Posted in English, Portuguese

Com Que Voz

I think this is originally by Amália and based on a poem by Camões, but I like this version a lot. That pianist really needs to sort his posture out though. I’ve never really been that interested in Camané but the Humanos videos I’ve been watching have really made me warm to him.

EnglishPortuguese
Com que voz chorarei meu triste fado
Que em tão dura paixão me sepultou
Que mor não seja a dor que me deixou o tempo
Que me deixou o tempo de meu bem desenganado
De meu bem desenganado
With what voice will I cry my sad Fado
That has entombed me in this hard passion
May the love not be pain that allowed me the time
Allowed me the time of my disenchanted lover
Of my disenchanted lover
Mas chorar não se estima neste estado
Aonde suspirar nunca aproveitou
Triste quero viver, pois se mudou em tristeza
Pois se mudou em tristeza a alegria do passado
A alegria do passado
De tanto mal, a causa é amor puro
Devido a quem de mim tenho ausente
Por quem a vida e bens dele aventuro
But crying isn’t appreciated in this state
Where I never took the time to breathe
I want to live sadly because it turned into sadness
It turned into sadness, the happiness of the past
The happiness of the past
Pure love is the cause of so much evil
Owning to the one who is away from me
For whom I risk life and all its benefits
Com que voz chorarei meu triste fado
Que em tão dura paixão me sepultou
Que mor não seja a dor que me deixou o tempo
Que me deixou o tempo de meu bem desenganado
De meu bem desenganado, desenganado
With what voice will I cry my sad Fado
That has entombed me in this hard passion
May the love not be pain that allowed me the time
Allowed me the time of my disenchanted lover
Of my disenchanted lover
Posted in English, Portuguese

José Pinhal (e João Sábita)

Ouvi uma canção recentemente chamada “Tu Não Prendas o Cabelo”. É muito portuguesa. Fiz uma pesquisa para saber mais sobre a origem e por acaso a história é cativante! A canção foi escrita por um compositor chamado José Pinhal. Pinhal não teve grande sucesso na sua vida. Tinha perdido uma perna na guerra colonial. A guerra acabou quando o cantor tinha 22 anos. Que desperdício da vida é a guerra. Durante a sua vida, o Pinhal encontrou pouco sucesso. Editou 3 álbuns em cassete e cantou em espetáculos, romarias e festas regionais. Quando faleceu num acidente rodoviária com 41 anos o mundo esqueceu-se dele.

Mas a história não acabou com a sua morte, porque duas décadas depois, uma fã do cantor carregou as suas músicas na internet e a sua fama espalhou-se boca-a-boca. Em 2016 nasceu um grupo de tributo chamado “José Pinhal Post-Mortem Experience”. A história deste cantor até chegou à imprensa estrangeira (mas confesso que eu não sabia nada disso!) e tem sido assunto de documentários na internet e na RTP.

While I was looking for a video of that (there isn’t one!) I found a version from Canta-me uma história so I decided to translate that instead. This is a cover from João Sábita and he’s changed the bulk of the lyrics to match his personality (which I’ll talk more about tomorrow).

This should be fun. The subtitles are written in dialect and I’m not sure I’m going to be able to transcribe it all. Cover me, I’m going in!

EnglishPortuguese
Tu não prendas o cabelo
Eu gosto de solto vê-lo,
pois te fica bem,
quando nele dá no vento
Don’t tie up your hair
I like to see it loose
Because it suits you
When the wind catches it
Que lindo é o teu cabelo
Que chega até a cintura
És a minha estranha loucura
És lenha da minha fogueira
Tens um sorriso à maneira*
Your hair is so lovely
It goes down to your waist
You’re my strange madness
You’re the wood for my bonfire
You have a smile that’s just right
Tu és o meu arroz de tamboril
Tu és a isca do meu anzol
Tu és os remos do meu candil
Os teus olhos alumiam como o farol
You are my Arroz de Tamboril**
You are the bait on my fishing hook
You are the oars on my fishing boat***
Your eyes lit up like the lighthouse
Tu és o meu bicho de estimação
Tu és o meu gazol**** de gerador
Tu és o cordel do meu estendal
Tu és o meu amor da carnaval
You are my pet
You are the fuel for my generator
You are the cord of my washing line
You are my carnival love

*à maneira is a set phrase

**Just the name of a dish

***Tricky one, this. A candil is a kind of lamp so why the hell would it have oars? Well, the clue is that João Cabita was performing the song at a Carnival in Nazaré and he must have added this in to give it extra colour because a Barco de candil is a very pretty, colourful, traditional boat which… well, information is a bit sparse about it on the internet, but maybe typical to Nazaré specifically(?) According to this guy’s web page, it is maybe called that because they have a lamp attached so you can go fishing by lamplight (“Pesca do candil”).

