I’m in a translation mood again, and this one is a more traditional number: Lisboa, Menina e Moca by legendary fadista Carlos do Carmo. It’s pretty well known, and I hear it very often, so this is one of those songs to be aware of. The title is literally “Lisbon, Girl and Young Woman”, and he’s basically talking to the city as if it it was a girl and he was trying to – as the young folk say – rizz it up. It strikes me as a tiny bit cringe, but maybe that’s my cultural perspective. Let’s dive into the lyrics and see what it’s like. The version I’ve chosen is from an appearance on The Voice Portugal, and it’s notable because he breaks off part-way through to tell the young people in teh audience to stop clapping because it’s fado, not rock, which is a classic old dude move. That’s enough of your malarkey, Jack!
Portuguese
English
No Castelo ponho um cotovelo Em Alfama descanso o olhar E assim desfaço o novelo de azul e mar Á Ribeira encosto a cabeça Almofada da cama do Tejo Com lençóis bordados à pressa na cambraia dum** beijo
I put one of my elbows on the castle I rest my gaze on the Alfama And like that, I undo the knot* of blue and sea I lean my head on the Ribeira The pillow on the bed of the Tejo With hastily-embroidered sheets, in the cambric of a kiss
Lisboa, menina e moça***, menina Da luz que os meus olhos vêem, tão pura Teus seios são as colinas, varina**** Pregão que me traz à porta, ternura Cidade a ponto-luz, bordada Toalha á beira-mar, estendida Lisboa, menina e moça, amada Cidade mulher da minha vida
Lisboa, girl and woman, girl By the light my eyes see, so pure Your breasts are he hills, sea lady The call that brings me to the door, tenderness CIty with points of light, emroidered Towel by the seashore, stretched out Lisbon, girl and woman, loved City, woman of my life
No Terreiro eu passo por ti Mas na Graça eu vejo-te nua Quando um pombo te olha, sorri, és mulher da rua E no bairro mais alto***** do sonho Ponho um fado que soube inventar Aguardente de vida e medronho******, que me faz cantar
On the Terreiro, i pass by you But in Graça, I see you naked When a pigeon sees you, it smiles, you are a woman of the road And in the highest suburb of the dream I give you a fado that I knew how to invent Brandy made of life and fruit that makes me sing
Lisboa no meu amor, deitada Cidade por minhas mãos, despida Lisboa, menina e moça, amada Cidade mulher da minha vida
Lisboa on my love, laid City by my hands, undressed Lisbon, girl and woman, loved City, woman of my life
*Novelo usually means a ball of thread or a cotton reel, but can mean a complicated thing, so I’m thinking he’s talking about a knot that he’s undoing, rather than a cotton reel – it just seems to make more sense in the context but I could be wrong.
**I couldn’t make any sense of this and thought he was saying “dei um beijo”, but that ain’t it chief! He’s just comparing the lightness of a kiss to the lightness of the material. There’s an explanation of all this needlework metaphhor here if you want to know more.
***I’m, translating moça as woman, not young woman, because I think it sounds better. FIght me! By the way, Menina e Moca is also the name of an early portuguese novel by Bernadim Ribeiro. Maybe there’s a link?
****Eesh! How to translate this? I think he’s saying she’s a woman who lives by the side of the sea – the second meaning given on Priberam – and that woudl make a certain amount of sense.
*****Referring to the Bairro Alto neighbourhood, of course, a wretched hive of wine and fadory if ever there was one
Carrying on the translation tradition, I thought I’d have a go at this rap by Gandim because I can understand most of it but not quite all and I thought it would be fun to do the research and really understand it from top to bottom. Gandim means something like “workshy person”. He isn’t a real rapper, he’s a character invented by Guilherme Duarte. Duarte originally trained as a computer scientist (that’s relevant context for the song, believe it or not!) but he’s famous as a comedian who has been involved in a few different podcasts and media projects such as “Por Falar Noutras Coisas” (“Speaking of Other Things”). Here, he’s having a rap battle with himself in his “real” persona. It’s quite funny and has lots of good slang. It’s ABSOLUTELY FILTHY though. Seriously – this is definitely the rudest thing I’ve ever translated on here, so if you’re of a sensitive disposition you might want to skip this one!
