Alceu Valenca was born in countryside Pernambuco, Northeast Brazil. He is considered the most successful artist in achieving an aesthetic balance between traditional northeastern Brazilian music and a broad range of electronic sounds and effects from pop music. One can find traces of maracatu, coco and "repentes de viola" (improvising fast-paced Brazilian folk music) in most of his songs. Alceu was able to utilize the electric guitar the electric bass, and lately even a synthesizer was added to his broad scope of musical instruments.
Because of that, Alceu was able to recreate Northeastern traditional music, like baiao, coco, toada, maracatu, frevo, caboclinhos, embolada and repentes: all sung with a sometimes rock sometimes alternative sounding music background. His music and his themes are intangible, universal and unlimited. However, his aesthetic basis is genuinely Brazilian Northeastern music.
Blue Baião
Alceu Valença Lyrics
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A cada passo olho prá trás
Ando perdido nessa cidade
Em cada esquina sou um a mais
Eu sou um rosto qualquer
Eu sou qualquer cidadão
Tenho um mapa da cidade
Lindo é o Rio de Janeiro
Bem que vim morar aqui
E a saudade me sangrando
Com talho de bisturi
Tenho dois rios correndo
No leito de minhas veias
Entro em meu quarto e desato
Meus sapatos, tiro as meias
Destilando minhas penas
Dedilhando o violão
No meu quarto de Ipanema
Eu compus um blue baião.
In Alceu Valença's song Blue Baião, the lyrics describe the singer's feelings of being lost and anonymous in a big city, while also expressing a deep homesickness for his roots. The opening lines ask for Delminha and the singer's friends, implying a sense of loneliness and disconnection from his old life. He constantly looks behind him, feeling like just another face in a crowded place. Despite having a city map, he still gets lost without any reason. This leads to a sense of anonymity and lack of purpose, as if he is just drifting through life.
The second verse highlights his love for Rio de Janeiro, where he now lives. However, this newfound affection is contrasted with a painful longing for his past. The line "E a saudade me sangrando" (And the homesickness bleeding me) further emphasizes his pain. In the next lines, he compares his veins to two rivers, suggesting that the singer's identity is closely tied to his roots. He then returns to his apartment in Ipanema, where he takes off his shoes and socks and starts playing the guitar. The final lines declare that he has written a blue baião, which is a mix of traditional Brazilian baião music with blues influences, encapsulating the singer's mixed feelings of sadness and joy.
Overall, Blue Baião beautifully captures the complex emotions of homesickness and longing for a place one can never return to, while also celebrating the beauty of Rio de Janeiro and the power of music to express these emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Cadê Delminha? E meus amigos?
Where is Delminha? Where are my friends?
A cada passo olho prá trás
With every step, I look back
Ando perdido nessa cidade
I am lost in this city
Em cada esquina sou um a mais
On every corner, I am just one more
Eu sou um rosto qualquer
I am just any face
Eu sou qualquer cidadão
I am just any citizen
Tenho um mapa da cidade
I have a map of the city
E me perco sem razão
And I get lost for no reason
Lindo é o Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is beautiful
Bem que vim morar aqui
I am glad I came to live here
E a saudade me sangrando
But nostalgia is hurting me
Com talho de bisturi
Like a surgeon's cut
Tenho dois rios correndo
I have two rivers flowing
No leito de minhas veias
In the bed of my veins
Entro em meu quarto e desato
I enter my room and unwind
Meus sapatos, tiro as meias
I take off my shoes and socks
Destilando minhas penas
Distilling my sorrows
Dedilhando o violão
Strumming my guitar
No meu quarto de Ipanema
In my room in Ipanema
Eu compus um blue baião
I composed a blue baião
Contributed by Maya M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.