A researcher of Brazilian popular music, its rhythms and folklore, she has also traveled to many countries representing the Brazilian culture. A connoisseur of African music, dance, traditions, and religions, she converted to Candomblé and took Afro-Brazilian culture into her songs and costumes. She was one of the singers who recorded the most songs by the composers of Portela, her favorite samba school. She was also the first female Brazilian singer to sell more than one hundred thousand records, breaking a taboo according to which women did not sell records in Brazil. During her whole career she sold four million four hundred thousand records. She was considered by Rolling Stone magazine as the ninth greatest Brazilian voice and, by the same magazine, the fifty-first greatest Brazilian artist of all time.
On April 2, 1983, she died at age 40, after suffering from anaphylaxis during a surgery to treat varicose veins. Even today she remains one of the most popular singers in Brazil.
Alvorada
Clara Nunes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Lá no morro, que beleza
Ninguém chora, não há tristeza
Ninguém sente dissabor
O sol colorindo
É tão lindo, é tão lindo
E a natureza sorrindo
Tingindo, tingindo
Quando chega iluminando
Meus caminhos tão sem vida
Mas o que me resta
É bem pouco, quase nada
Do que ir assim vagando
Numa estrada perdida
The lyrics of Clara Nunes's song Alvorada describe the beauty and joy of the dawn in the favelas of Brazil. The first stanza paints a picture of the peacefulness and lack of sadness or trouble in the favela as the sun rises and colors everything beautifully. The second stanza compares the arrival of the singer to the dawn, illuminating the singer's otherwise dull and lifeless paths. The singer acknowledges that they have little left, but they will continue to wander down their path, much like the dawn will always arrive each morning.
The song is an ode to the beauty of the favelas in Brazil and the hope that they represent to the people who live there. Despite the challenges that may come with living in poverty, the dawn is a reminder of the resilience and hope that can be found in these communities. The song also speaks to the common human experience of feeling lost or directionless and finding comfort in the beauty of the world around us.
Line by Line Meaning
Lá no morro, que beleza
Over there on the hill, what beauty there is.
Ninguém chora, não há tristeza
No one cries, there is no sadness.
Ninguém sente dissabor
No one feels any hardship.
O sol colorindo
The sun coloring everything.
É tão lindo, é tão lindo
It's so beautiful, it's so beautiful.
E a natureza sorrindo
And nature is smiling.
Tingindo, tingindo
Tingeing, tingeing.
Você também me lembra a Alvorada
You also remind me of dawn.
Quando chega iluminando
When it arrives, illuminating everything.
Meus caminhos tão sem vida
My paths, so lifeless.
Mas o que me resta
But what is left for me.
É bem pouco, quase nada
Is very little, almost nothing.
Do que ir assim vagando
Than to go wandering like this.
Numa estrada perdida
On a lost road.
Writer(s): Carlos de Campos Vergueiro Copyright: Warner/Chappell Edicoes Musicais Ltda
Contributed by Gabriella N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.