It’s also interesting how they’re using some english words and expresions in ways that are close to but not quite identical to the way we use them ourselves: even in the title, “ego-trip”, seems just to mean a boastful rap and “feat” is obviously just “featuring” but later in the lyrics they seem to be using it as a noun, roughly equivalent to “collaboration”
Ya, Gandim feat Guilherme Duarte / Yeah, Gandim, feat Guilherme Duarte Juntos no mesmo som mesmo / Together in the same track Ninguém estava à espera / Nobody was expecting it Não sei se a tuga está preparada para isto / I don’t know if the Tuga was ready for this Vamos mostrar como é que se faz / Let’s show them how it’s done
Isto nunca foi visto / This has never been seen Porque nunca foi feito / Because it’s never been done Parece que viste o anti-cristo, boy / It looks like you’ve seen the anti-christ, boy Até te cai o queixo / Even your jaw is drooping Vai deixar mazela / It’s going to leave a wound Ainda nos vão pedir sequela / They’re going to ask us for a sequel As rimas são como as cricas / The rhymes are like pussies Aparecem tipo dicas / They appear like tips De todos os lados / From all sides Eu e o Guilherme (Olá Olá) os mais pesados / Me and Guilherme (Hello, Hello) the heaviest Espera lá… isto é uma egotrip? / Wait… is this an ego-trip? Ya, faz sentido pelo beat / Yeah, that makes sense from the beat Devia ter visto a tua parte antes de gravarmos o feat / I should have watched your part before we recorded the “feat“ Mas obrigado por me fazeres o convite / But thanks for the invitation Mas é melhor falares por ti / But it’s best to speak for yourself Eu nem sou bem rapper / I’m not really a rapper Há muitos melhores do que eu por aí / There are a lot better than me round here Não vale a pena essa humildade / This humility is no good Nu sta* rebenta sociedade / We are blowing up society O game vai mudar, a gente veio para ficar / The game is going to change – we came to stay Este som é bomba atómica, vai incinerar / This track is a nuclear bomb. It’s going to incinerate Calma, man / Calm down, man Não é preciso exagerar / There’s no need to exagerate Tipo exibicionistas / Like exhibitionists Não vamos estar aqui a criar / We didn’t come here to create Sei lá, expectativas irrealistas / I dunno… unrealistic expectations É um som razoável / It’s a reasonable track Um flow confortável / A comfortable flow Não vai ser nada memorável / It isn’t going to be memorable at all Nem raro de outro mundo tipo marte / Not rare, from another world like Mars Falo, claro, da minha parte / I’m speaking of course, from my own perspective As damas até ficam loucas, desvairadas, malucas / The women go crazy, frenzied, insane Desapertam as blusas e abanam as bundas / They loosen their blouses and shake their asses** Ficam com água nas bocas / Their mouths water Quando vêem as nossas bazucas / When they see our bazookas Vocês fazem cara de mau a pensar que têm pila grande / You make like a badass, thinking what big dicks you have Mole já mete respeito mas olha ainda expande / Soft, they give respect, but then they expand O que vocês têm de pau a gente tem só de glande / Our glans alone is the size of your whole dick*** Pah, o meu é médio, não vou mentir / Mate, mine is pretty average, not gonna lie Não é grande nem vale a pena medir / It’s not big but I’m not going to measure it Nem grosso nem fino, é banal quando estou contente / It’s not thick or thin, it’s OK when I’m happy E quando está murcho até é bastante deprimente / And when it’s soft, it’s pretty depressing Mas dizem que o tamanho não importa / But they say size doesn’t matter E mesmo que seja um bocado torta / Even if it’s a little bent Desde que não esteja morta / As long as I’m not dead O que conta é o que se faz com o membro peniano / What matters is what you do with your penile member E nisso, confesso, sou mais que mediano / And with that I am above average Aguento tipo 7 ou 8 minutos / I can last like 7 or 8 minutes Parece pouco, mas 5 é a média / It doesn’t seem like much but the average is 5 Não estou a gozar, li na Wikipédia / I’m not kidding, I read it on Wikipedia Cus e mamas, everywhere / Tits and ass everywhere Comemos com as mãos, sem talher / We eat with our