****Whether he’s referring to Gazol the brand of liquid petroleum gas or it’s just short for gasolina I’m not sure.

Well that was fun. I feel a bit guilty that I haven’t done the original song, but I wanted the challenge of trying to unravel their accents

Posted in English, Portuguese

Estou Além

Two translations in a row? Yeah, fight me!

This is another António Variações cover by Humanos and it’s a banger.

The lyrics are pretty paradoxical: “I only want to be where I’m not, I only want to go where I’m not going”. Even the title is a bit hard to render into english: “Estou Além” means “I am beyond” but that isn’t any good. How about “I’ve gone beyond”. Nah, that sounds like he’s died. Well, he has, but I am pretty sure that didn’t happen till after he wrote it. Maybe something like “I’m far out” or “I’m out there!” Too trippy? “I’m miles away”? Nah, it sounds like he’s just daydreaming. I think I like “I’m elsewhere” best but I’m not sure I could defend that in a court of law. If anyone has any better ideas, let me know in the comments.

EnglishPortuguese
Não consigo dominar
Este estado de ansiedade
A pressa de chegar
P’ra não chegar tarde

Não sei do que é que eu fujo
Será desta solidão
Mas porque é que eu recuso
Quem quer dar-me a mão
I can’t control
This state of excitement
The rush to arrive
To not arrive late

I don’t know what I’m running from
Maybe this loneliness
But why do I refuse
Anyone who gives me their hand
Vou continuar a procurar
A quem eu me quero dar
Porque até aqui eu só

Quero quem quem eu nunca vi
Porque eu só quero quem
Quem não conheci
I’ll keep on searching
For someone I want to give myself to
Because up to now, I only

Want who, who I’ve never seen
Because I only want
The one I’ve never met
Porque eu só quero quem
Quem eu nunca vi
Porque eu só quero quem
Quem não conheci

Porque eu só quero quem
Quem eu nunca vi
Because I only want
who I’ve never seen
Because I only want
The one I’ve never met

Because I only want
who I’ve never seen
Esta insatisfação
Não consigo compreender
Sempre esta sensação
Que estou a perder

Tenho pressa de sair
Quero sentir ao chegar
Vontade de partir
P’ra outro lugar
This insatisfaction
I can’t understand
Always this sensation
That I am missing out

I’m in a hurry to leave
I want to feel at the departure
An urge to leave
For somewhere else
Vou continuar a procurar
O meu mundo
O meu lugar
Porque até aqui eu só

Estou bem aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou
I’ll keep on looking
My world
My place
Because up to now I only

I am on my way to where I am not
Because I only want to go
To where I am not going
Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou

Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde não estou
Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not
Because I only want to go
Where I’m not going

Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not
Esta insatisfação
Não consigo compreender
Sempre esta sensação
Que estou a perder

Tenho pressa de sair
Quero sentir ao chegar
Vontade de partir
P’ra outro lugar
This insatisfaction
I can’t understand
Always this sensation
That I am missing out

I’m in a hurry to leave
I want to feel at the departure
An urge to leave
For somewhere else
Vou continuar a procurar
A minha forma
O meu lugar
Porque até aqui eu só

Estou bem aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou
I’ll keep on looking
My form
My place
Because up to now I only

I am on my way to where I am not
Because I only want to go
To where I am not going
Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou

Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde não estou

Estou bem aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou
Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not
Because I only want to go
Where I’m not going

Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not

I am on my way to where I am not
Because I only want to go
To where I am not going
Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou

Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou
Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not
Because I only want to go
Where I’m not going
Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not
Because I only want to go
Where I’m not going
Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou

Porque eu só estou bem
Aonde eu não estou
Porque eu só quero ir
Aonde eu não vou
Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not
Because I only want to go
Where I’m not going

Because I’m only OK
When I’m where I’m not
Because I only want to go
Where I’m not going
Posted in English, Portuguese

Raízes

Mais uma tradução! Após de mergulhar no mar de política, mereço uns dias de diversão não achas? Esta cancão é incrível. Por um lado, lembra-me daquela colaboração entre Dulce Pontes e os Moonspell: Um homem de barba a rugir no palco e depois a mulher abre a boca e rebenta com tudo. Por outro lado, também tem letras interessantes com umas expressões idiomáticas úteis.

