Andrea, Many thanks for your english translation of the "Girl From Ipanema" lyrics. This points out just 'how much' of the originally intended meaning can get lost when attempting to translate lyrics from one language to another, while retaining the original melody. Your translation has given me a lot more insight to this song and has encouraged me now (even more) to attempt to learn to sing it in Portuguese. Thanks. - Scott

Scott, if you wish I can translate the whole song for you
Remember when we were talking about the importance of singing inside the melody of a song while playing it, to be able to play with more insight and feeling? Well, I now can say that, before even attempting to play a song, it's very important to know what the song is all about. For example, a song like "Manha de carnaval" is translated in english as "A day in the life of a fool"; well, I think that the meaning of the song is lost just from the title!
To give you another idea of how beautiful these brazilian songs can be, here is an excerpt from "A felicidade" (Jobim-De Moraes, from the movie "Black Orpheus"), with my free translation:

"Tristeza não tem fim,
Felicidade sim...
...
A felicidade de pobre parece
A grande ilusão do carnaval
A gente trabalha
o ano enteiro
Por un momento de sonho
Pra fazer a fantasia
De rei ou de pirata ou jardineira
E tudo se acabar na quarta feira...
...
Tristeza não tem fim
Felicidade sim"

"Sadness never dies
Happiness dies all too soon...
...
For the poor people happiness seems to be
The big illusion of Carnival
People work the whole year
For a moment a dream
To be able to make the phantasy of being
A king or a pirate or a gardner,
But all is over by Wednesday morning
...
Sadness never dies
Happiness dies all too soon"

[This message has been edited by Dreamer (edited 06-24-2003).]

Dreamer ... and the full translation??? ...
t.

I may help with double versions (portuguese/english) of some of the widely known bossas. I have them close to the leadsheets More on this later.



Well, I doubt it's this simple, but it's true that the ability of the brazilian people to overcome problems that would badly depress an average european, still amazes me very much. Maybe the key is that there is a lot of emotional (not material) generosity among brazilians. People seek, with high priority in their lives, true emotional connections with each other, not pale social contact or conversations. That's, at least, what impresses me the most, in my contacts with brazilian friends.

I remember once, in a TV channel, the news about a violent storm over Rio. There were heavy rains that completely smashed entire quarters in Rio's "favelas" (home for many poor people). One family lost ALL their wells. Interviewed by a jornalist, they were saying that it could have been worst: they managed to save the TV, so they could watch the "novela" (a kind of soap opera, also very popular in Portugal).

-- José.

[This message has been edited by matias (edited 06-25-2003).]

Tony,
do you want me to translate the whole song? Well, both José and Chico can of course do a better job compared to me, but I think that maybe we can compare our versions, so I will now give you my own translation of "Garota de Ipanema" and maybe Chico or José (or any other) can add their own comments.
Here is the portuguese version:

"Olha que coisa mais linda
Mais cheia de graça
É ela menina
Que vem e que passa
Num doce balanço, a caminho do mar

Moça do corpo dourado
Do sol de Ipanema
O seu balançado é mais que um poema
É a coisa mais linda que eu já vi passar

Ah, porque estou tão sozinho
Ah, porque tudo é tão triste
Ah, a beleza que existe
A beleza que não é só minha
Que também passa sozinha

Ah, se ela soubesse
Que quando ela passa
O mundo sorrindo se enche de graça
E fica mais lindo
Por causa do amor"

And this is my poor translation:

"Look at that wonderful thing
so full of grace
that girl
who's coming and then going away
swaying so gently, on her way to the sea

Girl with a golden body,
tanned by the Ipanema sun
Her swaying is more than a poem
She's the most beautiful thing I ever saw going by

Ah, why am I so lonely?
Ah, why is everything so sad?
Ah, the beauty that exists
That beauty is not just mine
Yet goes by all alone

Ah, if she only could know
That when she goes by
The world smiles full of grace
And becomes a more beautiful place
Due to the power of love.

* Note: the word "menina" literally means "child", however you will understand me more if I tell you that in italian it would be translated as "bambina". So I think that "bambina" gives more the idea of a beautiful adolescent, with long dark hair, green eyes and a body in full blossom. The english word "child" is -to me- inappropriate. But -of course- the experts here are Chico and José.

Andrea

Menina means a young girl .
Today you have a perfect feeling of portuguese language.
Chico

[This message has been edited by ChicoBrasil (edited 06-25-2003).]

Hi Andrea.

Only today I had the opportunity of reading this post.
More and more I'm impressed with this your "brasilianismo". (I think that this word don't have translation, "brazilianness" perhaps)

Abraços
Armando

(Today I'm a PRO_FAN too)

[This message has been edited by SD_FAN (edited 06-25-2003).]

[This message has been edited by SD_FAN (edited 06-25-2003).]

Oi Armando,
muito obrigado para tuas palavras.
I have a problem though: these days I am playing 90% of the time brazilian music; it's becoming a very addictive habit!
Maybe part of the fault goes to the 9000 pro?
Abracos,
Andrea