hands, no cutlery Lambemos o prato todo da tua mulher / We lick your wife’s plate clean Até cai pó lado como Feher / Until she falls over like Fehér**** Ela quer mais diz que tu só reclamas / She wants more and says you only complain Nem é preciso férias nas Bahamas / A holiday in the Bahamas isn’t necessary É mesmo aí nas vossas camas / It’s right here in your beds Que vamos comer as vossas damas / that we eat***** your women Vamos? os dois ao mesmo tempo / “We”? Both at the same time? É um bocado estranho (caga nisso bro) / That’s a little bit weird (fuck this, bro) Tenho alguns complexos com o meu corpo / I have a few body issues E nem é pelo tamanho / And it’s not about the size Estar assim nu ao pé de outro homem / To be right there next to another man É demasiada nudez / That’s too much nakedness Não sei, dá para ir à vez / I dunno, maybe we could take turns Não quero ser mau companheiro / I don’t want to be a bad companion Mas se é para ir, vou em primeiro / But if I’m going, I’m going first A gente derrapa, drift fast and furious style / We slide in, Fast and Furious style Elas ficam molhadas com o nosso flow 8 mile / And they get wet with our 8 Mile flow Quer boleia a tua hoe / Does your ho want a ride? E não é só no meu lambo / And not just in my lambo****** Tem mudanças automáticas, 7 / It has seven automatic gears Mas ela tem a mão na manete / But she has her hand on my gearstick Não tenho guita para lambos / I don’t have the money for lambos E até acho que é muito show off / And I find them a bit showy Não curto dar nas vistas / I don’t enjoy showing off O meu bote é um clio de 99 / My ride is a 99 Clio Patina quando chove, faz barulhos da panela / It skids when it rains, makes a noise from the oil pan Tem pelos de cadela, rádio só à capella / It has dog-hairs everywhere and the radio is only a capella Não liga à primeira quando a noite gela / It doesn’t start first time on cold nights Deve ser problema de velas / It must be some problem with the spark plugs Aqui é faroeste, a lei é nossa / Here in the wild west******* the law is ours Tu estás a leste, baza ou levas coça / You are from the east, get the hell out of here or get spanked O que tu cospes cai no meu spam / What you spit******** falls into my spam folder Mas quem não cospe é a tua irmã / But your sister doesn’t spit Aqui é conflito, não é meninos da mamã / This is war, not mummy’s kids À noite é delito, dormir de manhã / the night is sin, sleep in the morning Vens dar para gangster com o teu clã / You’re coming like a gangster with your posse Ainda deixas a tua filha orfã / You’ll just leave your daughter an orphan Gandim, não sei se te consigo acompanhar assim / Gandim, I don’t know if I can carry on like this Eu não sou gangster nem g / I’m not a gangster or a G Só houve aquela vez que roubei uns cromos da panini / The only thing I have ever stolen is some Panini stickers Sempre fui bom aluno, calminho / I was always a good student, calm Eu sou bué humilde, mano / I’m really humble, man Já na autoavaliação pedia baixinho / In the self-evaluation I asked for a lower mark Menos do que achava que merecia no ano / Less than they thought I deserved that year Manda vir a tua crew / tell your crew to come E ainda sais daqui todo nu / And you’ll leave here naked Andas aí armado em clown / There you go, acting like a clown A tua tropa sai daqui tipo black hawk down / Your soldiers will leave here like Black Hawk Down Eu e o Guilherme a gente arrebenta / Me and Guilherme, we destroy Venham todos que a gente enfrenta / No matter who we face Tag team ninguém aguenta / Tag team nobody can withstand Humilhação tipo shot à panenka / Humiliation like a Panenka********* penalty kick Depende, quantos é que são / It depends how many there are São muito grandes ou um deles é anão / Are they very big or is one of them a dawrf? Se for malta da pesada ainda ficamos em maus lençóis / If these guys are heavy, we could be in a tight spot Consigo andar à porrada, mas não há cá heróis / I can fight but there are no heroes here Prefiro resolver de forma sensata / I prefer to resolve this sensibly Ser diplomata, sou franco / To be diplomatic, I am frank Mas se tem de ser, siga / But if it has to happen, go ahead Eu cubro-te o flanco / I’ll cover your back Fiz jiu jitsu, sou cinturão branco / I did ju-jitsu, I’m a white belt Invejas o don perignon / You envy the Dom Perignon O chamon, os diamonds e o rolex / The weed, the diamonds and the rolex Desculpa lá o flex / Pardon the flex Mas por isso é que a dama que me dá sex é a tua ex / But it’s because of this that the woman who gives me sex is your ex Tanto money no corpo uso o pulso como expositor / So much money on my body, I use my wrist like a showoff E tu honey, só lhe dás uso em frente ao computador / And you, honey, you only use it in front of your computer Eu nem tenho relógio / I don’t have a watch Vejo as horas no telefone / I check the time on my phone Que não é topo de gama / that isn’t top of the line Nem é sequer é um iphone / I don’t even have an iphone Não curto gastar assim / I don’t like splashing out like that Em booze, drugs e ostentação / on booze and drugs and ostentation Prefiro poupar e chegar / I prefer to save up and reach Aos setenta são / my seventies Os cães ladram e passa a caravana********** / The dogs bark and the caravan passes by E nós aqui a chillar com a marijoana / and we’re here chilling with marijuana Somos demasiado fat para ser fit / We’re too fat to be fit All day smoking weed, we don’t give a shit / All day smoking weed, we don’t give a shit Mais ou menos / More or less Não fumo há bué anos, mas não condeno quem fuma / I haven’t smoked in years, but I don’t judge those who do Só acho que há malta muito nova a fumar / I think it’s mostly young people smoking Não quero influenciar / I don’t want to influence them Porque depois o pessoal abusa / because then people abuse it Man, dá lá aí uma passa ya, fuma aí / Man, take a hit on this, smoke up É mesmo assim, Guilherme ya, somos os maiores deste a tuga até pequim / That’s how it is, Guilherme, we’re the greatest from Portugal to Peking é mesmo assim, os mais pesados / that’s how it is, we’re the heaviest Não curto gabar-me assim / I don’t enjoy boasting like this Não dá para fazer uma ego trip humilde / It’s no good making a humble ego-trip E deixar de parte ego / and leave out the ego part às vezes acordo tão negativo / Sometimes I wake up so negative Que me sinto abaixo de zero / That i feel less than zero Tenho as minhas inseguranças / I have my insecurities Acho que me está a bater a ganza / I think that weed is kicking in Dias depressivos, sem vaidade / Depressive days, without vanity Dias que não me acho capaz de fazer nada com qualidade / Days when I don’t feel able to do anything well O meu ego tem síndrome de Estocolmo / My ego has Stockholm syndrome Estou a ficar meio zonzo / I’m getting a little dizzy Estou a ficar meio zonzo / I’m getting a little dizzy Complexo deus aplaude o meu complexo de fraude / My god complex applauds my imposter syndrome Bué deep / Really deep Sou mil folhas / I am a thousand layers Flow bue quick / Real quick flow Beep beep / Beep beep Tenho bué camadas / I’ve got so many levels No sleep, horas acordadas / No sleep, awake for hours Porque na cama tenho sempre muitas queridas bué dadas / Because in bed I always have many well-endowed babes Sabia que tinha isso dentro de ti / I knew you had this in you Estava a ver que não / I was thinking you didn’t E se é para me gabar feito patrão / And if I have to boast, it’s done, boss Sou ganda boss da programação / I’m the big boss of computer-programming Tua cabeça não aguentavas a pressão, meu / You can’t stand the pressure, man Ainda te dava uma como a Maria João, Abreu / I even gave you one with Maria Joao Abreu***********
Ai, olha aí, há limites, mano / Hey look, there are limits, bro Acho bué falta de respeito dizeres uma cena dessas / I think it shows a lack of respect to say something like that É uma egotrip, tudo bem, mas calma lá / It’s an ego trip, OK, but calm down Não é preciso atirar com essa da programação à cara do pessoal / It’s not necessary to throw this computer-programming thing in people’s faces Nem toda a gente tem o mesmo acesso à educação / Not everyone has the same access to education Vou bazar, não curto estar aqui com gabarolas / I’m going to get out of here. I don’t want to be here with showoffs
*= Not sure what’s going on here – short for “nos esta(mos)” I think…?
