Rated 5.0 / 5 from 1 log on Katalog
I sometimes post albums in Portuguese, but they're often Brazilian Portuguese. Which does a disservice to exceptional albums from Portugal, so here's an album by Deolinda. Deolinda is modern Fado, a traditional style of Portuguese music. As with a lot of Fado, it deals with 'saudade', a hard to translate word which is a sense of nostalgic yearning. Saudade is inherently melancholic, and so the poppy uplifting sounds of this album are cut through by the quite tragic lyrics. I especially like the simple but powerful song "Movimento Perpétuo Associativo", that I think really encapsulates a feeling of caricaturised hopelessness, something that I'm certain will resonate deeply with some people of some countries. It's a kind of revolutionary, unstoppable force of a marching song that is met by the immovable object of the average citizen. Here is my attempt at an AI-assisted translation of the lyrics: 🎶 Now! Now we're talking, now we'll turn this around! Now we're walking, now there's solid ground! Now I feel it — optimism in the air! Onward, forward, no one's stopping us now! — Not now, it's lunchtime, can't you see... — Not now, I'm just sitting down to dine... — Not now, I don't think it's up to me... — Got work tomorrow, maybe some other time... Now we're talking, now we've got the power! Now there's faith in everything we do! Now I see it — good folks all around me! Onward, forward, and we'll see it through! — Not now, my tummy's feeling funny... — Not now, they say it's going to pour... — Not now, Benfica's playing on the telly... — And anyway, I've got a hundred chores... Now we're singing, singing like we mean it! Now I feel us pulling as one! Now I hear it — freedom's right around us! Onward, forward, this is where we run! — Not now, there's a form I haven't filled in... — Not now, my dad says I can't go... — Not now, the traffic's just appalling... — You go ahead — I'll catch up... maybe... I dunno... — You go ahead --- Spiralling excuses of increasing frivolity, culminating in the quintessential "you go ahead"; the typical, extremely typical "I'll catch up" which you know won't happen. The cowardice. The optimism fizzles. The movement atrophies. Freedom won't come. I think it's beautiful.
