Eusébio, "A Pantera Negra"

Olá my dear friends

Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (1942 – 2014), Eusébio, “A Pantera Negra” (“The Black Panther”) was also known as “A Pérola Negra” (“The Black Pearl”), “O Génio Humilde” (“The Humble Genius”) or simply “O Rei” (“The King”) and was one of the greatest footballers of all times. Born in Mozambique, at the time when Portugal was from Minho to Timor, he came to the continent with 19 years old to play at Sport Lisboa e Benfica. Eusébio played in Benfica for 15 years and during that time he scored 638 goals in 614 games. He helped Benfica win 11 Primeira Liga titles, 5 Taça da Liga titles and 1 European Cup, he also won 7 Bola de Prata and was the first ever player to win the European Golden Boot, in 1968 and 1973. Eusébio was also an important footballer for the Portuguese National Team, helping them reach third place at 1966 World Cup being top goalscorer of the tournament.

Eusébio and Fadista Amália

When Portugal was known by the three F’s (Fátima, Fado and Football), Eusébio wasn’t allowed to leave Portugal and play for a foreign team, he was considered by the dictatorial regime as a “Property of the State”. During the Colonial War Eusébio, loved by all, Benfica’s fans or not, had the power to stop the war every time he played, everyone wanted to hear the game at the radio. With a rare fairplay he would applaud the goalkeeper of the opposite team when he could defend Eusébio’s shots. 

According with Eusébio’s wishes he was taken to a last round around Estádio da Luz (Benfica’s Stadium) where fans from all ages and football teams applaud him even if they never really saw him play, Eusébio was already a living legend. Another of his wishes was to be buried with three flags, one from Portugal, Mozambique and Benfica.

For all these reasons, besides the bad weather, Portugal saiu para a rua to homenagear him not only the football player but also the man he was. At Dia de Reis (The Three Magic King’s Day) Portugal said goodbye to Eusébio crying tears of saudade and singing “Tu és o nosso Rei, Eusébio!” (“You’re our King, Eusébio!”).

From Portugal,with love

Camané - Sei de um rio

Olá my dear friends,

Carlos Manuel Moutinho Paiva dos Santos, more known as Camané is a fadista born at Oeiras in 22 December 1967. He has two younger brothers, also fadistas, Hélder Moutinho and Pedro Moutinho. He started gaining recognition in Portugal in 1979 after winning the “Grande Noite do Fado” (Great Fado Night). His first CD (Uma Noite de Fados) was released in 1995, after that he released 8 more CD’s, the last one this year (O Melhor 1995-2013).

In this video Camané sings “Sei de um rio”, a fado with lyrics by Pedro Homem de Mello and music by Alain Oulman.

Don’t forget do see the English translation if you want to know what he is singing.

Sei de um rio, | I know of a river,

Sei de um rio | I know of a river
Em que as únicas estrelas nele sempre debruçadas |Where the only stars always perched on it
São as luzes da cidade |Are the city’s lights
Sei de um rio, | I know of a river,

Sei de um rio | I know of a river
Onde a própria mentira tem o sabor da verdade |Where the lie itself smacks of true
Sei de um rio… | I know of a river…
Meu amor dá-me os teus lábios, | My love give your lips,

Dá-me os lábios desse rio | Give the lips of that river
Que nasceu na minha sede, | That was born from my thirst,

Mas o sonho continua | But the dream continues
E a minha boca até quando ao separar-se da tua | And my mouth even when separating from yours
Vai repetindo e lembrando | Keeps repeating and remembering
Sei de um rio, | I know of a river,

Sei de um rio | I know of a river
Meu amor dá-me os teus lábios, | My love give your lips,
Dá-me os lábios desse rio | Give me the lips of that river
Que nasceu na minha sede, | That was born from my thirst,

Mas o sonho continua | But the dream continues
E a minha boca até quando ao separar-se da tua | And my mouth even when separating from yours
Vai repetindo e lembrando | Keeps repeating and remembering

