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

Teresa Salgueiro - Senhora do Almortão

Olá my dear friends,

Do you know Teresa Salgueiro? She was the lead singer of Madredeus, from 1986 until 2007 and released 6 solo albums, the last one in 2012 entitled O Mistério (The Mistery). She collaborated with various artists such as José Carreras, Caetano Veloso, Angelo Branduardi, amongst others, and also participated as lead actress in feature film by Wim Wenders, entitled "Lisbon Story".

Today I will leave you with her, singing Senhora do Almortão, a traditional song.

 

Senhora, Senhora do Almortão | Lady, Lady of Almortão

Senhora do Almortão | Lady of Almortão
Ó minha linda raiana | Oh my beautiful raiana (born in the country border)
Virai costas, virai costas a Castela | Turn your back, turn your back to Castile
Virai costas a Castela | Turn your back to Castile
Não queiras ser castelhana | Do not want to be Castillian
Senhora, Senhora do Almortão | Lady, Lady of Almortão
Senhora do Almortão | Lady of Almortão
A vossa capela cheira, | Your chapel smels like
Cheira a cravos, cheira a cravos, cheira a rosas | Smels like carnations, smels like carnations, smels like roses
Cheira a cravos, cheira a rosas | Smels like carnations, smels like roses
Cheira a flor de laranjeira | Smels like orange blossom
Senhora, Senhora do Almortão | Lady, Lady of Almortão
Senhora do Almortão | Lady of Almortão
Eu para o ano não prometo | Next year I don’t promise
Que me morreu, que me morreu o amor | That died, that my love died
Que me morreu o amor | That my love died
Ando vestida de preto | I'm dressed in black
Senhora do Almortão | Lady of Almortão
Ó minha linda raiana | Oh my beautiful raiana (born in the country border)
Virai costas a Castela | Turn your back to Castile
Não queiras ser castelhana | Do not want to be Castilian
Senhora do Almortão | Lady of Almortão
A vossa capela cheira, | Your chapel smells like
Cheira a cravos, cheira a rosas, cheira a flor de laranjeira | Smells like carnations, smells like roses, smells like orange blossom
Senhora do Almortão | Lady of Almortão
Eu para o ano não prometo | Next year I don’t promise
Que me morreu o amor | That my love died
Ando vestida de preto | I'm dressed in black

Olha a laranjinha que caiu, caiu | Look at the small Orange that fell, fell

Lá debaixo d’água | There underwater
Nunca mais se viu | Never to be seen

P.S. I apologize for the translation, it may sound weird but it’s really hard to translate. Anyway, at least you can have an idea about what she is singing.

Teresa Salgueiro’s official site - http://www.teresasalgueiro.pt/

From Portugal,
with love

A Portuguesa

Olá my dear friends,

For some time I have been wanting to share with you our national anthem, A Portuguesa (The Portuguese [song]) and I have found a video that not only have the melody, but also the lyrics and even subtitles, which save me some hard work. Great!

But first let’s talk a little about its history. A Portuguesa was composed by Alfredo Keil and written by Henrique Lopes de Mendonça in 1890 as a song of patriotic nature in response to the British ultimatum to Portugal concerning the “Pink Map”, a document representing Portugal's claim of sovereignty of the land between Angola and Mozambique, which is currently Zambia, Zimbabwe and Malawi.  Portugal conceded that ultimatum, causing serious damage to the prestige of the Portuguese monarchy, and subsequent encouragement of Republicanism.

A Portuguesa was later adopted as the national anthem of the newborn Portuguese Republic in 1911, replacing O Hino da Carta (The Charter Anthem), the anthem of the deposed constitutional monarchy.

Now I leave you with the “real thing”, our national anthem, A Portuguesa.

From Portugal,

with love

The Português

Olá my dear friends,

After telling you a bit about Portugal, I thought it would be good to let you know about our language, which Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes once called "the sweet and gracious language".

Portuguese is the official language of Portugal, Brazil, Mozambique, Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, and São Tomé and Príncipe. Portuguese has co-official status in Macau in East Asia, East Timor in Southeast Asia and in Equatorial Guinea in Central Africa; out of the expansion of the language in colonial times, Portuguese speakers are also found in Goa, Daman and Diu in India. These are called Lusophone countries, as well as someone who speaks the Portuguese language is called a lusophone, either as a native, as an additional language, or as a learner. As an adjective, it means "Portuguese-speaking". The word itself is derived from the name of the ancient province of Lusitania, which covered most of modern-day Portugal. Portuguese is also termed "the language of Camões", after one of Portugal's greatest literary figures, Luís Vaz de Camões.

How about start being a lusophone? Check out the video and learn some Portuguese words.

P.S. Did you know that, besides Portuguese, Portugal has another official language? Its called Mirandese and is spoken in a small area of northeastern Portugal.

From Portugal,

with love


 

Portugal

Olá my dear friends,

This blog will be about Portugal, or more precisely, the Portuguese Republic. Well, some of you might be thinking: “Ok, but what the hell is Portugal?” so, let’s start there.

Portugal is the westernmost country of mainland Europe, is bordered by Spain to the north and east and by the Atlantic Ocean to the west and south. Besides the continental Portugal, its territory includes also the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores.

This small country is actually the oldest European nation-state, being established in 1139 as the Kingdom of Portugal, but the frontiers we know today were only defined in 1249. In the Age of Discovery Portugal had a decisive role in the expansion of the western influence, it established the first global empire, becoming one of the world's major economic, political and military powers and the longest-lived of the modern European colonial empires, spanning almost 600 years, from the capture of Ceuta in 1415 to the handover of Macau in 1999 and grant of sovereignty to East Timor in 2002.

During the Neolithic this region was occupied by Pre-Celts and Celts, giving origin to peoples like the Gallaeci, Lusitanians, Celtici and Cynetes, visited by Phoenicians and Carthaginians, incorporated in the Roman Republic dominions as Lusitania and part of Gallaecia, later the Suebi, Buri, and Visigoths passed by. Portugal survived to various invasions from the Moors and the kingdoms that would later became today Spain, especially Castile, but also the Napoleonic Invasions. It would still have to face civil wars, the end of the monarchy, colonial wars and 41 years of dictatorship.

I hope this first post hasn’t been to boring and if it made you curious about our history visit my page at Pinterest, where you can find lots of pictures, videos and a quick peek through the history of Portugal.

P.S. The Portuguese people can also be caled lusos or lusitanos.

 

From Portugal,
with love