**=I’ve gone against my principles and written this the american way because british spelling and rap do not mix
***=Look, I’m sorry, I’m just the translator, don’t blame me
****=I think this must mean the hungarian footballer who died of a heart attack on the pitch – hence the reaction!
*****=Comer a tua dama means “eat your lady” but comer is also a slang word for “have sex”, so I probably could have translated it less literally than this. The other relevant piece of information here is that the game we call drafts is called Damas in portuguese, and when you take the opponents piece, the word for taking can be “capturar” or “comer” so he could be talking about playing draughts. but in this context, probaby not!
******I guess he means Lamborghini here but the fact it’s so close to “lamber” is setting my double entendre radar pinging)
*******faroeste = far west? I’ve never heard this before, but I googled faroeste and it does indeed bring up a load of wild west films dubbed into portuguese!
********=-I assume this is the same as the slang use of spit in english – spitting lyrics, spitting facts. He’s dissing your rap lyrics, basically
*********= Panenka… he’s a footballer apparently. Good at penalties. Google him, I can’t explain
**********=This is an expression that comes up sometimes in exercise books – it just means something like – “we just carry on as normal, no matter what happens or who complains”
***********= Maria Joao Abreu was an actress who had died a few months before the video was released, so you’re meant to think that the shocked reaction that follows is as a result of the extreme bad taste of what he’s just said.
Another translation post. I’m in a translatey mood, I guess. This one is by Orelha Negra with A Garota Não (again!) on guest vocals. Like yesterday’s, it has a strong feminist theme, but whereas that was just calmly wishing for more representation, this one is about domestic violence so it’s pretty raw: far moreso than I would have guessed from the general vibe of the music. Batida can mean beat in the musical sense as well as “beaten” or “beating” in the violent sense, so I think I had an idea that it was jsut a song about making music until I started trying to translate it line by line.
To be honest, it comes across as pretty bleak, but I don’t think it’s *just * that: there seems to be sense of wanting to move beyond the situation and reassert dignity. For a start, you have the dialogue at the beginning and the end of the song in english, talking about being ready for something. Then there’s the woman who does the live painting in the video (below). She’s called Mázinha and she’s obviously got a positive sense of the song being about forgiveness and redemption (quote here) so she’s painted a really upbeat image, indicative of a new start – presumably after leaving the dude. There isn’t much of that in the song lyrics though, as far as I can see!
E tu tás pronto, honey? / And you – are you ready honey? Estarás pronto para ver / You’ll be ready to see Como é que a cor da batida fica na mulher / How the colour of a bruise looks on your woman Ela não é santa / She isn’t holy Só um santo para o ser / Only a saint for being it Como é que esses argumentos servem pra bater / How these arguments lead to beating
Cala esses demónios / Silence those demons Já te podes perdoar / You could forgive yourself Não levantes essa mão se não for pra lutar / Don’t raise that hand unless it’s to fight Por um dia mais claro / For a brighter day Por um tempo mais doce / For a sweeter time Não trocava um abraço p’la jóia que fosse / She didn’t exchange an embrace for any jewel
O tamanho da mini saia / The size of a mini skirt É inverso a essa cobardia / Is the inverse of that cowardice Se não aguentas a mulher que tens / If you can’t stand the woman you have É porque te fica em demasia / It’s because she’s too much for you
O tamanho do sorriso dela / The size of her smile Não precisa de autorização / Doesn’t need permission A liberdade é um barco à vеla / Freedom is a sailboat E o amor não é uma prisão / And love is not a prison
Liberta logo esse ciúmе amargo / Just let go of that bitter jealousy Porque o ciúme deixa o Homem bruto / Because jealousy makes a man brutal Já nem sequer vês o mundo direito / You don’t even see the world clearly Mas tu és o teu próprio instituto / But you’re your own boss
Quantos deuses / How many gods É que o medo cria / Does fear create Semear a morte / To sow seeds of death Sangue à terra fria / Blood in the cold ground Desce mais um corpo / Another body falls A história é igual / The story is the same Quando os cintos dançam / When the belts dance Chora a catedral / The cathedral cries
Quantos deuses / How many gods É que o medo cria / Does fear create Semear a morte / To sow seeds of death Sangue à terra fria / Blood in the cold ground Desce mais um corpo / Another body falls A história é igual / The story is the same Quando os cintos dançam / When the belts dance Chora a catedral / The cathedral cries
I’d like to thank Heike Dio who commented under a recent post about the Dulce Pontes / Moonspell collab. She suggested I have a look at the Linda Martini performance on Antena 3 with Ana Moura on guest vocals. It’s good: very stylish and original, so I’m really glad to have it on my YouTube music playlist. I must say, I still prefer the chaos energy of the Dulce Pontes one though. I’ve been watching that at least once a day since I first found it. Here is Heike’s recommendatiin though, and I’ll try and translate the lyrics underneath because that’ll help me understand it.