Sei de um rio, | I know of a river,

Sei de um rio | I know of a river
Sei de um rio | I know of a river

Até quando… | Until when…

For more information visit Camané’s official web page: http://www.camane.com/

From Portugal,

with love

Mariza - Ó Gente da Minha Terra

Olá my dear friends,

Marisa dos Reis Nunes known as Mariza was born at 16 December 1973 and is a popular fadista. She was born in Mozambique, but raised in Lisbon's historic quarters of Mouraria and Alfama with her Portuguese father and Mozambican mother. While very young she began singing in a wide variety of musical styles, including gospel, soul and jazz, but her father strongly encouraged her to adopt fado.

Her first album, Fado em mim, was released in 2001. It sold an astounding 100,000 copies when 4,000 copies of a fado disc would have been considered successful in such a small country. After this the record company made the disc available worldwide, and sales eventually topped 140,000 copies. After this success she released 4 more studio albums, 2 live albums and 3 DVD.

In this video she sings “Ó Gente da Minha Terra”, a poem by Amália Rodrigues and music by Tiago Machado.

Check out her official web page for more information and find out where you can see her. Maybe she is going to your home town.

From Portugal,
with love

Fado - Intangible Heritage of Humanity

Olá my dear friends,

Have you ever heard about fado?

Fado means fate and is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best. The music is usually linked to the sea and the Portuguese word saudade which symbolizes the feeling of loss.

On 27 November 2011, Fado was inscribed in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists. You can see the application on the video above as well as the history of fado in only 10 minutes.

The next video is a representation of a “Casa de Fados” usually small taverns or restaurants where you can ear fado. The fadistas singing are Vicente da Câmara, Maria da Nazaré, Ana Sofia Varela, Carminho, Ricardo Ribeiro and Pedro Moutinho.

Check out the board Music at my Pinterest page for more fado songs, some of them with English subtitles.

From Portugal,
with love

Singing in Protest

  Olá my dear friends,

During the repression from the dictatorial regime the protest songs were frequent, always trying to circumvent censorship installed by the government and the secret police PIDE.

Actually, one of the passwords for the Carnation Revolution, was a song. During the Festival RTP da Canção, a tv show where it would be chosen the singer that would represent Portugal in the Eurovision Festival, the song “Depois do Adeus” by Paulo de Carvalho was used as password for the military coup. Despite winning the festival in Portugal in the Eurovision Festival he ranked last. Paulo de Carvalho, a protest singer, is still a face of the revolution and required singer.

Zeca Afonso was one of the biggest influences in protest music (música de intervenção), with songs like “Grândola, Vila Morena”, sung even today as a way of protest against the recent developments in the economical crisis. You can see one of these manifestations in the video above filmed on March 2, 2013 (music starts at 1:42).

This spirit of singing as protest is still alive in the new generations like Deolinda and Boss AC. They express the difficulties the Portuguese people currently live, like high unemployment, especially among graduates, low wages and high taxes.

 

From Portugal,
with love

The Carnation Revolution

Olá my dear friends,

This month we are celebrating the national holiday of Freedom Day, the day when we left a dictatorial regime, which lasted 41 years, behind. The Carnation Revolution (Revolução dos Cravos) or 25 April (25 de Abril).

These dictatorial times are divided in two parts: Ditadura Nacional (1926-1933) and Estado Novo (1933-1974). The Estado Novo, greatly inspired by conservative and authoritarian ideologies, was developed by António de Oliveira Salazar. Opposed to communism, socialism, liberalism, and anti-colonialism, the pro-Roman Catholic Estado Novo regime advocated the retention of Portuguese colonies as a pluricontinental empire. Under the Estado Novo Portugal preserved a vast, centuries-old empire with a total area of 2,168,071 km².

The revolution started on 25 April 1974 as a military coup organized by the Movimento das Forças Armadas (Armed Forces Movement, MFA), composed of low-ranking military officers who opposed the regime, but the movement was soon coupled with an unanticipated and popular campaign of civil resistance. This movement would lead to the fall of the Estado Novo and the withdrawal of Portugal from its African colonies.