PortuguêsInglês
Eu não nasci em berço d’ouro
Felizmente há quem pense no amor e no apreço como um bem mais valioso
E o preço que eu penso que valha
Aos olhos de muita gente nem um terço calha
Tenho o passado presente, com meu futuro na mente
Perguntam se sou vidente ou mais um canalha
Mas venha só um que tente meter-se na minha frente
Derrubar tudo o que penso só pra ver que falha
I wasn’t born with a silver spoon in my mouth*
Luckily there are those who think of love and appreciation as a more valuable good
And the price I think it’s worth
It isn’t worth a third in the eyes of others
I have the past present with my future in mind
They ask if I’m a visionary or just another lowlife
But just let one person get in my way
To tear down everything only to see that he fails
Vivo como antigamente, alguém que represente
Porque eu baixo a cabeça quando a mãe me ralha
Se pra ti eu sou diferente, então fica ciente
Que esta vida te deu tudo e tu só comes palha
Fui forjado p’rá batalha, eu tenho um compromisso
Fiz-me homem de vontades e a fome nem deu por isso
Se queres ouvir verdades então fica submisso
Não venhas para aqui com frases só p’ra encher chouriço
I live like back in the day, someone who respresents
Because I hang my head when my mother tells me off
If I’m different from you, then be aware
That this life gave you everything and you only eat straw
I was forged for battle, I have a commitment
I made myself a man of will and the hunger didn’t even notice
If you want to hear truths then
keep quiet
Don’t come round here with phrases just to pass the time of day**
E é assim que guardo a meu lado
Os olhos de quem me ama
As vozes de quem chama por mim
E quando tudo chegar ao fim
Direi adeus sorrindo
And that’s how I keep at my side
The eyes of those who love me
The voices of those who call for me
And when everything comes to an end
I’ll say goodbye, smiling
Puto mimado, beijocas das tias e vias nos olhos do meu pai babado
Lágrimas frias entre as melodias sempre que me ouvias a cantar o fado
Todos os dias vos tive a meu lado minha raíz que foi presa sem nós
Vivi feliz porque não sabia as saudades que iria ter dos meus avós
Ouçam a minha voz, vós aí em cima eu fiz esta rima pra vos ver sorrir
Se há coisa que a vida ensina, é que a dor em si
É ter de aceitar a sina de vos ver partir
Mas assim não, não dá p’ra não sentir
A cicatriz é grande e marca o tempo que os perdi
Protegem-me a cada passo que dou e eu agradeço
Beijando sempre o meu braço quando vou dormir
Spoiled child, kisses from the aunties and you used to see in the eyes of my doting father***
Cold tears among the melodies whenever you hear me sing fado
Every day I had you at my side my root that was trapped without us
I lived happy because I didn’t know how much I would miss my grandparents
Listen to my voice, you up there, I made this rhyme just so I could see you smile
If life teaches us anything its that pain itself
Is having to accept the inevitability of seeing you go
The scar is deep and marks the time I lost them
They protect me every step I take and I thank them
Always kissing my arm when i go to sleep
Nem tudo foram favas contadas
Se achavas que eu vinha queixar das minhas amarguras
De portas fechadas e cartas rasgadas de amor acreditem há vidas mais duras
Eu fico grato pelo facto de ter no momento exacto
Histórias de vitórias pelos meus actos
E há que ver que só vivo a vida se for destaque
Vim para tapar os fracassos sem me enterrar em buracos
It wasn’t all preordained****
If you thought I was coming to complain about my bitterness
of closed doors and torn up love letters, believe me there are harder lives
I’m grateful for the fact of having at the exact moment
Stories and victories of my actions
And you have to see I only live life if I’m at the forefront
I came to cover the weaknesses without burying myself in holes
E é assim que guardo a meu lado
Os olhos de quem me ama
As vozes de quem chama por mim
E quando tudo chegar ao fim
Direi adeus sorrindo
And that’s how I keep at my side
The eyes of those who love me
The voices of those who call for me
And when everything comes to an end
I’ll say goodbye, smiling
E é assim que guardo a meu lado
Os olhos de quem me ama
As vozes de quem chama por mim
E quando tudo chegar ao fim
Direi adeus sorrindo de obrigado
And that’s how I keep at my side
The eyes of those who love me
The voices of those who call for me
And when everything comes to an end
I’ll say goodbye, smiling thank you

*Actually, “Nascer em berço de ouro” means to be born in a golder cradle, but this is the nearest english equivalent

**Encher chouriço(s) is another expression: busy-work, filling up time by talking or doing something without any real purpose. In brasil they would say encher linguiça.

***I’m not sure this is an expression as such, but pai babado sounds like it should mean drooling father. Seems like a weird choice of words, but it’s actually a way of saying doting father, and that makes a lot more sense in context!

****Favas contadas is an expression meaning something inevitable

Posted in English, Portuguese

Quero É Viver

OK, having had that confusion about the authorship of “Quero É Viver”, I might as well do a translation of it. This version, by Humanos, is absolutely amazing! I love Sara’s too, but this is a real contrast in the tone. It’s much more in-your-face, more defiant and less dreamy. I’d always thought of it as sounding like someone just wanting to survive something, but with this arrangement it sounds more like someone trying to squeeze every last drop of life. Well, I think a lot of Variações’s songs are like that (check out “O Corpo é que Paga“, for example!), so that shouldn’t surprise me.

Camané is a great choice of vocalist too, because his voice has that same wobble in it as Variações, but he’s a better singer than (Sorry, I know Variações is a god, but it’s true).

Also, Camané’s eyebrows are always on fleek.

OK, Let’s do this! Headphones all the way up!

