Lyrics from “O mundo é assim” by Alvaiade (first released in 1975) and “Nascer e florescer” by Manacéia (first released in 2000)
—
“O mundo é assim”
O dia se renova todo dia // The day starts anew every day
E eu envelheço cada dia e cada mês // While I grow older by the day and by the month
O mundo passa por mim todos os dias // The world passes through me every day
Enquanto eu passo pelo mundo uma vez // While I pass through the world only once
(2 x)
A natureza é perfeita // Nature is absolute
Não há quem possa duvidar // No one can question that
A noite é o dia que dorme // Night is the day in slumber
O dia é a noite ao despertar // Day is the night upon waking
“Nascer e florescer”
Não tenho ambição neste mundo, não // No, I have no ambition in this world
Mas sou rico, da graça de Deus // But I’m rich, by the grace of god
Tenho em minha vida um amor de valor // In my life I have a love of great worth
E meu tesouro encantador// My enchanting treasure
Sei que reclamas em vão // I know you object in vain
Porque não tens a compreensão // Because you don’t understand
Que o mundo é bom // That the world is good
Para quem sabe viver // For those who know how to live
E se conforma com que Deus lhe dá // And accept what god gives them
A nossa vida é nascer e florescer // Our life is to be born and to bloom
Para mais tarde morrer // To then go on to die
— Commentary —
Alvaiade (Oswaldo Silva) was one of Portela’s most important composers in the school’s early years. A trusted friend of founder Paulo da Portela, Alvaiade took a leading role in the school after Paulo’s bitter departure in 1941. He was one of few early portelenses born and raised in the school’s largely rural (at the time) neighborhood, Oswaldo Cruz; many others, including Paulo, had moved out to Oswaldo Cruz from the central port area of Rio after urban reforms reduced the housing supply in the early 1900s. (For more on that, see this post.)
Like Manacéia, Alvaiade had a special talent for composing exquisite, poignant lyrics using the simplest language, giving voice to the “wisdom of the people,” as the Portela website boasts.
Brazil was introduced to Alvaiade’s fellow portelense Manacéia through the 1970 album Portela Passado de Glória, produced by Paulinho da Viola. The album compiled fourteen unreleased, decades-old sambas by some of the school’s founders and earliest composers — including Manacéia’s “Quantas Lágrimas” — and officially launched the Velha Guarda da Portela as a group in itself. Four years later, Cristina Buarque, Chico Buarque’s sister, achieved national recognition – and greater recognition for Manacéia – with her recording of “Quantas Lágrimas” on her first solo album, Cristina. From the 1940s until his death in 1995, Manacéia was one of the school’s most esteemed composers, alongside his brothers Mijinha and Aniceto da Portela, and “Quantas Lágrimas” became a lasting favorites of the Velha Guarda:
—
Ah, quantas lágrimas eu tenho derramado// Oh how many tears I’ve shed
Só em saber que não posso mais // Just for knowing that I can’t
Reviver o meu passado // Relive my past
Eu vivia cheio de esperança // I used to be so full of hope
E de alegria eu cantava eu sorria // and joy; I sang, I smiled
Mas hoje em dia eu não tenho mais // But these days I no longer have
A alegria dos tempos atrás // That joy of days gone by (2x)
Só melancolia os meus olhos trazem // My eyes carry only melancholy
Ai quanta saudade a lembrança traz // Ah how much saudade memory brings
Se houvesse retrocesso na idade // If there were a way to turn back age
Eu não teria saudade // I wouldn’t miss
Da minha mocidade….// My youth..
Lyrical Brazil 