He tried to study Music with a Swiss professor living in Brazil, but their ideas about roots music were incompatible, Elomar having a vision both more dynamic and more linked to the mentality of the people, while still fully committed to the sophistication and quality of Classical music; while his teacher wanted, and produced, a fully Contemporary music with influences from the region. Elomar’s music, while keeping the Classical forms of operas, cantatas, oratorios and other sacred music, has a distinctive Mediæval flavour, Elomar maintaining in his characteristic, idiosyncratic speech that ‘Brazilian Northeast is the last time of the Middle Ages’ (‘O Nordeste é o último tempo da Idade Média’).
He was Secretary of Urbanism for Vitória da Conquista for a while. Now he keeps a home at the city but spends most of his time in his goat-raising farm, where he shares in the work of the farm and direct it, besides writing down his music. He says he has most of it ready in his mind, and he only asks God time enough to live to be able to write it all down.
Elomar has a passion for European culture with a strong preference for the French, while totally rejecting the Anglo-Saxon one. He is nearly a Luddite, thinking all technology misused. He is deeply religious and thinks all modern European culture dead and sick.
His music, while not too difficult to hear, is quite sophisticated and manages to successfully combine both modern and Mediæval elements. It carries expressions of deep faith both by the author himself and the poetical egos. It has some striking themes to it, some universal – like Incelença ad Moribundum Solem, a requiem thanking God for all the services the Sun has performed us, to be sung when it finally dies somewhere in the future – and some parochial, like the fate of specific, if fictional violeiros and migrants from the dry, feudalised lands of the Northeast to the rich, industrial lands of the Southeast.
Some connoisseurs consider him the greatest living musician, because he manages to do Classical music that is modern and relevant to today's time while still being deeply stepped in his region’s mentality and beliefs, totally avoiding the Nihilism seen as dominating modern art in general and Contemporary music specifically.
From 2000 to 2004 he lived at Lagoa Real, trying to form a ‘sertaneza’ (country) opera project.
A Pergunta
Elomar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Iantes mêrmo que nóis dois saudemo
Eu te pregunto naquele refrão
Qui na fartura nóis sempre cantemo
Na catinga tá chuveno
Ribeirão istão incheno
Me arresponda mei irirmão
Cuma o povo de lá tão
Quinda tá lá num ritirou-se não
Os povo as gente os bicho as coisa tudo
Uns ritirou-se in pirigrinação
Os òtro os mais velho mais cabiçudo
Voltaro pru qui era pru pó do chão
Adispois de cumê tudo
Cumêr' precata surrão
Cumêr' coro de rabudo
Cumêr' cururu rodão
E as cacimba do ri gavião
Já deu mais de duas cova d' um cristão
Inté aquela a da cara fêa
Se veno só dexô a terra alêa
Foi nas pidrinha cova de serêa
Vê sua madrinha
E vei de mão c'ua vea
Na cantiga morreu tudo
Qui nem preciso caxão
Meu cumpadre João Barbudo
Num cumpriu obrigação
Vai prá mais de duas lua
Que meu pai mandô eu no Nazaré
Buscá u'a quarta de farinha
Eu e o irmão Zé Bento vinha andano a pé
Mãe lua magrinha qui está no céu
Será qui cuano eu cheguo in minha terra
De nosso povo intonce se isqueceu
Na catinga morreu tudo
Qui nem percisô caxão
Meu cumpadre João Barbudo
Num cumpriu a obrigação
Udo aõ udo aõ
The song "A Pergunta" by Elomar portrays the struggles of rural communities in Brazil, particularly during times of drought and famine. The lyrics ask for answers from Quilimero, a figure often associated with religious and mystical beliefs in Brazilian rural culture. The singer asks why the people living in the region where Quilimero left his land are suffering so much, even though they had plenty before. The river is flooding, and everything seems to be going wrong. The song suggests that some people have resorted to cannibalism, eating not only animals but also each other, because of the lack of food. The lyrics also highlight the importance of fulfilling one's obligations, such as João Barbudo not fulfilling his obligation, which could have contributed to the hardship faced by the community.
The lyrics are rich in rural Brazilian cultural references, such as the figure of Quilimero, who represents the legacy of Afro-Brazilian religions, and the practice of pilgrimage and offerings in the Nazaré church. The song is also critical of the landowning system that fosters inequality and promotes poverty in rural areas, contrasting the abundance of some with the misery of others. The fact that the singer had to go on foot to get food also reflects the limitations and isolation experienced by rural communities.
Line by Line Meaning
Ô Quilimero Assusta meu irmão
Oh Quilomero, my brother is scared by you
Iantes mêrmo que nóis dois saudemo
Even before we greet each other
Eu te pregunto naquele refrão
I ask you in that chorus
Qui na fartura nóis sempre cantemo
That we always sing in times of plenty
Na catinga tá chuveno
It's raining in the bush
Ribeirão istão incheno
Streams are overflowing
Me arresponda mei irirmão
Answer me, my brother
Cuma o povo de lá tão
How are the people over there?
Só a terra que você dexo
Only the land you left behind
Quinda tá lá num ritirou-se não
Is still there, not abandoned
Os povo as gente os bicho as coisa tudo
The people, us, the animals, and everything
Uns ritirou-se in pirigrinação
Some left on pilgrimage
Os òtro os mais velho mais cabiçudo
The others, the older, more stubborn ones
Voltaro pru qui era pru pó do chão
Returned to what it used to be, to the dust of the earth
Adispois de cumê tudo
After eating everything
Cumêr' precata surrão
Eating wild pig with a crossbow
Cumêr' coro de rabudo
Eating the tail of a fox
Cumêr' cururu rodão
Eating roasted frog
E as cacimba do ri gavião
The wells near the Hawk River
Já deu mais de duas cova d' um cristão
Have seen more than two graves of Christians
Inté aquela a da cara fêa
Even that one with an ugly face
Se veno só dexô a terra alêa
If seen, they just leave the land deserted
Foi nas pidrinha cova de serêa
In the rocky ground, the graves are dug
Vê sua madrinha
Seeing their godmother
E vei de mão c'ua vea
And coming back with a hand full of blessings
Na cantiga morreu tudo
In that song, everything died
Qui nem preciso caxão
Didn't need a coffin
Meu cumpadre João Barbudo
My compadre João Barbudo
Num cumpriu obrigação
Didn't fulfill his obligation
Vai prá mais de duas lua
Already been more than two moons
Que meu pai mandô eu no Nazaré
Since my father sent me to Nazaré
Buscá u'a quarta de farinha
To get a quarter of flour
Eu e o irmão Zé Bento vinha andano a pé
Me and my brother Zé Bento were walking on foot
Mãe lua magrinha qui está no céu
Mother skinny moon that is in the sky
Será qui cuano eu cheguo in minha terra
I wonder if, when I arrive in my land
De nosso povo intonce se isqueceu
Our people will have forgotten us by then
Udo aõ udo aõ
All in all
Contributed by Jeremiah J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.