Alceu Valença (born July 1, 1946 in São Bento do Una, Pernambuco, Brazil) i… Read Full Bio ↴Alceu Valença (born July 1, 1946 in São Bento do Una, Pernambuco, Brazil) is a Brazilian composer, writer, performer, actor, and poet.

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.

Lava Mágoas
Alceu Valença Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Nessas tardes molhadas de agosto
Sinto a chuva lavando minha alma
Sinto o frio entrando pelos ossos
Como uma coisa um troço
Não sei explicar

Nessas tardes molhadas de agosto
Sinto a chuva lavando minha alma

Sinto o frio entrando pelos ossos
Como uma coisa um troço
Não sei explicar

Lavei as mágoas nos pingos da chuva
E aquela velha dúvida de te encontrar
Tô molhado como um passarinho
Perdi o ninho já nem sei voar
Eu tô molhado
Pingando chovendo
Chovendo pingando
Pingando tão só
Tô molhado
Chovendo doendo
Doendo sangrando
Sangrando de fazer dó
Tô chuviscando estou chovendo
Estou sofrendo de fazer dó
Chuviscando estou chovendo
Estou sofrendo tô causando dó

Mês de agosto é mês de chuva
Mês de agosto lava a alma
Mês de agosto é mês de chuva
Mês de agosto é mês de chuva

Mês de agosto lava a alma
A mágoa a mágoa

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Alceu Valença's song Lava Mágoas talks about the cleansing power of the rain and how it can provide a sense of relief, especially during the wet August afternoons. The singer describes feeling the cold entering his body as something unexplainable, a strange sensation that he cannot describe. He goes on to say that he washes away his sorrows in the raindrops that fall on him, and the old doubt he had about finding someone is still present but is losing its grip on him. He compares his wet state to that of a bird that has lost its nest and can no longer fly. He is helpless and defeated, but still, he feels the rain and the pain washing away.

The chorus of the song reiterates the significance of August as a month of rain and how it can clean the soul and wash away the sorrows. The word "mágoa," which means sorrow or sadness, is repeated throughout the lyrics, emphasizing the theme of the song. It is a poignant reminder of how the rain can help us let go of our pain and reinvent ourselves.

Line by Line Meaning

Nessas tardes molhadas de agosto
During these wet afternoons in August

Sinto a chuva lavando minha alma
I feel the rain washing my soul

Sinto o frio entrando pelos ossos
I feel the cold entering my bones

Como uma coisa um troço
Like a weird feeling that I can't explain

Não sei explicar
I can't explain it

Lavei as mágoas nos pingos da chuva
I washed away my sorrows in the raindrops

E aquela velha dúvida de te encontrar
And that old doubt of finding you

Tô molhado como um passarinho
I'm wet like a bird

Perdi o ninho já nem sei voar
I lost my nest, I don't even know how to fly

Eu tô molhado
I'm wet

Pingando chovendo
Dripping, raining