began building a home of his own. But again, the project did not come to fruition, and the family had to start over—driven by persistence and the dream of better days.
