He tried to study Music with a Swiss professor living in Brazil, but their ideas about roots music were incompatible, Elomar having a vision both more dynamic and more linked to the mentality of the people, while still fully committed to the sophistication and quality of Classical music; while his teacher wanted, and produced, a fully Contemporary music with influences from the region. Elomar’s music, while keeping the Classical forms of operas, cantatas, oratorios and other sacred music, has a distinctive Mediæval flavour, Elomar maintaining in his characteristic, idiosyncratic speech that ‘Brazilian Northeast is the last time of the Middle Ages’ (‘O Nordeste é o último tempo da Idade Média’).
He was Secretary of Urbanism for Vitória da Conquista for a while. Now he keeps a home at the city but spends most of his time in his goat-raising farm, where he shares in the work of the farm and direct it, besides writing down his music. He says he has most of it ready in his mind, and he only asks God time enough to live to be able to write it all down.
Elomar has a passion for European culture with a strong preference for the French, while totally rejecting the Anglo-Saxon one. He is nearly a Luddite, thinking all technology misused. He is deeply religious and thinks all modern European culture dead and sick.
His music, while not too difficult to hear, is quite sophisticated and manages to successfully combine both modern and Mediæval elements. It carries expressions of deep faith both by the author himself and the poetical egos. It has some striking themes to it, some universal – like Incelença ad Moribundum Solem, a requiem thanking God for all the services the Sun has performed us, to be sung when it finally dies somewhere in the future – and some parochial, like the fate of specific, if fictional violeiros and migrants from the dry, feudalised lands of the Northeast to the rich, industrial lands of the Southeast.
Some connoisseurs consider him the greatest living musician, because he manages to do Classical music that is modern and relevant to today's time while still being deeply stepped in his region’s mentality and beliefs, totally avoiding the Nihilism seen as dominating modern art in general and Contemporary music specifically.
From 2000 to 2004 he lived at Lagoa Real, trying to form a ‘sertaneza’ (country) opera project.
O Violeiro
Elomar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
As coisa lá da minha mudernage
Juro até pelo Santo Minino
Eu falo séro e num é vadiage
E pra você qui agora está mi ôvino
Juro inté pelo Santo Minino
Vige Maria qui ôve o qui eu digo
Si fô mintira mi manda um castigo
Apois pra o cantadô i violero
Só há treis coisa nesse mundo vão
Amô, furria, viola, nunca dinhêro
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Cantadô di trovas i martelo
Di gabinete, lijêra i moirão
Ai cantadô já curri o mundo intêro
Já inté cantei nas portas di um castelo
Dum rei qui si chamava di Juão
Pode acriditá meu companhêro
Dispois di tê cantado u dia intêro
O rei mi disse fica, eu disse não
Apois pra o cantadô i violero
Só há treis coisa nesse mundo vão
Amô, furria, viola, nunca dinhêro
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Si eu tivesse di vivê obrigado
Um dia inantes dêsse dia eu morro
Deus feiz os homi e os bicho tudo fôrro
Já vi iscrito no Livro Sagrado
Qui a vida nessa terra é uma passage
E cada um leva um fardo pesado
É um insinamento qui desde a mudernage
Eu trago bem dent'do coração guardado
Apois pra o cantadô i violero
Só há treis coisa nesse mundo vão
Amô, furria, viola, nunca dinhêro
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Tive muita dô di num tê nada
Pensano qui êsse mundo é tudo ter
Mais só dispois di pená pelas istrada
Beleza na pobreza é qui vim vê
Vim vê na procissão u lôvado-seja
I o malassombro das casa abandonada
Côro di cego nas porta das igreja
I o êrmo da solidão das istrada
Apois pra o cantadô i violero
Só há treis coisa nesse mundo vão
Amô, furria, viola, nunca dinhêro
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Pispiano tudo du cumêço
Eu vô mostrá como faiz o pachola
Qui inforca u pescoço da viola
Rivira toda moda pelo avêsso
I sem arrepará si é noite ou dia
Vai longe cantá o bem da furria
Sem um tustão na cuia u cantadô
Canta até morrê o bem do amô
Apois pra o cantadô i violero
Só há treis coisa nesse mundo vão
Amô, furria, viola, nunca dinhêro
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Elomar's song “O Violeiro” speaks to the essence of the life of a vagabond and wandering musician in the Northeastern region of Brazil. The lyrics depict the singer declaring that he will sing first about his life in his town, promising not to lie and swearing by the holy child, asking for punishment if he does. He then goes on to describe the three most important things in the life of the troubadour and the viola player: love, fury, and the viola. These three aspects are more important than money, which is not included in his list of important things.