If I Grow*
Espero que te venha o sono /I hope sleep comes to you Que te deites cedo, antes de eu chegar /That you go to bed early before I arrive Que isto de ser dois, longe do plural /Because this thing of being a couple, far from being plural É tão singular /Is so singular
Paredes de empena / Gabled walls Já nem vale a pena /It’s not even worth it any more Resta-nos arder / Now it’s time for us to burn Que esta chama lenta /Because this slow flame Já virou tormenta** / Has become a firestorm E ao entardecer / And as it gets late
Ninguém me diz / Nobody told me O que há depois de nós / That there was something after us E se depois de nós / And that after us both Os dois me Agiganto / I’ll grow.
Eu já fui embora / And i left Já marquei a hora / And i marked the time Pra não me atrasar / So as not to be late Já comprei bilhete / i bought a ticket Deixei-te um bilhete / i left you a ticket E a descongelar / And once thawed out Os restos de ontem / Yesterday’s leftovers Dão pra o jantar / Will be enough for dinner
Ninguém me diz / Nobody told me O que há depois de nós / That there was something after us E se depois de nós / And that after us both Os dois me Agiganto / I’ll grow.
*=Agigantar literally means become a giant, but with that little reflexive pronoun, it becomes a verbo pronomial meaning “get bigger” so “grow” seems like a better translation.
**=Tormenta looks like it ought to mean “torment”. It actually means “storm” but I translated it as firestorm because a flame becoming a rainstorm doesn’t seem right.
Here’s an attempt at translating the song “Lisboa Nao é Hollywood” by Os Azeitonas. It doesn’t seem to haave a translation on lyricstranslate so I thought I’d make one. Seems like quite a simple song but it’s really, really tricky!
Chega Cândida de capeline Cândida arrives wearing a capeline* Como ela respira saúde** She's glowing with health Quase que parece a Marilyn She almost looks like Marilyn Ao chegar*** a Hollywood On her arrival in Hollywood Mas sem tapetes encarnados But with no red carpets Sob os seus pés de dama Under her ladylike feet Os seus sapatinhos delicados Her delicate little shoes Apenas pisam na lama only step in the mud Lisboa é paleio de Aljube**** Lisbon is well known to criminals Por entre ruas, esquinas Among its streets and corners Também tem suas colinas, mas It has its hills too, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood Lá vai Cândida a correr atrás There goes Cândida, chasing Seu peito diz sorria Her spirit***** says smile Mas nos seus dentes nunca brilha o flash But the flash of a photograph has never Da fotografia Lit up her teeth Lá vai Cândida a mandar beijinhos There goes Cândida, blowing kisses Com o seu jeito rude In her rude way Como quem atalha caminho Like someone taking a shortcut Para chegar a Hollywood To arrive in Hollywood Lisboa é paleio de Aljube**** Lisbon is well known to criminals Por entre ruas, esquinas Among its streets and corners Também tem suas colinas, mas It has its hills too, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood Como ela cai na trama How she falls into the trap****** E vai esbanjando******* virtude And squanders her virtue Pelo passeio da fama mas On the walk of fame, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood Olha Cândida na solidão Look at Cândida, all alone De capeline, rouge e baton In her Capeline, rouge and lipstick Não foi parar ao panteão She didn't end up in the pantheon Morreu na vala comum She died in the gutter Lisboa é paleio de Aljube**** Lisbon is well-known to criminals Por entre ruas, esquinas Among its streets, and corners Também tem suas colinas, mas It has its hills too, but Lisboa não É Hollywood Lisboa isn't Hollywood
* = It’s a kind of hat apparently. Never heard of it!