PortugueseEnglish
Vou viver
até quando eu não sei
que me importa o que serei
quero é viver
Amanhã, espero sempre um amanhã
e acredito que será
mais um prazer
I’m going to live
Until when, I don’t know
What does it matter to me what I’ll be
I want to really live
Tomorrow I always look forward to another tomorrow
And I believe it will be
Another pleasure
e a vida é sempre uma curiosidade
que me desperta com a idade
interessa-me o que está para vir
a vida em mim é sempre uma certeza
que nasce da minha riqueza
do meu prazer em descobrir
encontrar, renovar, vou fugir ou repetir
And life is always a curiosity
That opens my eyes with age
Interests me in what is to come
Life in me is always a certainty
That’s born of my abundance
From the pleasure I take in discovery
Find, renew, escape or repeat

Oh God, that’s good. It’s making me want to go and listen to more Clã and more Camané.

Posted in English, Portuguese

Efe(c)tivamente

O blogue de hoje é mais uma tradução. O título não segue o acordo ortográfico mas não me importa. A palavra “efe(c)tivamente” é cognata com a palavra inglesa “effectively” mas tem um valor ligeiramente diferente porque é usada muitas vezes em situações nas quais usamos “really”. Lê a segunda definição nesta página para mais informações.

PortugueseEnglish
Adoro o campo as árvores e as flores
Jarros e perpétuos amores
Que fiquem perto da esplanada de um bar
Pássaros estúpidos a esvoaçar
Adoro as pulgas dos cães
Todos os bichos do mato
O riso das crianças dos outros
Cágados de pernas para o ar
I love the field, the trees, the flowers
Jugs and everlasting loves
That are close to the tables of a bar
Stupid birds, fluttering
I love the dogs’ fleas
All the woodland creatures
The laugh of children and others
Terrapins with their legs in the air
Efectivamente escuto as conversas
Importantes ou ambíguas
Aparentemente sem moralizar
Effectively, I listen to important and ambiguous conversations
Apparently without moralising.
Adoro as pegas e os pederastas que passam
Finjo nem reparar
Na atitude tão clara e tão óbvia
De quem anda a enganar
Adoro esses ratos de esgoto
Que disfarçam ao pilar
Como se fossem mafiosos convictos
Habituados a controlar
I love the whores* and the pederasts who pass by
I pretend not to notice
In the clear, obvious attitude
Of one who is being deceptive
I love those sewer rats
Who hide behind the pillar
As if they were convicted mafiosos
Used to being iin control
Efectivamente gosto de aparência
Imponente ou inequívoca
Aparentemente sem moralizar
Effectively I like imposing or unequivocal appearance
Apparently without moralising
Efectivamente gosto de aparência
Aparentemente sem moralizar
Aparentemente escuto as conversas
Effectively I like appearance apparently without moralising
Apparently I listen to conversation
Efectivamente sem moralizar
Efectivamente, sem moralizar
Aparentemente, sem moralizar
Efectivamente
Effectively without moralising
Effectively, wothout moralising
Apparently, without moralising
Effectively

*This could be translated a few different ways but I guess this is the one he means, unless the paedos were chasing a magpie!

Posted in English, Portuguese

Falem Agora

I don’t know how this song by Fábia Rebordão ended up on my playlist, but Spotify is convinced it’s something I should listen to. Good shout, Spotify, it’s pretty good. The theme is not wanting to listen to malicious gossip. It’s light and fluffy and fun to listen to.

PortugueseEnglish
Não ouço essas conversas
Isso é banal
Por serem tão perversas
Fazem-me mal
I don’t listen to those conversations
That’s boring
By being so perverse
They make me ill
Falem agora
Que eu estou por fora, e até já
Não se incomodem, deixem lá
Que eu já estou fora
Speak now
I’m outside and for the time being
Don’t bother, it doesn’t matter
Because I’m outside
Conversas de café
Não quero ter
Falar de outros não é
Só mau dizer
Conversations over coffee
I don’t want to have
To talk about others, it’s not
Just nasty talk
Falem agora
Que eu estou por fora, e até já
Não se incomodem deixem lá
Que eu já estou fora
Speak now
I’m outside and for the time being
Don’t bother, it doesn’t matter
Because I’m outside
Quem diz que viu, quem mente
Essas coisinhas
Nas costas de outra gente
Eu vejo as minhas
Whoever said they saw, whoever lied
Those little things
Behind other people’s backs
I watch mine
Falem agora
Que eu estou por fora, e até já
Não se incomodem deixem lá
Que eu já estou fora
Speak now
I’m outside and for the time being
Don’t bother, it doesn’t matter
Because I’m outside
Um caso mal contado
E outros que tais
Desligo passo ao lado
Leio jornais
A badly explained case
And so on
I switch off and step aside
I read the newspapers
Falem agora
Que eu estou por fora, e até já
Não se incomodem deixem lá
Que eu já estou fora
Speak now
I’m outside and for the time being
Don’t bother, it doesn’t matter
Because I’m outside
Posted in English, Portuguese

Corridinho Português

Translation time! This one of from Cara de Espelho, the new band I mentioned in yesterday’s post about Perdo da Silva Martins. This is one of the singles from the album, or would be if singles were still a thing. It’s a track that got released early. I have to hold my hands up, I totally misunderstood the title, but if you follow the footnotes you’ll see how I gradually came to understand what they meant by Corridinho.

