Elba Maria Nunes Ramalho (born August 17, 1951 in Conceição, Paraíba, Brazi… Read Full Bio ↴Elba Maria Nunes Ramalho (born August 17, 1951 in Conceição, Paraíba, Brazil), best known as Elba Ramalho, is a Brazilian MPB singer, songwriter, performer, multi-instrumentalist and actress. Her musical style is characteristic for the traditional sounds of the Northeastern region of Brazil, such as baião, xote, xaxado, frevo, forró, and others.

Elba Ramalho was born in the rural area of Conceição, in Vale do Piancó. In 1962, the family moved to the city of Campina Grande, also in Paraíba. Her father became the owner of the local theater. Daughter of a musician, she became interested in music still as a teenager.

In 1966, she participated, for the first time, in a performance on stage, in the Choir of the Fundação Artística e Cultural Manuel Bandeira, of which she was a member, with "Evocação do Recife". The Manuel Bandeira and Cecília Meireles Talking Choirs gained fame and started to be seen all over the Northeast, and Elba, who made her first presentation on stage together with them, soon became the highlight in the presentations. She starred in the poetic montages of Castro Alves, Thiago de Mello, Lindolfo Bell, Carlos Pena Filho and Figueiredo Agra. He participated in the montages of the plays "Ministro do Supremo" and "Diálogo das Carmelitas."

In 1968, while attending college of Economics and Sociology at the Federal University of Paraíba, she formed the ensemble As Brasas, in which she acted as drummer, which later became a theater group. However, Elba never stopped singing, and performed in several festivals throughout the Northeast.

In 1979, she released her first album, "Ave de Prata", and since then she has consolidated her position as one of the main Brazilian singers in activity. On her father's side, she is a cousin of fellow singer Zé Ramalho.

She has two Latin Grammys for her albums: Qual o Assunto Que Mais Lhe importa?, released in 2008, and Balaio de Amor, 2009, in the category Best Brazilian Roots Album: Regional and Tropical. In over 35 years of career, Elba Ramalho has sold more than 10 million albums. She received from the Art Critics Association of São Paulo the award "Best Show of the Year" on two occasions: in 1989 for the show Popular Brasileira and in 1996 for the show Leão do Norte.

Toque De Amor
Elba Ramalho Lyrics

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Cantando esse baião
Aperriado com a sorte
Felicidade não vem
É uma cantiga de cego
É uma sanfona tocando
Parece batida de trem
Sou cantador da alegria
Me chamam de andorinha

Nas festas lá do sertão
Estrela da primavera
Pra onde for vou com ela
Pra esquecer da solidão

Pra entrar nesse forró
Vem meu amor
Do seu nego tenha dó
Vem meu amor
Ponha a mão no coração
Vem meu amor
Pra meu bem não ficar só
Vem meu amor

Pra entrar nesse forró
Vem meu amor
Do seu nego tenha dó
Vem meu amor
Ponha a mão no coração
Vem meu amor
Pra meu bem não ficar só
Vem meu amor

Toque sanfoneiro
Um forró bem animado
Com cadência de xaxado
Da poeira levantar
Toque sanfoneiro
As mulheres estão visando
O fole frouxo tocando
Castigando a nota lá

Toque sanfoneiro
Mostre que é velho macho
Capricho nos oito baixos
Até o dia clarear
Toque sanfoneiro
Toque porque
A gente quer se esbaldar
Toque sanfoneiro
Toque porque
A gente quer dançar

Dedo no couro é pandeirada
Mão na zabumba é zabumbada
E no triângulo é trianglada
Dedo no fole é forrozada

Dedo no couro é pandeirada
Mão na zabumba é zabumbada

E no triângulo é trianglada
Dedo no fole é forrozada

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Elba Ramalho's song Toque De Fole are a celebration of the forró, a traditional dance and music genre of Brazil's Northeastern region. The singer is performing a baião, a slower rhythm within forró, and reflects on the precariousness of luck and happiness. She likens happiness to a blind man's song, which is fleeting and uncertain. However, the sanfona, the accordion that plays throughout the song, sounds like a train's rhythm, giving the impression that life goes on continuously.

The singer refers to herself as a 'cantador da alegria,' a joyful singer who is known as 'andorinha,' a swallow bird, in the countryside festivities. She mentions 'estrela da primavera,' the spring's star, as a metaphor for an ideal companion that accompanies her to forget the loneliness. The chorus invites her lover to join her in the forró, pleading them to put their hand on their heart so that she wouldn't be alone. The second half of the song repeats the invitation to dance and enjoins the sanfoneiro(a), the accordion player, to play a lively tune until daybreak.

Line by Line Meaning

Cantando esse baião
Singing this Baião rhythm

Aperriado com a sorte
Unlucky and troubled by fate

Felicidade não vem
Happiness doesn't come

É uma cantiga de cego
It's a song of the blind

É uma sanfona tocando
It's an accordion playing

Parece batida de trem
Sounds like the beat of a train

Sou cantador da alegria
I am a singer of joy

Me chamam de andorinha
They call me 'the swallow'

Nas festas lá do sertão
In the parties of the countryside

Estrela da primavera
Spring's star

Pra onde for vou com ela
Wherever she goes, I'll go with her