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.
Acalanto
Elomar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
que muito longe daqui
Muito além do São Francisco, ainda prá lá...
Em um castelo encantado,
morava um triste rei
E uma linda princesinha,
sempre a chorar...
Ela sempre demorava
na janela do castelo
Todo dia à tardezinha, a sonhar...
Bem prá lá do seu castelo,
muito além, ainda mais belo,
havia outro reinado,
de um outro rei.
Certo dia a princesinha,
que vivia a chorar
saiu andando sozinha,
ao luar...
E o castelo encantado
foi ficando inda prá lá
Caminhando e caminhando,
sem encontrar.
Contam que essa princesinha
não parou de caminhar,
e o rei endoideceu,
e na janela do castelo morreu,
vendo coisas ao luar.
The lyrics to Elomar's song "Acalanto" tell the story of a sad king who lived in an enchanted castle, far beyond the São Francisco river. He had a beautiful princess who spent her afternoons dreaming at the window, always crying. Beyond the castle, there was another kingdom, ruled by another king, even more beautiful than the first. One night, the princess, tired of crying, went for a walk by herself under the moonlight, leaving the enchanted castle behind.
As she walked further and further away, the enchanted castle disappeared from sight, but she kept walking, hoping to find something more beautiful. Legend has it that she never stopped walking, and the king, driven mad by her absence, died at the castle window while staring at the moon. The imagery of the story speaks to the human experience of longing, of searching for something that we may never find, and how that search can lead to madness and despair.
Line by Line Meaning
Certa vez ouvi contar
Once I heard a story
que muito longe daqui
That was very far from here
Muito além do São Francisco, ainda prá lá...
Beyond the São Francisco river, even further...
Em um castelo encantado,
In an enchanted castle,
morava um triste rei
Lived a sad king
E uma linda princesinha,
And a beautiful princess,
sempre a chorar...
Always crying...
Ela sempre demorava
She always lingered
na janela do castelo
At the castle's window
Todo dia à tardezinha, a sonhar...
Every afternoon, dreaming...
Bem prá lá do seu castelo,
Far beyond her castle,
muito além, ainda mais belo,
Even further, even more beautiful,
havia outro reinado,
There was another kingdom,
de um outro rei.
Ruled by another king.
Certo dia a princesinha,
One day the princess,
que vivia a chorar
Who lived crying
saiu andando sozinha,
Went for a walk alone,
ao luar...
In the moonlight...
E o castelo encantado
And the enchanted castle
foi ficando inda prá lá
Was getting further away
Caminhando e caminhando,
Walking and walking,
sem encontrar.
Without finding anything.
Contam que essa princesinha
They say that this princess
não parou de caminhar,
Didn't stop walking,
e o rei endoideceu,
And the king went crazy,
e na janela do castelo morreu,
And died at the castle's window
vendo coisas ao luar.
Seeing things in the moonlight.
Contributed by Aubrey A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@knightoflight7490
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