Kaleidoscope - portuguese

Noticías Populares - Ana Carolina

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lady Iphigenia) — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 21:50:00 -0500

Gracias al post de mardevientos que me hizo discubrir otra cantante brasileña, Ana Carolina, con una voz bien grave como me gustan.

Tudo se acaba.
Olha o noticiário!
Água se acaba.
Se acaba a prece do vigário.
E eu quero ser a mendiga suja e descabelada
Dormindo na vertical.
Entender como a vida de alguém
Se acaba antes do final.

Prefiro Lou Reed do Velvet Underground.
Gosto de Silvia Plath, S.Eliot,
Emily Dickinson, Lucinda,
Délia, Manoel de Barros ficam eternos por mim.

Esqueço a crise da Argentina
Quebrando o pau com a menina no sinal
Em castelhano, ê
Eu furo os planos, ê
Eu furo o dedo, mando vê
Examinando, lanho o braço
Aperto o passo. Não sou louca!
É...

Tomei um tiro
No vidro do meu carro
É a pobreza
Tirando o seu sarro
Foi meu dinheiro
Foi meu livro caro
Que façam bom proveito
Da grana que roubaram
Porque eu trabalho
E outro dinheiro eu vou ganhar

Tomei um táxi
O motorista, mexicano,
Veio falando sobre o onze de setembro.
Havia um homem na calçada lendo o "Código Da Vinci"
Ou lia o código da venda?

E na parada havia um peruano
Cheio de badulaques, ô
Vendendo Nike, ô
Vendendo bike, Coca Light, canivete
Aceita cheque pros breguetes.
Notícias do Iraque na Tv da lanchonete.

Notícias populares
Voam pelos ares
E amanhã, meu nêgo, ninguém sabe
Se alguém recua ou se alguém invade
Se alguém tem nome ou se alguém tem fome.
Que façam bom proveito
Do pouco que restar
Se tanta gente vive
Só com o que dá pra aproveitar.

Tudo se acaba.
Olha o noticiário!

Aguas de Março - Tom Jobim

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lady Iphigenia) — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 13:35:00 -0400

As we are getting a rainy autumn season here in Canada, spring is turning to summer in Argentina. I was chatting earlier on msn with my cousin who asked me "are you cold yet?" and I had to admit that we are getting there (around 5°C today). She told me that my mum is starting to complain because the warm and humid weather is about to start again. Buenos-Aires is very humid all year long, but I particularly dislike the weather when it's hot and humid (as does my mum), it seems I can't breath as well (we are getting humidity here too, but it doesn't last as long).

The first and only time I spent Christmas with my mum's family down there, I had left the glacial temperatures of Montreal (-20°C, plus wind factor) to arrive in the suffocating hot summer temperatures of Buenos-Aires. It struck me that my cousins and family have always known Christmas without snow, always in the middle of summer, whereas me I had lived all my life in seasons diametrically opposed! It was strange (but very joyful) to have parrillas with my family, eat a lot (!) of good food even in such a hot weather (no air conditioning is the norm over there)...

Same thing for the family of my darling who are living in Brazil... We might share the same time zone, but not the same season!

The song that I wanted to post the other day to test my podcast wasn't "A garota de Ipanema" (The Girl from Ipanema), rather "Aguas de Março" which is also writen by Jobim, but with more absurd lyrics. I like strange things.

About the song: I made a little reseach and according to a survey, it has been declared in 2001 the best Brazilian song ever! Well, all I'm trying to do is extra motivate myself to learn my darling's mother tongue, so when we'll have kids we can teach them to be polyglots like us.

"Which are the best Brazilian songs ever? Seven among the 10 best were composed by Tom Jobim, according to a panel of experts. The big winner: Águas de Março. (...)
If your own personal list included Tom Jobim (1927-1994), you will be glad to know that seven of Jobim’s songs made the ten most cited tunes. Jobim’s "Águas de Março", from 1972, was the champion, but his name was also remembered for "Chega de Saudade" (3rd place, from 1958), "Retrato em Branco e Preto" (6th place, 1968) and "Garota de Ipanema" (7th place, 1963). Jobim was again considered for "Corcovado" (1960) and "Desafinado" (1958, a tie in 9th place) and "Wave (Vou Te Contar)" (1967, 10th place). Tom Jobim had 32 of his songs cited, the most songs any author had mentioned. (...)

Here you have it sang by Elis Regina.

Águas de Março / Waters of March
(Jobim himself re-wrote these lyrics for the English version)

"É pau, é pedra,
é o fim do caminho
É um resto de toco,
é um pouco sozinho

It's stick, it's stone
It's the end of the road
It's a rest of stump
It's a little alone

É um caco de vidro,
é a vida, é o sol
É a noite, é a morte,
é o laço, é o anzol

It's a shard of glass
It is life, it's the sun
It is night, it is death
It's the snare, it's the fishhook

É peroba do campo,
é o nó da madeira
Caingá candeia,
é o matita-pereira

It's peroba of the field
It’s the knot in the wood
Lamp caingá tree
It's the matita-pereira tree

É madeira de vento,
tombo da ribanceira
É o mistério profundo,
é o queira ou não queira

It's wind-resistant wood
Falls of the ravine
It's the profound mystery
It's the you wish or you don’t

É o vento ventando,
é o fim da ladeira
É a viga, é o vão,
festa da cumeeira

It's the wind blowing
It's the end of the slope
It's the beam, it's the span
The new roof party