**=Respira Saúde = Literally “breathes health” so visibly healthy, confident and in good form, not just “is healthy”. Researching this on the web, there’s some use of it in a more loreal way, meaning “breathing in a healthy way”, eg giving up smoking, but it is used as an expression too.
*** = I wrote about this “Ao + infinitive” construction a couple of months back and I seem to have seen it everywhere since.
**** = This line is a real enigma. The word aljube with a small letter can be a dark prison or a cavern. The fact that it’s written with a capital letter in all the sources I can find seems to imply that it’s a reference to A Cadeia do Aljube, which was the name of a prison (cadeira) that has been in existence since the peninsula was colonised by the muslim imperialists in the 8th century. The name Aljube comes from the arabic for a well. After the reconquista, its use changed but certainly by the twentieth century it was being used for political prisoners of the fascist Estado Novo, and had a pretty terrible reputation. These days, it’s a museum of resistance and liberty. “Paleio” means gossip or small talk, so the sentence “Lisboa é paleio de Aljube” doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. My wife didn’t know what they were driving at. I asked around on reddit and had four different replies, all different. The two closest guesses were along the lines of “a rumour in the prison”, meaning it was something lowlifes and criminals talk about, which is why I’ve translated it as “well known to criminals” but others have suggested “A trick in a cavern”, or even “pillow talk” (because Aljube can also mean alcove, and “de alcova” in Brazilian Portuguese can imply something relating to sex). Meh, its slightly odd that there’s a lyric like this that no two listeners can agree on the meaning, but there are plenty of songs on English that are obscure and ambiguous so I suppose I shouldn’t be that surprised!
***** = Not sure about this one either. “her chest says smile” just sounds weird but one of the lesser meanings of peito is “ânimo” so I’m interpreting it as she’s making an effort of will to smile…? But at least one of the people who replied to my question about paleio said that there was an implication that Cândida is a prostitute so maybe there’s some sort of implication that people are smiling at her cleavage…?
****** = Another iffy one: Trama can be a thread, either literal or in the sense of a unifying plot-line of a book (in fact, I think I used it in a a book review a couple of days ago!) or even a tram line. I wondered if we were supposed to imagine her literally tripping on a tram track but it didn’t seem to fit well with the next line.
******* = fantastic! I only learned this word a week or two ago, doing one of Paulo Freixinho’s old crosswords and here it is again!
By the way, I see Os Azeitonas are candidates for this year’s Eurovision but they’ve come down a long way since they lost their most talented dude, Miguel Araújo, and the song is vanilla AF.
No texto de ontem falei do vídeo do Diogo Bataguas/Batuta/Batman/QualquerCoisa*. Mas não mencionei a maior estrela do vídeo, o Toy. Para ser sincero, nunca antes tinha ouvido falar desse senhor, mas andei à procura de vídeos das músicas dele. Parece que é boa música de festa mas não senti me uma grande pulsão* em comprar os seus álbuns.
Mas percebo o génio de contratar um cantor famoso daquele estilo de música para gravar o tema duma rubrica dum programa televisivo.
*=in the original version of yesterday’s text, I got Diogo Bataguas’s name wrong and called him Diogo Batuta.
**=not really the right word. I’m reading a book that has Sigmund Freud as one of its characters and he uses this word – it means an urge, in the psychological sense. It would have been better to say something like “não me senti compelido a comprar…”
Toy: Bataguas not included
Thanks to Dani for the grammar corrections. She’s also given me some factual corrections which I’ll pass along so as not to give the wrong idea:
The video is a web series, not a TV show. Diogo Bataguas is “um moço singelo” (a simple, innocent lad) who asks for contributions from his fans in order to be able to pay his team – namely, Sandro, who is always hungry
Toy doesn’t just sing party songs as I’ve described here, he also does emotional ballads and TV soap opera theme songs but he’s also known for being an interesting personality. He gave away tickets to his wedding to random fans and he… Invented a style of driving with his knees…? Speaking as a cyclist, this doesn’t exactly endear me to the bloke, to be honest, but apart from that he seems OK. One fellow learner told me (s)he had met him in a seafood restaurant in Azeitão and he had spoken warmly and at great length of his love for Canadian audiences. Telling this story later, (s)he found out that virtually everyone who has ever been to any restaurant in Azeitão has had a similar experience because he is “um senhor bastante gregário”.
