CABO VERDE. BRASIL. CUBA WORDS AND MUSIC RINGING IN MY EARS SODADE POR CESARIA EVORA AND NERUDA TO THE RESCUE

Bem conchê ess terra morena

Ondê que cada criola é um serena

Bem, q’ês nos céu tambê é de anil

Êss nos terra piquinina

É um padacinho di brasil

Brasil, qui nos tudo tem na peito

Brasil, qui no ta sinti na sangue

Brasil, bo é nos irmão

Sim c’ma nos bo é morena

Brasil no crebu txeu, no crebu txeu, di coração

Vento qui ta bem di sul

Ta trazê na ses cantos acenos di brasil

Si no ca ta bai, es ca ta dixanu

Brasil bo é nos sonho

Bo é nos sonho azul

IT IS A MORNA SUNG BY NANCY VIERA

Who writes such beautiful songs?

B. LEZA 

until today I did not realize it stands for Beleza. Beauty 

Francisco Xavier da Cruz (B.Leza ou Beléza) foi um músico de Cabo Verde.

Natural do Mindelo, B.Leza inovou a morna ao utilizar frequentemente os acordes de passagem, (chamados de meio-tom brasileiro na gíria dos músicos cabo-veridanos), antes pouco usados nesse género musical.

O seu estilo e a sua obra, que começaram a ter sucesso na década de 1950, marcaram a música de Cabo Verde nos vinte anos seguintes. Compôs dezenas de mornas, entre as quais se destacam Eclipse, Miss Perfumado, Resposta de Segredo Cu Mar e Lua Nha Testemunha, que, diz a lenda, foi composta no leito do hospital, dias antes da sua morte a 14 de Junho de 1958.

• Diz também a lenda que muitas pessoas iam ter com o mestre B.Leza para lhe pedir uma morna para a pessoa amada, para uma serenata ou para assinalar um acontecimento. Em questão de dias, B.Leza tinha a obra feita. Moacyr Rodrigues escreve que “influenciado pela música brasileira e argentina – B.Leza – vai enriquecer não só a música com a introdução do meio-tom mas também a letra pelo desenvolvimento de ideias” (from Wikipedia)
• 
• B LEZA 

the lyrics are above. it is in Cabo Verdean Creole (Kriol)

There are so many great singers from Cabo Verde. I had a chance to visit the Cabo Verdean Embassy in Havana and the Lady Ambassador (now CV Ambassador to France) insisted that I listen to some CV music!

Who can say they do not like the songs of Cesaria Evora and she has sung many of the mornas of B. Leza.

Who wrote SODADE ..

the very first song I heard of Cesaria when I was reading Anthropology in London?

"Sodade" is a Cape Verdean slow coladeira song written in the 1950s by Armando Zeferino Soares, and best popularized by Cesária Évora on her 1992 album Miss Perfumado. The name is the Cape Verdean Creole variant of the Portuguese term saudade. (Wiki)

She truly had a fantastic band backing her .. 

Sodade

Qui t’a montré

Ce long chemin

Qui t’a montré

Ce long chemin

Ce chemin

Pour São Tomé (*) ?

 

Sodade Sodade

Sodade (*)

De ma terre de São Nicolau (*)

 

Si tu m’écris

Je t’écrirai

Si tu m’oublies

Je t’oublierai

Jusqu’au jour

De ton retour

 

Sodade Sodade

Sodade (*)

De ma terre de São Nicolau (*)

I have known that I was born with Saudade

CAFÉ MAGIC BEAN, QUITO,ECUADOR

4JUNIO2000

it is such my friends

the end is always the same

whatever had happened,

the beauty, the magic,

nothing matters-

End

What does saudade matter?

All that you could give each other 

Only tore you apart--

E manha sera otra dia…

What images pass through

This crystalline heart of mine

Fragrances that were forgotten

How could one not remember such knots of passion?

Where was that?

How could one not forget?

SAUDADES

Significa en portugues un afecto interior; una ansia por ver la cosa amada, un pesar por no tenerla presente, y, en fin, en esta palabra estan comprendidas una fuerza de amor y otros conceptos que en ninguna otra lengua pueden expresarse

Antonio Sousa de Macedo  Lisboa 1631

One begins and ends with Pablo Neruda 

ON THIS DAY OF MOURNING WHICH AMERICANS CALL THANKSGIBING, BLESSED TO HAVE A CUBANITA MAKING CORTADITO AND PABLO'S POEMS

 Today is the Day of Mourning for the Native Americans.

I wanted to be alone. The roads were empty. I went to Ricky's cafe and sat under a photograph of Eiffel tower (rather symbolic of my new love for France and Francophone countries)

A Cubanita stood behind the coffee machine at Ricky's Cafe.

She had long wavy hair. I had never seen her before at Ricky's Cafe.

Cortadito por favor, estilo de la Havana, bien caliente, Gracias

A cortadito please, the way they make it in Havana, very hot, thank you 

She looks at me with a faint smile 

I go and sit down below the photo of Tour Eiffel..

I always carry a book of Poems, lately has been Pablo Neruda's  Winter Garden. Jardin de Invierno..

so powerful were the words that i felt such a joy swelling inside me, and I felt so much love in my heart.

from one poem:  Animal of Light

it is small, it is wide, scarce and is everything.

My eyes from looking into so many eyes

and my mouth from so many kisses.

from having swallowed the smoke

of those trains that vanished

the old merciless stations

and the dust of countless bookshops,

the man I am, the mortal, weary 

of eyes, of kisses, of smoke, of roads,

tired of books thicker than the earth.

And today, deep in that lost forest

he hears the rustling of the enemy and flees 

not from the others but from himself ,

from the interminable conversation,

from the choir that used to sing with us

and from the meaning of life 

All those poor souls in all parts of the world, if you are unhappy today, think of all the good things in your life , past and present and a hope for a future and then look inside yourself: the source of unhappiness lay there