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Sampa by Caetano Veloso

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4RhNvjk4YI

 Sampa  Sampa (Nickname of São Paulo, Brazil)
Alguma coisa acontece no meu coração
Que só quando cruza a Ipiranga e a avenida São JoãoÉ que quando eu cheguei por aqui eu nada entendi
Da dura poesia concreta de tuas esquinas
Da deselegância discreta de tuas meninasAinda não havia para mim Rita LeeA tua mais completa tradução
Alguma coisa acontece no meu coração
Que só quando cruza a Ipiranga e a avenida São JoãoQuando eu te encarei frente a frente não vi o meu rosto
Chamei de mau gosto o que vi, de mau gosto, mau gosto
É que Narciso acha feio o que não é espelho
E à mente apavora o que ainda não é mesmo velho
Nada do que não era antes quando não somos mutantesE foste um difícil começo
Afasto o que não conheço
E quem vende outro sonho feliz de cidade
Aprende depressa a chamar-te de realidade
Porque és o avesso do avesso do avesso do avessoDo povo oprimido nas filas, nas vilas, favelas
Da força da grana que ergue e destrói coisas belas
Da feia fumaça que sobe, apagando as estrelas
Eu vejo surgir teus poetas de campos, espaços
Tuas oficinas de florestas, teus deuses da chuvaPan-Américas de Áfricas utópicas, túmulo do samba
Mais possível novo quilombo de Zumbi
E os novos baianos passeiam na tua garoa
E novos baianos te podem curtir numa boa		 Something happens in my heart
Only when it crosses Ipiranga and São João Avenue (two streets in the city)When I got here I didn’t understand anything
Not the concrete poetry of your street corners
Not the discreet inelegance of your girlsI didn’t know Rita Lee (a singer from São Paulo)Your most thorough interpretation
Something happens in my heart
Only when it crosses Ipiranga and São João AvenueWhen we were face to face I didn’t recognized myself
I called what I saw bad taste, I called bad taste, bad taste
Because Narcissus thinks that what is not a mirror is ugly
And what is not yet old scares the mind
Nothing from before when you are not a mutant. (Mutantes was the name of Rita Lee’s band)And you were a difficult beginning
I get away of what I don’t know
And those who sell a different dream of a happy city
Soon learn to call you reality
Because your are the other side of the other side of the other side of the sideFrom the people oppressed in the waiting lines, in the small streets, in shanty towns
From the power of the money rising and destroying beauty
From the ugly smoke that rises and erases the stars
I can see your poets of fields and space
Your forest factories, your rain gods risePan-Americas from utopian Africas, tomb of samba
The newest of Zumbi’s quilombo (a village created by escaped slaves)
And the new baianos “promenade” thru your garoa (a kind of rain typical from São Paulo, that doesn’t really fall almost like a very wet and windy mist)
And the new baianos can enjoy you leisurely

This song is a declaration of love/hate to the city of São Paulo, one of the largest cities of the world and the richest city in Brazil. Caetano, who wrote it, is from a state called Bahia, i.e. baiano as in the last two lines. Novos Baianos is, also, the name of a band from Bahia who tried working in São Paulo.

Zumbi was a slave that started the largest quilombo of the country during the 19th century.

Poetas de campos is a reference to two famous modern poets from São Paulo called Campos.

In São Paulo, you can find people from all over the world but people from Latin America and Africa look at home without changing most of their habits and sometimes you feel like your are in another country or continent. And I think he calls it the tomb of samba because he doesn’t like the samba made here. To understand more you have to go there. [Info from LyricsTranslate]

If you want something else featuring Caetano Veloso, check out: Nine out of Ten

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