I also wasn’t sure at first what they were saying about “separating” all these different types of people. If you just read the first verse it sounds like he’s complaining about there being too many immigrants or tourists in the country. Of course, that doesn’t tend to be the way Pedro de Silva Martins thinks: his work with Deolinda gave the impression that he was fairly left wing and had quite an open attitude to other people, so it would be surprising if he was now backing CHEGA, but who knows, we all get more right wing as we get older. And of course he’s entitled to his point of view. By the end though, it seems pretty clear that he’s saying “there’s more that unites us than divides us”, which I think is probably a healthier way to look at life, and certainly more fun.

PortuguêsInglês
Separando o africano do cigano
Do chinês, do indiano, ucraniano,
muçulmano, do romeno ou tirolês
Como vês
Sobra muito, muito pouco português, ó pá
Separating the african from the gypsy
From the chinese, the indian, ucranian, muslim, from the romanian or tirolean
As you see
There’s very, very little portuguese left, oh man!
Separando o cristão do taoista,
do judeu do islamita, do ateu ou do budista,
do baptista mirandês
Como vês
Sobra muito, muito pouco português, ó pá
Separating the christian from the taoist,
from the jew, from the islamist, from the atheist or from the buddhist,
from the mirandese baptist
As you see
There’s very, very little portuguese left, oh man!
E que tal juntar a malta numa boa*
A um corridinho** de Lisboa
Volta e meia*** e roda o par****
Triste é quem fica a ver dançar
And how about we get all the cool people together
For a Lisbon corridinho
From time to time and spin the pair
Anyone who just watches the dance is sad
Separando o celta do visigodo,
O huno do ostrogodo, o romano do suevo, ou o mouro do gaulês
Como vês
Sobra muito, muito pouco português, ó pá
Separating the celt from the visigoth,
The hun from the ostrogoth, the roman from the suebian, or the moor from the gaul
As you see
There’s very, very little portuguese left, oh man!
Se tu queres ainda separar o gay,
Da lésbica, do straight, da mulher, gente de bem,
Ou de quem sofre de gaguez
Como vês
Sobra muito, muito pouco português, ó pá
If you stull want to separate the gay,
From the lesbian, from the straight, from the woman, good people,
Or from people who stutter
As you see
There’s very, very little portuguese left, oh man!
E que tal juntar a malta numa boa
A um corridinho***** de Lisboa
Volta e meia e roda o par
Triste é quem fica a ver dançar
And how about we get all the cool people together
For a Lisbon corridinho
From time to time and spin the pair
Anyone who just watches the dance is sad
Ora tenta separar o teu genoma,
tu tens tanto de Lisboa como de Rabat ou Doha,
tudo soma no que és
Como vês
Sobra muito, muito pouco português, ó pá
Se ainda te faz muita confusão
Well try and separate your genome,
You have as much of Lisbon as of Rabat or Doha,
It all adds up to who you are
As you see,
There’s very, very little portuguese left, oh man!
Vai, separa o fótão do protão, do electrão
Até desvaneceres de vez
Como vês
Sobra muito, muito pouco português, ó pá
If it still really confuses you
Go, separate the photon from the proton, from the electron
Until you disappear for good
As you see
There’s very, very little portuguese left, oh man!
E que tal juntar a malta numa boa
A um corridinho de Lisboa volta e meia e roda o par

Pois…
And how about we get all the cool people together
For a Lisbon corridinho
From time to time and spin the pair

Sure…

* Numa boa seems to be an expression like “na boa” and “de boa” – basically, cool. OK, I hadn’t heard of that

**OK, I’ll put my hand up, I thought corridinho was related to corrida and that they were talking about some sort of group run. LOL. No, running is quite popular in portugal but in a song about bringing everyone together, a group run would be a bit of a weird way to do it.

***Volta e meia is another expression, meaning once in a while

****It took me a while to work this one out. Roda o par….? Wheel the pair? A pair of wheels? Are they going on a bike ride? What? It doesn’t even flow into the next line. Then I realised, obviously, roda is a verb, so it means “spin” or “rotate”. Rotating the pair: it’s a dance move, I think. I can only really find it in descriptions of brazilian dances like the chupim (part way down this page for example), but there aren’t that many written descriptions of dances so the fact that I couldn’t find an example from portugal doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

*****And so we come full circle: Corridinho is a kind of dance popular in the Algarve. The Wikipedia entry for it doesn’t include the phrase “roda(r) a par”, but both words appear individually multiple times. You can see examples on youtube like this one – which has some excellent saia rodada action.

