Celso Adolfo started his career in 1983 with the release of his first album, the LP Coração Brasileiro, produced by one of the main Brazilian legendary composer and singer Milton Nascimento, who recorded "Coração Brasileiro" on his album Anima. In the same year, Elba Ramalho, a northern star singer from Brazil, made a record and a concert of great repercussion with the same “Coração Brasileiro”. The following year, she recorded “Azedo e Mascavo", also by Celso Adolfo, arranged by César Camargo Mariano & Celso Adolfo and produced by Mazolla, in Rio de Janeiro.
He is a composer who is praised by critics and gaining increasing exposure. Besides the huge success of "Coração Brasileiro", Adolfo's "Minueto" was included in TV Globo's soap opera Fera Ferida. In October 2000, he toured Europe. In Denmark, he had ten of his compositions presented in a show and recorded by students of the Copenhagen Conservatory. He recorded five albums from 1983 to 1998.
Along his career, Celso Adolfo has released a total of 8 studio albums between 1983 and 2008, including 2 live records mentioned above recorded in Europe & Scandinavia between 1999-2000, as well as 5 special edition albums between 1998-1999.
Besides the album “Coração Brasileiro”, there are other outstanding songs, such as “ Nós Dois”, which deserved numerous recordings, among them that of Tadeu Franco. “Brasil, Nome de Vegetal” had the special participation of Milton Nascimento. Among Celso Adolfo's albums, there are also titles such as “Anjo Torto”, “Festa do Padroeiro” and “Paixão Atleticana”. He still has partnerships with Juarez Moreira and Yuri Popoff.
Celso Adolfo also took part on a series of special side projects as:
- “Coffee with Milk” Project - SESC Pompéia - São Paulo. (1999)
- Denmark – Music workshops at the RMS (Rythmic Music Conservatory), in Copenhagen, and concerts in the capital and countryside of the country. (2000)
- Pixinguinha Project (FUNART) – Celso Adolfo, Jane Duboc and Maurício Carriglio. Rio de Janeiro (Rio das Ostras and Rio de Janeiro), Roraima (Rio Branco), Amazônia (Manaus), Pará (Belém) and *Maranhão (São Luis) (2006)
- Music at the Estrada Real Circuit - Series of meetings promoted by UFMG and FIEMG. (2007)
Giramundo work:
In 1992, he worked in partnership with Álvaro Apocalypse, founder of Grupo Giramundo - Teatro de Bonecos, a prolific Brazilian puppet theater group headquartered in the city of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais. He composed the soundtrack and joined the performances of the play "Tiradentes, a history of marionettes and puppets", written and directed by Álvaro Apocalypse and edited by Giramundo.
Celso Adolfo received the Canta Brazil Award in New York, conceived by radio producer Liggia Canjani, in a gala night at the Manhattan Center.
With the arrival of the pandemic, Celso Adolfo created the project "Discografia", which consisted of a series of nine lives, each dedicated to an album that he recorded throughout his career, presented monthly, with comments about each album. When casting this panoramic look over his phonographic trajectory, he was taken by the desire to make a compilation.
During the 2020-2021 pandemics, Celso unfolded on several fronts. In addition to the series of lives of the project "Discografia" and the production of the album "Voz e violão", he has embarked on a composition process, which will result in a new album, which is not yet scheduled for release, but already has a name: "Prateano", the ethnical name given to those born in São Domingos do Prata, his hometown.
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O Tempo
Celso Adolfo Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Janela aberta para bem-te-vis
Telhados de rubis e colibris
Eu sofro asas derramando o olhar
Os sete anzóis da minha cicatriz
Aonde ando ouço lambaris
O galo brinca as cores de manhã
Atrás da moita tempo tudo vê
Eu temo os seus abraços de punhal
Espicho o dia de ele me perder
Eu guardo o meu sossego no embornal
O tempo está na ponta do punhal
Engulo seco, fico branco assim
Eu pulo e salto, o medo ri de mim
O medo veste o seu capuz de sal
O tempo trinca a pia batismal
E trinca a madrepérola missal
Só vem rasteiro, anda sempre assim
O tempo é lodo, é parede abissal
O boi balança o dia devagar
O dia cai e quebra a telha do curral
Do rio vem o rio desigual
O tempo soma sombra e temporal
A pedra espanta os anjos do vitral
Céu arrebenta a bolha do luar
A tarde cai, ouro cai do altar
O tempo é noite e dia sem parar
A noite é estrela de uma luz escura
O olhar segura a escuridão no ar
A noite busca a noite na fundura
O tempo cai da altura, vem buscar
E tudo quanto existe vai girar
E todo céu o seu e o meu lugar
E tudo dobra e tudo vai curvar
O tempo é "multitudinoso mar".
