From: petrescd@acf3.nyu.edu (Deivy Marck Petrescu)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.brazil
Subject: Re: Literature Question
Date: 31 Aug 92 02:16:34 GMT
Organization: New York University

gmribeir@david.wheaton.edu (Glauber) writes:

>>The anthology of Brazilian poetry I am reading now (in English
>>translation) , mentions that the work of many of the important
>>younger poets in Brazil takes the form of song lyrics , and that
>>some of these songs are extremely popular in Brazil. Unfortunately,
>>the anthology does not mention the names of any of these 
>>poet-songwriters. Could some kind soul on this newsgroup post
>>something about them ?  (Preferably in English, for the benefit
>>of those like me who are novices in Portuguese.)
>>
>>Obrigado,
>>
>>-Sayan Bhattacharyya
>>
>>~~~~~~~~~~~

>I'm sorry. I didn't know there was such an anthology and i
>assumed you knew Portuguese, etc.

>About song lyrics, Vinicius de Moraes was the first "highbrow"
>heavyweight poet to associate with composers. His songs are at
>least as good as his other poetry, which is to say, very good.
>Capinam is a modern poet who has written songs. There are others,
>but i don't recall the names right now.

>Other composers who are usually featured in literature courses
>are

>Chico Buarque (probably the best poet. If you know Portuguese,
>			look for the song "Construcao")
>Caetano Velloso
>others that imho deserved to be in the list but usually aren't
>Gilberto Gil (he's always changing, always fresh, and has
>		some good poetry in many different styles)
>Milton Nascimento (look for the songs "Travessia" and "Fazenda")

I think there is a problem here, as far as I know Milton is not
the writer of the lyrics to his songs. It used to be Fernado Brant,
someone who is not as known as he should.

>Also sometimes a composer will put somebody else's poetry to
>music. I recall a poem by Carlos Drummond de Andrade that was set
>to music by Milton Nascimento (don't remember the name, but it
>has the lines "eu preparo uma canc,a~o em que minha ma~e se
>reconhec,a / todas as ma~es se reconhc,am / e que fale como dois
>olhos"). There has even been a recording of the book "Mensagem"
>(Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese poet) by several different Brazilian
>composers.

If you allow me, I should say that there are many composers
whose songs are poetry in its pure form, but the poem that I
think is the prettier 	in the whole of the Portuguese language (
i.e. the nicest among the two I know) is a revolutionary-passionate
one writen by a despised consevartive poet Olavo Bilac and the name
is: "A Alvorada do Amor" of the colection "Alma Inquieta" .
He also have a famous poem about the Portuguese langage, and was
considered the "Prince of the Brazilian poets".

>The problem with songs when they are recorded in English is that
>they receive different lyrics, in order to be more effective in
>English. The English lyrics not always have anything to do with
>the original. Of course, it is always very very difficult to
>study poetry of any people without knowing the language. And
>translations from Portuguese are rare.


>						Glauber

Agreed. Anyway, I might be biased, but I like the rythm no
matter if the lyrics are in English....

     Deivy