In the next stanza, the singer describes the troubadours that play in different styles, including “martelo” and “trovas,” and how they have traveled around the world, even performing for a king. He then describes a lesson he has learned about the passage of life and how each person has a heavy load to carry. Finally, the song ends with the singer declaring he will show how the “pachola” plays his viola and how the troubadour must sing about love and fury without worrying about money.
Line by Line Meaning
Vô cantá no canturi primero
I'm going to sing in the first courtyard
As coisa lá da minha mudernage
About things in my time
Juro até pelo Santo Minino
I swear by the Holy Child
Eu falo séro e num é vadiage
I'm speaking seriously, not lying
E pra você qui agora está mi ôvino
And for you who is listening to me now
Vige Maria qui ôve o qui eu digo
Holy Mary, listen to what I say
Si fô mintira mi manda um castigo
If it's a lie, send me punishment
Apois pra o cantadô i violero
So for the singer and player
Só há treis coisa nesse mundo vão
There are only three things in this world that matter
Amô, furria, viola, nunca dinhêro
Love, passion, guitar, never money
Cantadô di trovas i martelo
Singer of verses and songs
Di gabinete, lijêra i moirão
Of cabinets, lightness, and grief
Ai cantadô já curri o mundo intêro
Oh singer, I have traveled the whole world
Já inté cantei nas portas di um castelo
I've even sung at the gates of a castle
Dum rei qui si chamava di Juão
Of a king named John
Pode acriditá meu companhêro
Believe me, my friend
Dispois di tê cantado u dia intêro
After singing all day
O rei mi disse fica, eu disse não
The king asked me to stay, but I refused
Si eu tivesse di vivê obrigado
If I had to live with obligation
Um dia inantes dêsse dia eu morro
One day before that, I would die
Deus feiz os homi e os bicho tudo fôrro
God made men and animals equal
Já vi iscrito no Livro Sagrado
I've seen it written in the Holy Book
Qui a vida nessa terra é uma passage
That life on this earth is a passage
E cada um leva um fardo pesado
And everyone carries a heavy load
É um insinamento qui desde a mudernage
It's a lesson I've kept in my heart since my time
Eu trago bem dent'do coração guardado
I keep it well-guarded inside my heart
Tive muita dô di num tê nada
I suffered a lot from having nothing
Pensano qui êsse mundo é tudo ter
Thinking that this world is all about having
Mais só dispois di pená pelas istrada
But only after suffering along the streets
Beleza na pobreza é qui vim vê
I came to see the beauty in poverty
Vim vê na procissão u lôvado-seja
I saw it in the procession of 'Hail Mary'
I o malassombro das casa abandonada
And the ghostly feeling of abandoned houses
Côro di cego nas porta das igreja
The choir of blind people at the church door
I o êrmo da solidão das istrada
And the loneliness of the streets
Pispiano tudo du cumêço
Starting from scratch
Eu vô mostrá como faiz o pachola
I'll show you how the rogue does it
Qui inforca u pescoço da viola
Who strangles the neck of the guitar
Rivira toda moda pelo avêsso
Turning all the fashions inside out
I sem arrepará si é noite ou dia
And without caring whether it's night or day
Vai longe cantá o bem da furria
Goes off to sing the praises of passion
Sem um tustão na cuia u cantadô
Without a penny in his pocket, the singer
Canta até morrê o bem do amô
Sings until the death of love
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Guitar, passion, love, never money
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Guitar, passion, love, never money
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Guitar, passion, love, never money
Viola, furria, amô, dinhêro não
Guitar, passion, love, never money
Writer(s): Elomar Figueira Melo
Contributed by Ruby L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.