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Luludya738Tuesday 21st of February 2006 09:50:49 PM
Translation - Hi there! I'm a real an of the fado song but I can't seem to understand a fragment of a song called "Fado portugues" I mean...I understand all the ds but I can't make a sense out of it. Could you help? I'd be grateful.

"Na boca dum marinheiro
do frágil barco veleiro,
morrendo a canção magoada,
diz o pungir dos desejos
do lábio a queimar de beijos
que beija o ar, e mais nada,
que beija o ar, e mais nada.

Mãe, adeus. Adeus, Maria.
Guarda bem no teu sentido
que aqui te faço uma jura:
que ou te levo à sacristia,
ou foi Deus que foi servido
dar-me no mar sepultura."

jrclsWednesday 29th of March 2006 06:06:30 PM
-
Well, this one is really hard... I´ll give it a try. Comments from portuguese pals (who are much more familiar with fado) are welcome.

In order to understand the whole thing, one needs to \"unfold\" the song, because it´s tightly wrapped around itself :-) For the first part only, the second part is somewhat easy.

The poem is a sailor´s farewell to his loved one; he´s going to miss her very badly, and he´s also afraid to die. The scene is a very painful one (of course: if it wasn´t, it wouldn´t be fado anyway :-) It seems to me that the first part (strophe) describes the scene and says how he´s feeling; the second strophe tells us what he´s really saying.

So let´s unfold it:

- think of a \"sailor in a fragile sailboat\" (marinheiro do frágil barco veleiro);

- he´s singing a \"very sad song\" (canção magoada), but his voice is almost inaudible (morrendo); in portuguese, when we say \"sua voz estava morrendo\", literally \"his voice was dying\", we mean his voice was fading, becoming inaudible;

- what´s he saying? what is this very sad song? it´s the second part (strophe);

- \"o pungir dos desejos do lábio\" can translate to \"the tormenting sensation that comes from the desires of the lip\", that means: the lip (one lip only, not \"lips\", perhaps because of the rhyme, dunno...) has its desires, and the result is a tormenting sensation; let´s see why:

- how´s this lip? it´s a \"lip that is burning with kisses\" (lábio a queimar de beijos); what else? this lip is the one \"that kisses the air, and nothing else\" (que beija o ar, e mais nada); so: the poor boy is singing his farewell, and he's kissing the air, probably throwing kisses to his loved one, his lip is burning because of those frustrating kisses that cannot satisfy its desires (because the lip is far from its \"object of desire\"), and the bottom line is that he´s feeling quite bad...

My try:

In the sailor´s mouth
in a fragile sailboat,
a fading, gloomy song,
tells the tormented desires
of a lip, that is burning with kisses,
that kisses the air, and nothing else,
that kisses the air, and nothing else.

First part ok?

The second part is easy, even though it contains some kinda fancy expressions (\"sentido\" to mean \"mind\", \"foi servido\" to mean \"will\", and so on; I suggest the most simple translation possible.)

\"Mother, farewell. Farewell, Maria.\"
the portuguese \"adeus\" is a strong word, when you use it you mean you don't expect to meet the other person again; it sounds very tragic :-) he isn't saying \"good bye\", he´s biding adieu, so to speak.

Now he addresses his loved one (Maria) in a very solemn way:
\"Keep safe in your mind that here and now I swear before you:\"
(Guarda bem no teu sentido que aqui te faço uma jura)

He swears that he´s going to marry her, unless he dies in his trip (remember that the sailboat is fragile):
\"Either I take you to the altar\" (ou te levo à sacristia)
\"Or it was God´s will to make my grave in the sea\" (ou foi Deus que foi servido dar-me no mar sepultura)

Hope that helps.
lyddiSaturday 01st of April 2006 08:49:21 PM
- I need one too.
Here is my sentence in English and Spanish.

Words link and get people together.
Las palabras unen y enlazan la gente.

Obrigada.
IsabelSunday 02nd of April 2006 02:40:37 AM
- Well, I guess it's this:

As palavras unem (link) e aproximam (get together) as pessoas.

I was also thinking on the word \"juntam\" for \"get together\" but it doesn't sound nice :S


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