Is exactly the sort of thing I love. The writer is Ricardo Araújo Pereira, comedian, columnist and all round good guy (well, as far as I know) Anyway, in the passage above, he’s describing a song by Chico Buarque and saying that if a foreigner were to hear it, although they would rightly spot that it sounds lovely, they probably wouldn’t understand it and certainly wouldn’t notice that the last word of every line is “proparoxítona”* and nor would they understand that the word “proparoxítono” itself is proparoxítona**. And he’s right: it is a lovely song and when I read this in bed last night I had no clue what Proparoxítono meant but I knew I had to find out as soon as I woke up.
First of all, let’s hear the song
Oh my god, that is the good stuff alright. I know it’s Brazilian Portuguese, not Portuguese Portuguese but Jesus Christ it’s good. Inject it directly into my veins! There is something slightly strange about the rhythm of the verse though isn’t there? And I never would have spotted what it was.
Before I get I to it, let’s lay a bit of groundwork by thinking about where the stress falls in a Portuguese word.
The vast majority of words in Portuguese put the stress on either the final syllable (if the last letter is r, l, z, u or i ) or the penultimate one (basically, all other letters). Any exceptions to the rule need an accent to be added as a hint to the reader. So for example there are a lot of words that end in – ável or – ível that are pronounced with the stress on the a and the i respectively. If the accent wasn’t there you’d have to say incrivEL and confortavEL. But it’s pretty easy and you get used to it, and before you know it, you’re just used to the rhythm of Portuguese speech without even being conscious of it.
Proparoxítono means that the stress falls on the antepenultimate (last-but-two) syllable. These always have to have an accent because they break the normal rules, like bêbado (BÊ-ba-do) and mágico (MÁ-gi-co) and sábado (SÁ-ba-do) and última and único and tímido and… Well, and every other word he finishes a line with in the song, which is why you get this effect that’s really unusual in a Portuguese song, where the last two syllables of every line are unstressed.
Oh my god, that’s so satisfying. I love it! It’s the most value I’ve ever got out of a single paragraph, I think: a new word, a new song and a new way of noticing the rhythm of Portuguese music.
Anyway, if you want to know more, this video has some good analysis. It’s in Brazilian Portuguese too, so be warned if you’re trying to avoid the dialect. It’s worth making an exception for though.
*it has an a in the end here, unlike in the title, because its an adjective and palavra is feminine
**Now I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t that the stuff Bret Weinstein and Heather Heying think should be used to cure Covid?” Close, but no, it’s not that either.
Luís de Freitas Branco foi um compositor português que nasceu em 1890 e tornou-se uma das figuras mais importantes na cultura portuguesa do século passado. Começou por estudar música antiga em Berlim mas depois conheceu Claude Debussy e foi exposto ao estilo mais moderno, chamado impressionismo. Em 1916 assumiu um cargo de professor no Conservatório de Lisboa. Estou a ouvi uma sinfonia dele, ou seja estava antes de ficar aborrecido, então virei para uma banda irlandesa dos anos oitenta. Eu sei, sou um filisteu. O facto mais interessante sobre Dom Luís é o seguinte: em 1951, foi demitido da emissora nacional porque usou uma gravata a seguir ao Óscar Carmona, o décimo-primeiro presidente da república faleceu. Pergunto-me o que os funcionários do Estado Novo pensariam das roupas de hoje em dia.
I’ve really been enjoying the videos Rita Marrafa de Carvalho has been publishing from her house where she’s quarantined with her kids and a ukelele. They seem to be having a lot of fun and she can really sing/play too, which helps. I’ll try to embed one of them here but it’s on Facebook and Facebook is a bit awkward so I don’t know if it’ll work. They’re all really nice though, so you could do worse than go and look at her complete set on that platform if you have an account. A lot of them are on her Twitter too but I’m taking a Twitter break at the moment.
Luso 