The song "O Tempo" by Celso Adolfo is a poetic piece that delves deeply into the theme of time. The opening lines, "Cai mais uma tarde no lugar, Janela aberta para bem-te-vis, Telhados de rubis e colibris, Eu sofro asas derramando o olhar," describe the singer's surroundings as an afternoon falls upon them. The image of open windows, rooftops adorned with rubies and hummingbirds, and the sound of wings all evoke a sense of the beauty and vitality of the natural world around them. However, there is also a sense of melancholy or longing, perhaps for the passing of time or for something lost.
The following lines, "Os sete anzóis da minha cicatriz, Aonde ando ouço lambaris, O galo brinca as cores de manhã, A tarde veste cascas de maçã," reveal a personal aspect to the singer's relationship with time. They carry within them seven hooks or scars that remind them of their past experiences. Everywhere they go, they hear echoes of those past events or emotions in the present, whether it's the sound of fish or the colors of the morning. The line "A tarde veste cascas de maçã" is particularly poignant as it suggests that time is like the skin of an apple, constantly shedding and revealing something new.
The rest of the song further explores the idea of time as a powerful, almost violent force that can cause fear or awe. The lines "O tempo está na ponta do punhal, Engulo seco, fico branco assim, Eu pulo e salto, o medo ri de mim, O medo veste o seu capuz de sal" liken time to a sharp knife, ready to make a deadly cut. The singer feels afraid of what time will bring, but their fear is almost playful, as if they are taunting it to do its worst. In the end, the song suggests that everything will eventually pass and that time is an immense force that holds and moves everything in its grasp.
Line by Line Meaning
Cai mais uma tarde no lugar
Another afternoon falls in this place
Janela aberta para bem-te-vis
Open window for the bem-te-vis (a type of bird)
Telhados de rubis e colibris
Roofs of rubies and hummingbirds
Eu sofro asas derramando o olhar
I suffer from the wings spilling their gaze
Os sete anzóis da minha cicatriz
The seven hooks of my scar
Aonde ando ouço lambaris
Wherever I go, I hear lambaris (a type of fish)
O galo brinca as cores de manhã
The rooster plays with colors in the morning
A tarde veste cascas de maçã
The afternoon wears apple peels
Atrás da moita tempo tudo vê
Behind the bush time sees everything
Eu temo os seus abraços de punhal
I fear its dagger embraces
Espicho o dia de ele me perder
I stretch out the day so it won't lose me
Eu guardo o meu sossego no embornal
I keep my peace in a pouch
O tempo está na ponta do punhal
Time is at the edge of the dagger
Engulo seco, fico branco assim
I swallow dryly and turn white like this
Eu pulo e salto, o medo ri de mim
I jump and leap, fear laughs at me
O medo veste o seu capuz de sal
Fear wears its hood of salt
O tempo trinca a pia batismal
Time cracks the baptismal font
E trinca a madrepérola missal
And cracks the mother-of-pearl missal
Só vem rasteiro, anda sempre assim
It only comes low, always walking like this
O tempo é lodo, é parede abissal
Time is mud, it's an abyssal wall
O boi balança o dia devagar
The ox swings the day slowly
O dia cai e quebra a telha do curral
The day falls and breaks the roof tile of the pen
Do rio vem o rio desigual
From the river comes the unequal river
O tempo soma sombra e temporal
Time adds up shade and temporal (time-related) elements
A pedra espanta os anjos do vitral
The stone drives away the angels in the stained-glass window
Céu arrebenta a bolha do luar
The sky bursts the moon's bubble
A tarde cai, ouro cai do altar
The afternoon falls, gold falls from the altar
O tempo é noite e dia sem parar
Time is night and day without stopping
A noite é estrela de uma luz escura
The night is a dark light's star
O olhar segura a escuridão no ar
The gaze holds darkness in the air
A noite busca a noite na fundura
The night seeks out the night in the depths
O tempo cai da altura, vem buscar
Time falls from the height, comes to fetch
E tudo quanto existe vai girar
Everything that exists will spin
E todo céu o seu e o meu lugar
And every sky is its and my place
E tudo dobra e tudo vai curvar
And everything will bend and bow down
O tempo é 'multitudinoso mar'.
Time is a 'multitude-filled sea.'
Contributed by Grayson R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.