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.
Noites Do Norte
Caetano Veloso Lyrics
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Ela espalhou por nossas vastas solidões uma grande suavidade; seu contato foi a primeira forma que recebeu a natureza virgem do país, e foi a que ele guardou; ela povoou-o como se fosse uma religião natural e viva, com os seus mitos, suas legendas, seus encantamentos; insuflou-lhe sua alma infantil, suas tristezas sem pesar, suas lágrimas sem amargor, seu silêncio sem concentração, suas alegrias sem causa, sua felicidade sem dia seguinte...
É ela o suspiro indefinível que exalam ao luar as nossas noites do norte.
The lyrics of Caetano Veloso's "Noites Do Norte" (Northern Nights) refer to the permeating legacy of slavery in Brazil. The first line states that slavery will remain for a long time as a national characteristic of Brazil. The singer then describes how slavery has influenced the country's vast and untouched nature, giving it a sense of gentle tranquility. The contact between slavery and nature paved the way for the former to become an integral part of the latter, imbuing it with its own myths, legends, and enchantments. The influence of slavery is further described as having given Brazil a childlike soul, devoid of sorrow, bitterness, concentration, and causality, and instead filled with joy, happiness, and a sense of the infinite.
The last line of the song ties everything together, stating that slavery is the indefinable sigh that exudes from the people of Brazil's Northern region under the moonlight. The lyrics point to the paradoxical nature of slavery's impact on Brazil, where the brutal system has given birth to a culture that is soft-spoken, poetic, and full of life. Veloso's lyrics can be seen as a commentary on the subtle, pervasive effects of slavery that continue to shape Brazil's national identity to this day.
Line by Line Meaning
A escravidão permanecerá por muito tempo como a característica nacional do Brasil.
Slavery will remain for a long time as the national characteristic of Brazil.
Ela espalhou por nossas vastas solidões uma grande suavidade; seu contato foi a primeira forma que recebeu a natureza virgem do país, e foi a que ele guardou;
Slavery spread a great gentleness through our vast loneliness. Its contact was the first form that the virgin nature of the country received and the one it kept.
ela povoou-o como se fosse uma religião natural e viva, com os seus mitos, suas legendas, seus encantamentos;
Slavery populated it as a natural and living religion, with its myths, legends, and enchantments.
insuflou-lhe sua alma infantil, suas tristezas sem pesar, suas lágrimas sem amargor, seu silêncio sem concentração, suas alegrias sem causa, sua felicidade sem dia seguinte...
It breathed a childish soul into it, its sadness without weight, its tears without bitterness, its silence without concentration, its joy without cause, its happiness without a following day...
É ela o suspiro indefinível que exalam ao luar as nossas noites do norte.
It is the indefinable sigh that emanates under the moonlight on our northern nights.
Contributed by Samantha F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.