Caetano Emanoel Viana Teles Veloso (born August 7, 1942 in Santo Amaro, Bah… Read Full Bio ↴Caetano Emanoel Viana Teles Veloso (born August 7, 1942 in Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil), professionally known as Caetano Veloso, is a singer, composer, musician, producer, arranger, writer and political activist, being one of the most popular and influential Brazilian MPB artists of all time. With a career that exceeds five decades, Caetano has built a musical work marked by renewal and widely considered to possess great intellectual and poetic value.

Veloso is the fifth of the seven children born to José Telles Veloso ("Seu Zezinho") and Claudionor Vianna Telles Veloso ("Dona Canô"). His younger sister Maria Bethânia, another popular and renowned artist in Brazil, preceded him to fame as a singer in the mid-1960s. He began his career around 1965 singing bossa nova and he has cited his greatest musical influences from his early period as João Gilberto and Dorival Caymmi. (João Gilberto would say later about Caetano's contribution that it added an intellectual dimension to brazilian popular music.) But with such musical collaborators Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa, Tom Zé, Chico Buarque, and Os Mutantes, and greatly influenced by the later work of The Beatles, developed tropicalismo, which fused Brazilian pop with rock and roll and avant garde art music resulting in a more international, psychedelic, and socially aware sound. Veloso's politically active stance, unapologetically leftist, earned him the enmity of Brazil's military dictatorship which ruled until 1985; his songs were frequently censored, and some were banned. Veloso was also alienated from the socialist left in Brazil becasue of his acceptance and integration of non-nationalist influences (like rock and roll) in his music. Veloso and Gilberto Gil spent several months in jail for "anti-government activity" in 1968 and eventually exiled themselves to London. Caetano Veloso's work upon his return in 1972 was often characterized by frequent appropriations not only of international styles, but of half-forgotten Brazilian folkloric styles and rhythms as well. In particular, his celebration of the Afro-Brazilian culture of Bahia can be seen as the precursor of such Afro-centric groups as Timbalada.

In the 1980s, Veloso's popularity outside Brazil grew, especially in Israel, Portugal, France and Africa. By 2004, he was one of the most respected and prolific international pop stars, with more than fifty recordings available, including songs in soundtracks of movies such as Pedro Almodovar's Hable con Ella (Talk to Her), and Frida. In 2002 Veloso published an account of his early years and the Tropicalia movement, Tropical Truth: A Story of Music and Revolution in Brazil.

His first all-English CD was A Foreign Sound (2004), which covers Nirvana's "Come as You Are" and compositions from the Great American Songbook. Five of the six songs on his third eponymous album, released in 1971, were also in English.

Ave-Maria
Caetano Veloso Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Ave Maria, ave
Gratia plena, ave
Dominus tecum
Dominus tecum, tecum

Benedicta tu
In mulieribus, tu
Benedictus fructus

Ventris tui Jesu, Jesu

Sancta Maria
Sancta Maria
Mater Dei

Ora pro nobis
Ora pro nobis
Peccatoribus

Nunc et in hora, hora
Nunc et in hora, hora
Hora mortis, nostrae
Nostrae, amen
Amen
Amen

Amen
Amen

Overall Meaning

Caetano Veloso's Ave-Maria is a delicate and resounding version of the Catholic prayer. The song begins with "Ave Maria, Ave," which directly translates to "Hail Mary, Hail." The repetition here emphasizes the importance of the words being sung. The next line, "Gratia plena, ave," means "full of grace, hail." The meaning here is that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is being hailed because of the grace that she carries within her. This grace is also recognized in the next line, "Dominus tecum," which means "the Lord is with you." The repetition of "tecum" further emphasizes the fact that Mary is not alone, but that the Lord is with her.

The next line, "Benedicta tu," means "blessed are you." Here, the focus is on Mary's unique position as the mother of Jesus as it states, "in mulieribus," which means "among women." The song then moves to the "Benedictus fructus," which focuses on the blessed fruit of her womb, Jesus.

The song then concludes with the prayer "Sancta Maria, Mater Dei," which means "Holy Mary, Mother of God." The repetition of "Sancta Maria" further emphasizes the importance of Mary's role. The prayer then continues with "Ora pro nobis, peccatoribus," which means "pray for us sinners." The final lines, "Nunc et in hora, hora mortis nostrae, nostrae amen" means "now and in the hour of our death, amen." The word "amen" is repeated several times, ending the song with a sense of finality and closure. Overall, the song is a gentle and reverent tribute to Mary, as a model of grace and motherhood.

Line by Line Meaning

Ave Maria, ave
Hail Mary, best of all

Gratia plena, ave
Full of grace, hail

Dominus tecum
The Lord is with you

Dominus tecum, tecum
The Lord is with you, with you

Benedicta tu
Blessed are you

In mulieribus, tu
Among women, you

Benedictus fructus
Blessed is the fruit

Ventris tui Jesu, Jesu
Of your womb, Jesus, Jesus

Sancta Maria
Holy Mary

Mater Dei
Mother of God

Ora pro nobis
Pray for us