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.
Catinga do sapo
Alceu Valença Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sua toada improvisada em dez pés
Tião?, oi, foste?, fui,
Compraste?, comprei, pagaste?, paguei
Me diz quanto foi:
Foi 500 réis
É tão gostoso morar lá na roça
Quando a chuva cai o sapo fica contente
Que até alegra a gente com seu desafio.
In Alceu Valença's song "Catinga do sapo," he describes the sound of a frog singing in a lagoon. The frog's melody is described as "improvised in ten feet," which suggests that the song is unpredictable and changes just as a frog moves in unpredictable ways. The lyrics also mention the names Tião and a second person, engaging in a conversation about purchasing something for 500 réis. This conversation is seemingly irrelevant to the song's theme, but it speaks to the nature of rural life where people can spend hours discussing something small like a purchase or just passing the time in conversation with one another. The second verse speaks of the pleasures of living in the countryside, where a happy frog crooning after rains brings joy to the villagers.
Line by Line Meaning
É assim que o sapo canta na lagoa
This is the way frogs sing in the pond.
Sua toada improvisada em dez pés
Their tune is improvised with ten feet.
Tião?, oi, foste?, fui, Compraste?, comprei, pagaste?, paguei
Tião? Hello, did you go? Yes. Did you buy it? Yes. Did you pay for it? Yes.
Me diz quanto foi:
Tell me how much it was:
Foi 500 réis
It was 500 réis.
É tão gostoso morar lá na roça
It's so sweet to live in the countryside.
Numa palhoça perto da beira do rio
In a shack close to the riverbank.
Quando a chuva cai o sapo fica contente
When the rain falls, the frogs are happy.
Que até alegra a gente com seu desafio.
So happy they cheer us with their challenge.
Contributed by Hannah E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.