Posted in English, Portuguese

Vou Dar de Beber à Alegria

Translation!

I’ve had a couple of videos (here and here) that have made reference to a song called “A Casa da Mariquinhas”. It keeps appearing in the most unexpected of places, and I am planning to do a longer blog post about the history around it, but for today, here’s another “sequel” to the song. The title “Vou dar de Beber à Alegria” is not accidental – it’s a callback to an earlier title, “Vou dar de Beber à Dor”. The reason I’m interested in this video is that I don’t understand all the dialogue in between the verses, where she’s just having bantz with the audience. I can get quite a bit of it; my favourite bit is when she fancies singing a bit more she tells her guitarist “Anda Armando!” – oh yeah, she’s in charge. But I’m definitely missing huge chunks. I found a transcript online and it’s full of footnotes, so it seemed worth writing it out and decoding all the dialogue, with a view to sharpening my listening skills

OK (Rolls up sleeves) LET’S DO THIS!

Some aspects of this don’t really make much sense and I don’t know if it’s just me or what. Like what’s the mongoose stuff all about? There’s another version by Mafalda Arnauth which is really polished and leaves out the crazy backstory and there are a couple of other tweaks too – like she says “Umas Pinguinhas” instead of “Uma Macieirazinha”, maybe because that drink isn’t well-known now and people might wonder what she was talking about.

PortugueseEnglish
[Também podia ser Yé-Yé, olha,
Lembras-te, quando a gente fazia estas paródias? Ah, ah. Ela fazia um marinheiro americano depois voltámos: Eu fiz muitos marinheiros americanos, ela fez “um marinheiro americano” e eu fiz “um marujo português”, um dueto. É um sucesso!]
Anda Armando!
It could be Yé-Yé* too, look. Remember when we used to do these parodies? She (Amália Rodrigues) was making an american sailor** and then we came back: I made lots of american sailors, she mas “An american sailor” and I made “a Portuguese Sailor”, a duet. It’s a hit!

Go for it, Armando!
Passei ontem pela rua, onde morava,
A cantada e recantada Mariquinhas,
E qual não é meu espanto,
Olho e, vejo por encanto,
Outra vez, lá na janela, as tabuinhas.
Corri e bati à porta
E até fiquei quase morta,
Quando ela se abriu p’las alminhas,
Pois, quem veio a porta abrir e a sorrir,
Era mesmo a Mariquinhas!
Yesterday I went down the road where lived
The much-sung-about Mariquinhas
And which isn’t my amazement
I look and I see by magic
Once again, in the window, the shutters.
I ran and knocked at the door
And I almost died
When it opened by a mircacle
Because who came to the door and opened it smiling
It was Mariquinhas herself!
[Ai, a Mariquinhas ‘tá uma beleza, ‘tá tão linda a Mariquinhas!
Ai que linda, ai que linda, ai que beleza!
‘Tá mais gordinha, pesa quatrocentos e cinquenta quilos,
Não é brincadeira nenhuma, que é mais que o dobro!
Mas como gordura é formosura,
Ela não se importa nada com isso.
‘Tava a comer jaquinzinhos de escabeche, quando eu apareci.
Ela assim que me viu:
– Olha a Hermínia, eh pá!
Ela sabe que eu gosto de carapaus fritos, coitadinha até fez ternura:
Tinha lá o arranjinho dela, jaquinzinhos a 320 paus o quilo.
Ela tinha lá cinco gramas, era para ela e para o «charmant», pró «Schatz»; depois apareceu esta intrusa; olha, foi à conta! O que vale é que os jaquinzinhos, é cabecinha, rabinho e tudo, vai tudo na enchurrada!]
 
Anda Armando!
Oh, Mariquinhas is a beauty, she’s so lovely, Mariquinhas!
Oh how lovely, how lovely, what beauty!
She’s a little fatter, she weighs 450 kilos,
It’s no joke, it’s more than double!
But with fatness there’s gorgeousness,
She doesn’t care about that at all
She was eating Jaquinzinhos with escabeche*** when I appeared
And as soon as she saw me:
“Hello, Hermínia, woah, man!”
She knows I like Fried mackerel, poor thing, she was even kind to me
She had her little arrangement, jaquinzinhos at 320 paus (escudos) a kilo
She had five grams, it was for her and for the “charmant”, for the “Schatz”****; then there was this intrusion; look, it was the bill!
What matters is that the Jaquizinhos, heads, tails, everything, all go in together