Although the regime's political police, PIDE, killed four people before surrendering, the revolution was unusual in that the revolutionaries did not use direct violence to achieve their goals. Holding red carnations (cravos in Portuguese), many people joined revolutionary soldiers on the streets of Lisbon, in apparent joy and audible euphoria.

Portugal went through a turbulent period, almost falling in a new dictatorship, this time a communist one. This period is commonly called the “Continuing Revolutionary Process” (Processo Revolucionário em Curso, or PREC) that lasted until 25 November 1975, the day of a pro-communist coup followed by a successful counter-coup by pro-democracy moderates, marked by constant friction between liberal-democratic forces and leftist/communist political parties. After a year, the first free election was carried out on 25 April 1975 in order to write a new Constitution that would replace the Constitution of 1933 which prevailed during the Estado Novo period.

From Portugal,
with love

 

Amor Electro - A Máquina

Olá my dear friends,

Portuguese music isn’t all about fado or traditional songs. A good example of that is Amor Electro, a Portuguese band that released their first album, Cai o Carmo e a Trindade, in May 2011. Since then you can hear them frequently in any Portuguese radio once that Amor Electro became one of the most popular bands in Portugal, reaching the top sales in the same month that they released their album. The band is formed by Marisa Liz (vocalist), Tiago Pais Dias (multi-instrumentalist), Ricardo Vasconcelos (keyboard) and Rui Rechena (bass).

I hope you enjoy their first single, A Máquina.

A Máquina | The Machine

Music: Tiago Pais Dias

Lyrics: Marisa Liz

 

Saber o que fazer, | Knowing what to do,
Com isto a acontecer, | With this happening,
Num caso como o meu. | In a situation like mine.
Ter o meu amor, | Having my love,
Para dar e pra vender, | To give and to sell*,
Mas sei que vou ficar, | But I know that I’ll stay,
Por ter o que eu não tenho, | Having what i don't have
Eu sei que vou ficar. | I know that I’ll stay.

É de pedir aos céus, | Praying to the heavens
A mim, a ti e a Deus, | To me, to you and to God,
Que eu quero ser feliz. | I want to be happy.

É de pedir aos céus. | Praying to the heavens
Porque este amor é meu, | Because this love is mine,
E cedo, vou saber | And soon, I will know
Que triste é viver, | How sad it is to live,

Que sina, ai, que amor, | What fate, what love,
Já nem vou mais chorar, | I wont even cry
Gritar, ligar, voltar, | Shout, call, return,
A máquina parou, | The machine stopped,
Deixou de tocar. | Stopped playing.

Sentir e não mentir, | Feeling and not lying,
Amar e querer ficar, | Loving and wanting to stay,
Que pena é ver-te assim, | What a pity it is to see you like that,
Já sem saberes de ti. | Having no knowledge of yourself.

Rasguei o teu perdão, | I tore your forgiveness,
Quis ser o que já fui, | I wanted to be what I once was,
Eu não vou mais fugir, | I will not flee,
A viagem começou. | The journey began.

Porque este amor é meu, | Because this love is mine,
E cedo, vou saber | And soon, I will know
Que triste é viver, | How sad it is to live,
Que sina, ai, que amor, | What fate, what love,
Já nem vou mais chorar, | I won’t even cry
Gritar, ligar, voltar, | Shout, call, return,
A máquina parou, | The machine stopped,
Deixou de tocar. | Stopped playing.

É de pedir aos céus. | Praying to the heavens

A mim, a ti e a Deus, | To me, to you and to God,
Que eu quero ser feliz. | I want to be happy.
É de pedir aos céus. | Praying to the heavens 

Porque este amor é teu, | Because this love is yours,
E eu já só vou amar, | And I'm just going to love,
Que bom não acabou, | How nice it is not over,
A máquina acordou. | The machine woke.

* A Portuguese expression meaning that you have a lot of something. Basically you have so much of that thing that you can give it, sell it and still have a lot.

From Portugal,
with love