É a chuva chovendo,
é conversa ribeira
Das águas de março,
é o fim da canseira

It's the rain raining
It’s riverbank talk
Of the waters of March
It's the end of the struggle

É o pé, é o chão,
é a marcha estradeira
Passarinho na mão,
pedra de atiradeira

It's the foot, it's the ground
It's the walk on the road
Small bird in the hand
A slingshot stone

É uma ave no céu,
é uma ave no chão
É um regato, é uma fonte,
é um pedaço de pão

It’s a bird in the sky
It’s a bird on the ground
It's a creek, it's a fountain
It's a piece of bread

É o fundo do poço,
é o fim do caminho
No rosto o desgosto,
é um pouco sozinho

It's the bottom of the well
It's the end of the way
In the face the annoyance
It's a little lonely

É um estrepe, é um prego,
é uma ponta, é um ponto
É um pingo pingando,
é uma conta, é um conto

It's a thorn, it's a nail
It's a point, it’s a dot
It's a drop dripping
It's an tally, it’s a tale

É um peixe, é um gesto,
é uma prata brilhando
É a luz da manhã,
é o tijolo chegando

It's a fish, it’s a gesture
It's silver shining
It's the morning’s light
It's the brick arriving

É a lenha, é o dia,
é o fim da picada
É a garrafa de cana,
o estilhaço na estrada

It's the firewood, it's the day
It's the end of the trail
It's the bottle of liquor
Splinter in the road

É o projeto da casa,
é o corpo na cama
É o carro enguiçado,
é a lama, é a lama

It’s the house’s design
It's the body in bed
It's the broken down car
It's the mud, it's the mud

É um passo, é uma ponte,
é um sapo, é uma rã
É um resto de mato,
na luz da manhã

It's a footstep, it's a bridge
It's a toad, it's a frog
It's a rest of brush
In the morning’s light

São as águas de março
fechando o verão
É a promessa de vida
no teu coração

They are the waters of March
Closing the summer
It's the promise of life
In your heart

É uma cobra, é um pau,
é João, é José
É um espinho na mão,
é um corte no pé

It's a snake, it’s a stick
It's John, it's Joseph
It's a thorn in the hand
It's the cut on the foot

São as águas de março
fechando o verão
É a promessa de vida
no teu coração

They are the waters of March
Closing the summer
It's the promise of life
In your heart

É pau, é pedra,
é o fim do caminho
É um resto de toco,
é um pouco sozinho

It's stick, it's stone
It's the end of the road
It's a rest of stump
It's a little alone

É um passo, é uma ponte,
é um sapo, é uma rã
É um belo horizonte,
é uma febre terçã

It's a footstep, a bridge
It's a toad, it's a frog
It's a beautiful horizon
It’s a tertian fever

São as águas de março
fechando o verão
É a promessa de vida
no teu coração"

They are the waters of March
Closing the summer
It's the promise of life
In your heart"

Le Brésilien sans peine

noreply@blogspirit.com (Lady Iphigenia) — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 21:35:00 -0400

I love reading, learning, and... yes, of course, BOOKS! It is very hard for D and I not to buy all the nice books that we find interesting at the bookstore (if it wasn't for the price) and even harder when we go at the second-hand bookstore (because the price is much nicer). Then why do we try to resist? Well, for the simple fact that books are heavy, and that when we move from place to place, boxes full of books weights a lot (and I'm not the one carrying, since I'm Lady Iphigenia the one and only, eh!). Luckily Don Quixote is a gentleman with big muscles (and a charming smile).

Somehow, with that great foundness for books, something strange happens with me (strange things often happen with me, to me, towards me...): when I own a book, I don't have a great urge to read it. I have maybe 10 to 20 books that I plan to read one day, but in the mean time stay neatly placed on the shelves. However, for the books that I choose at the library, I often read them much faster than the due date and can't put the book down until I'm done with it!

For the books I own, I sometimes start reading one book, then start another (without finishing the first one), then another (without finishing the second one) and so on. At the moment I am reading 2 books at the same time: The Chronicles of Narnia, The French are never wrong (or something like that which was a book that I offered to my Darling last christmas), there is another unfinished book about the voice, and (now comes the subject of this post) I am also teaching myself portuguese!

Last Christmas I bought myself this method complete with CDs (along with the other book that I offered to super Darling). It was on sale at the local Chapters bookstore and since the best gifts are the ones that one makes to him/herself, I had no reason to resist to that one. Plus, I am a complete addicted to learning new languages, AND it's my Darling's native language! (Go, go motivation!)
With all this good will, and the above mentioned reasons, I only opened this book last week, put the CD in our Mini-HiFi, and started repeating with the recording "Bom Dia! Todo bem? Sim. Eu me chamo Iphigenia. Tem um apartamento reservado em meu nome?" (literally: Hello! All good? Yes. My name is Iphigenia. Do you have a room reserved on my name?)

So far, so good. I think it will be easier to learn with a CD/method, than only relying on D for correcting my pronunciation (we are otherwise always talking in French together). When I try to speak in Portuguese to his parents/brother through MSN, it is hard at the moment because I mix it up so easily with Spanish or Italian! Hopefully, I'll get better with time and one day we'll have the opportunity to be surrounded by the language for a little while, either visiting Brazil or Portugal: the best way to learn!

* Le Brésilien sans peine is the title of the book that D offered for my first birthday together (he had bought is when we weren't even together yet!). It could translate the Brazilian Made Easy, or literally the Brazilian without pain which I find is a funny title, but then, I also have a queer sence of humour... HAHA to me!