Go for it, Armando!
Eu entrei e abracei a Mariquinhas,
Que me contou que um senhor de falas finas
Lhe deu a casa que é sua,
Pôs o prego na rua
E correu com o tal senhor, que era lingrinhas.
Mandou caiar as paredes,
Pôr cortinas de chita
Nas janelas tão bonitas, às bolinhas.
E, por fora, p’ra chatear as vizinhas,
Janelas com tabuinhas.
I went in and hugged Mariquinhas,
Who told me that a sweet-talking man
Had given her the house that is hers
Put the nail in the road
And ran with that man, who was skinny.
She ordered the walls to be whitewashed
Put up chintz curtains
with polka-dots on the beatiful windows
And outside, to annoy the neighbours
Windows with shutters
[Bem-feita! Lá na rua, as amiguinhas ficaram todas danadas.
E um peso de quatrocentos quilos em cada ponta das tabuinhas, que era para elas não poderem deitar para lá os mirones.
Aquilo é um rés-do-chão.
Antigamente aquilo era só lá chegar, e aquilo era canja, agora quem é que pode? Aguente-se oitocentos quilos, o que ela se havia de “alimbrar*****” hein! Mas é uma belíssima rapariga!
 
Anda Armando!
Well done! There on the street, the little friends were all upset
And a weight of 400kg on each corner of the shutter so the nosey-parkers couldn’t move them aside.
That was on the ground floor
Back in the day all you had to do was walk up and it was a piece of cake, now who could do it? 800kg is sturdy enough, which she must have remembered, eh? But she was a very beautiful girl!

Go for it, Armando!
Ai, já tiraram os caixilhos às voltinhas
E as janelas já estão todas catitinhas.
E p’ra afastar os temores
E o inguiço****** dos penhores,
Defumou a casa toda com ervinhas.
Pôs incenso das igrejas
E, p’ra acabar com as invejas,
Pôs um chifre atrás da porta, às voltinhas.
E na cama, sobre a colcha feita à mão,
Ai, debruada com borlinhas.
Oh they’ve already taken away the boxes
And the windows are all looking good
And to drive away fears
And the bad luck of the debts
She fumigated the whole house with herbs
Put out church incense
And to put an end to the envy
Put a horn behind the door around about*******
And on the bed, on the handmade quilt, oh, decorated with tassels
[Ela é muito prendada.
‘Tava a fazer colcha toda em caroché
Diz que era para oferecer a mim
Para eu estrear na noite de Natal:
E tens qu’a pôr, e tens qu’a pôr, e tens qu’a pôr
Tens qu’a pôr o quê, mulher?
Tens que pôr a colcha na noite…
‘Tá bem, pronto, acabou-se!
Faltavam très dias p’rò o Natal e a colcha ainda ‘tava em meio. E ela, coitadinha, ali, à fossanga, à fossanga…
Ò mulher, pára lá com a costura! Quando entram as visitas de cerimónia assim como eu, pára-se logo com tudo!
Nós éramos aprendizas de alfaiate, quando éramos miúdas, é claro que eu não percebia nada daquilo, nem queria, eu andava a apanhar alfenetes [alfinetes], agora ela não; ela já sabia “górnecer” [guarnecer], como ela dizia. Hoje é uma boa costureira de alfaiate e eu sou vedeta! De maneira que ela faz assim um bocadinho de cerimónia comigo, então respondeu:
Ó filha, eu por acaso até nem percebo desses “protocóis” [protocolos]. Você não percebe destes proto quê?
Então aprenda, eu é que sei! “Coltura” [Cultura] é comigo, sou eu e o Pedro Homem de Melo, só, mais nada!
Uma bandida daquelas, da minha criação, a dizer «protocóis». Mas em que rimance [romance], em que rimance, é que ela aprendeu os protocóis, não foi na crónica feminina, concerteza. Eu, ali, cheia de punhos de renda, nhó, nhó, nhó, nhé, nhé, nhé, e ela, pimba, «protocóis»!
 
Anda Armando!

A colcha é linda!
É toda aos “kódrados” [quadrados] de metro e meio
Assim com rosinhas, todas em relevo; assim com cachos de uvas ferrais, pindurados assim à volta, uma fundura toda em «bois de rose»
é uma beleza! Pesa cinquenta quilos. Aquilo não é sonho, é pesadelo! Agora eu, pela escada abaixo, com cinquenta manguços às costas… Eu disse escada abaixo? Ó Irene, eu disse escada abaixo, disse?
Não é, é um rés-do-cháo!
She was very gifted.
She was making the whole quilt with crochet
She said it was to give to me
For me to use for the first time at Christmas:
And you have to put, have to put, have to put
Have to put, what, woman?
You have to put on the quilt at night
That’s fine, right, it’s finished!
It was three days before christmas and the quilt was still only half finished. And her, poor thing, there, working hard, working hard…
O woman, stop your sewing!
When they enter on cerimonial visits like me, everything stops!
We were apprentices of needlework when we were kids, it’s clear that I didn’t understand any of that and didn’t want to. I was picking up pins, but not her. She knew how to decorate, as she would say.
Today, she is a good seamstress and I’m a star! In that way she made a little ceremony with me, then replied:
Oh, daughter, I as it happens don’t know of these “protocols”. You don’t understand these proto-what?
Then learn, I’m the one who knows! Culture, that’s nmy department, me and Pedro Homem de Melo and nobody else!
One of those bandits of my creation saying “protocols”, but in what novel, in what novel did she learn “protocols”? It wasn’t in the Crónica Feminina, that’s for sure! Here I am, walking on eggshells, nhó nhó nhó nhé nhé nhé********* and her – boom! “Protocóis!”

