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.
Cantiga do Estradar
Elomar Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Geraldo Azevedo
Composição: Elomar
Tá fechano sete tempo
Qui mia vida é camia
Pulas istrada do mundo
Dia e noite sem pará
Adonde eu tia qui cantá
Sete didal de veneno
Traguei sem pestanejá
Mais duras penas só eu veno
Ôtro cristão pra suportá
Sô irirmão do sufrimento
De pauta vea c'a dô
Ajuntei no isquicimento
O qui o baldono guardô
Meus meste a istrada e o vento
Quem na vida me insinô
Vô me alembrano na viagem
Das pinura qui passei
Daquelas duras passage
Nos lugari adonde andei
Só de pensá me dá friage
Nos sucesso qui assentei
Na mia lembrança
Ligião de condenados
Nos grilhão acorrentados
Nas treva da inguinirança
Sem a luz do Grande Rei
Tudo isso eu vi nas mia andança
Nos tempo qui eu buscalava
O trecho alei
Tô de volta já faiz tempo
Qui deixei o meu lugá
Isso se deu cuano moço
Qui eu saí a percurá
Nas inlusão qui hai no mundo
Nas bramura qui hai pru lá
Soltei pru prefundos pôço
Qui o Tioso tem pru lá
Jesus livrô derna d'eu moço
Do Raivoso me paiá
Já passei pur tantas prova
Inda tem prova a infrentá
Vô contano mias trova
Qui ajuntei no comiá
Lá no céu vejo a lua nova
Cumpaia do istradá
Ele insinô qui nois vivesse
A vida aqui só pru passá
Qui nois intonce invitasse
O mau disejo e o coração
Nois prufiasse pra sê branco
Inda mais puro
Qui o capucho no algudão
Qui num juntasse dividisse
Nem negasse a quem pidisse
Nossos terém nosso perdão
Só assim nois vê a face Ogusta
Do qui habita os altos céus
O Piedoso o Manso o Justo
O Fiel e cumpassivo
Siô de mortos e vivos
Nosso Pai e Nosso Deus
Disse Qui haverá de voltá
Cuano essa terra pecadora
Margulada in transgressão
Tivesse chêa de violença
De rapina de mentira e de ladrão
Cantiga do Estradar is a song by Elomar, interpreted by Geraldo Azevedo. The lyrics express the life of a traveler who has gone through a lot of hardships and difficulties, visiting seven kingdoms where he faced challenges and dangers. He speaks of how he has seen many people suffer and be trapped in darkness, as well as his own struggles. The traveler recalls his journeys, the hard roads he had to travel, and how he has grown as a result of his experiences. He also calls for humanity to become more compassionate, to overcome malevolent urges and to show love and forgiveness to others. The song ends on a hopeful note, with the traveler looking forward to the day when Jesus Christ will return to the world and bring ultimate justice and peace.
Overall, Cantiga do Estradar is a powerful meditation on the nature of struggle and the human capacity for resilience and growth. The song's imagery, language, and rhythms reflect the influence of traditional Brazilian folk music, with a strong emphasis on storytelling and emotional resonance.
Line by Line Meaning
Tá fechano sete tempo
It's been seven seasons
Qui mia vida é camia
That my life is wandering
Pulas istrada do mundo
Jumping the world's roads
Dia e noite sem pará
Day and night without stopping
Já visitei os sete rêno
I have already visited the seven kingdoms
Adonde eu tia qui cantá
Where I had to sing
Sete didal de veneno
Seven fingers full of poison
Traguei sem pestanejá
I swallowed them without blinking
Mais duras penas só eu veno
Only I see harder punishments
Ôtro cristão pra suportá
Another Christian to bear it
Sô irirmão do sufrimento
I am only a brother of suffering
De pauta vea c'a dô
Who saw pain with his own eyes
Ajuntei no isquicimento
I gathered it in my memory
O qui o baldono guardô
What fate kept
Meus meste a istrada e o vento
My masters were the road and the wind
Quem na vida me insinô
Who taught me in life
Vô me alembrano na viagem
I will remember on the journey
Das pinura qui passei
Of the landscapes I passed through
Daquelas duras passage
Of those difficult passages
Nos lugari adonde andei
In the places where I walked
Só de pensá me dá friage
Just thinking about it gives me chills
Nos sucesso qui assentei
In the achievements I attained
Na mia lembrança
In my memory
Ligião de condenados
A religion of the condemned
Nos grilhão acorrentados
In chained shackles
Nas treva da inguinirança
In the darkness of ignorance
Sem a luz do Grande Rei
Without the light of the Great King
Tudo isso eu vi nas mia andança
I saw all of this in my journey
Nos tempo qui eu buscalava
In the times that I sought
O trecho alei
The distant path
Tô de volta já faiz tempo
I've been back for a while now
Qui deixei o meu lugá
That I left my place
Isso se deu cuano moço
This happened when I was young
Qui eu saí a percurá
When I set out to search
Nas inlusão qui hai no mundo
In the illusions that exist in the world
Nas bramura qui hai pru lá
In the darkness that is out there
Soltei pru prefundos pôço
I fell into deep wells
Qui o Tioso tem pru lá
That the Death has over there
Jesus livrô derna d'eu moço
Jesus saved me from Death when I was young
Do Raivoso me paiá
From the Furious who pursued me
Já passei pur tantas prova
I've been through so many tests
Inda tem prova a infrentá
And still there are tests to face
Vô contano mias trova
I will sing more verses
Qui ajuntei no comiá
That I gathered at the beginning
Lá no céu vejo a lua nova
Up in the sky, I see the new moon
Cumpaia do istradá
Companion of the road
Ele insinô qui nois vivesse
He suggested that we live
A vida aqui só pru passá
Life here is only for passing through
Qui nois intonce invitasse
So that we would therefore invite
O mau disejo e o coração
The bad intentions and the heart
Nois prufiasse pra sê branco
Would test us to be pure
Inda mais puro
Even more pure
Qui o capucho no algudão
Than cotton wool
Qui num juntasse dividisse
That doesn't gather nor divide
Nem negasse a quem pidisse
Doesn't refuse those who ask for it
Nossos terém nosso perdão
Our possessions and our forgiveness
Só assim nois vê a face Ogusta
Only this way we will see the face of Augustus
Do qui habita os altos céus
Of the one who inhabits the high heavens
O Piedoso o Manso o Justo
The Merciful, the Gentle, the Just
O Fiel e cumpassivo
The Faithful and Compassionate
Siô de mortos e vivos
Lord of the dead and the living
Nosso Pai e Nosso Deus
Our Father and Our God
Disse Qui haverá de voltá
He said he will return
Cuano essa terra pecadora
When this sinful earth
Margulada in transgressão
Drowned in transgression
Tivesse chêa de violença
Was filled with violence
De rapina de mentira e de ladrão
Of theft, lies, and thieves
Contributed by Taylor L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.