Go for it, Armando!

the quilt is lovely!
It’s made up of squares, and a metre and a half in size
Like that, with roses, all in relief
and with bunches of iron grapes, hanging, like this around it, a background all in “rosewood” It’s a beauty! It weights 50 kilos
That’s not a dream, it’s a nightmare! Now me, down the stairs with fifty mongooses********** on my back… Did I say down the stairs? Oh Irender, I said downstairs, didn’t I? No, it’s the ground floor!
Lá está tudo, tudo, tudo, até o xaile
E a guitarra, enfeitada com fitinhas.
E sobre a cama, reparo,
Um peniquinho de barro,
Bem bonito e pintadinho com florinhas.
E eu fiquei tão contente!
E ficámos, calmamente,
A beber até de manhã, ai, ai.. uma macieirazinha,
Pois dar de beber à dor é o melhor,
Já dizia a Mariquinhas!
Pois dar de beber à dor é o melhor,
Já dizia a Mariquinhas!
There it is, everything, everything, even the shawl
And the guitar, decorated with patches
And on the bed, I notice,
A clay chamber-pot
All pretty, painted with flowers.
I was so happy
And we stayed, calmly
Drinking until morning, oh oh…
A little Macieira
Because drinking the pain away is the best
Said Mariquinhas
Because drinking the pain away is the best
Said Mariquinhas

*Yé-Yé was a style of pop music in europe in the sixties, The name derives from Yeah-Yeah used by bands like the Beatles

**I definitely feel like I’m in double-entendre territory here, but for what it’s worth in the sixties, Hermínia Silva did in fact make a record called “Marinheiro American” and another called “Marujo de Lisboa, and Amália seems to have made one called “My Love is a Sailor” but whether that’s all she’s talking about, I couldn’t speculate!

***Jaquinzinhos are baby Carapaus (horse mackerel), eaten whole, and escabeche is some sort of vinaigrette style sauce. Basically, this is tasca food, although it’s difficult to see how she got that fat off eating fish, but OK.

****French and German words equivalent to Prince Charming

*****lembrar

****** I think this must be “enguiço” – and “penhores” on the same line means objects used as collateral, but debt seems to work better in the line so I have fudged it…

*******No idea what’s going on here – but they’ve already talked about burning incense to drive out bad luck so maybe some other kind of superstitious ritual???

******** Best I can do as a translation for “punhos de renda” which means taking extreme care to avoid giving offence

********* I think this is just the sound of someone jabbering like blah blah blah…?

********** Mongooses? Is mongoose a slang word for kilogram? This is baffling!

Posted in English, Portuguese

O Pastor

I was bowled over by Jéssica Cipriano’s version of Madredeus’s O Pastor when I watched it the other day, shortly after hearing her version of Olá Solidão. It’s so, so good. When she really cuts loose at around 4.20, my eyes were filling up and my soul left my body. I think the pianist, David Antunes, was right there with me too. Holy shit! How is this woman not a million times more famous? How do I not even see an album of hers on Spotify? How is she not smashing Eurovision? It’s some sort of conspiracy to hide her from the ears of foreigners, I reckon.

Here’s the original from the 1990 album, Existir. You can see it’s got a richer musical arrangement, and the singer’s voice is beautiful in an ethereal way. but it’s too ethereal for me, and the band has never really grabbed me for that reason, even though they were the first portuguese band I ever listened to. They remind me of bands like Clannad, the Cocteau Twins and Enya. I feel like the voice is being used as a musical instrument; there’s not much emotion there and the words don’t really matter so much so it’s hard to get into.

PortuguêsInglês
Ai que ninguém volta
Ao que já deixou
Ninguém larga a grande roda
Ninguém sabe onde é que andou
Oh, nobody goes back
To what they left
Nobody lets go of the big wheel
Nobody knows where they’ve been
Ai que ninguém lembra
Nem o que sonhou
Aquele menino canta
A cantiga do pastor
Oh nobody remembers
Not even what they dreamed
That child sings
The song of the shepherd
Ao largo
Ainda arde
A barca
Da fantasia
O meu sonho acaba tarde
Deixa a alma de vigia
Ao largo
Ainda arde
A barca
Da fantasia
O meu sonho acaba tarde
Acordar é que eu não queria
In the distance
It’s still burning
The boat
Of fantasy
My dream ends late
Leave your soul on guard
In the distance
It’s still burning
The boat
Of fantasy
My dream ends late
Waking up is what I didn’t want