Joel Nascimento is an important choro master, a keeper of the tradition aft… Read Full Bio ↴Joel Nascimento is an important choro master, a keeper of the tradition after Jacob do Bandolim, and, together with Déo Rian, a developer on his own. He had a noted international career and enjoyed popular acclaim in his own country. He also formed Camerata Carioca, a group that opened new directions for the choro genre.

He began to learn the cavaquinho as a child, taking up the piano and the accordion at age 14. He formed the group Joel e Seu Ritmo, who animated dances. In 1955, he undertook formal piano studies at the Conservatório Brasileiro, but was forced to abandon music in 1959 due to audition problems. He became a radiologist, returning to music only ten years later after being noticed by the host of a traditional roda de choro, Oraci, in 1968. Receiving a mandolin as a present from Oraci, he switched to that instrument. In 1974, he presented the suite "Retratos" (Radamés Gnattali), written for the choro virtuoso Jacob do Bandolim; Gnattali applauded the performance. In August of the same year, Nascimento participated in the recording of A Música de Donga with his idols since childhood: Dino, Canhoto, Meira, and others. He soon became an active accompanist for masters of samba like João Nogueira (with whom he recorded, still in 1974, the tracks "Braço de Boneca" and "De Rosas e Coisas Amigas") and Beth Carvalho. This introduction to the samba scene yielded invitations for shows like Vem Quem Tem, Vem Quem Não Tem, together with Cartola, Roberto Nascimento, Cláudio Jorge, and others. His first solo LP came out in 1975, Chorando Pelos Dedos (Odeon), selling a total of 40,000 copies in six years, an excellent mark for the instrumental genre. With Waldir Azevedo, Paulo Moura, and others, he participated in the show Choro Na Praça, which was recorded and released by WEA. Asking Gnattali to transcribe his suite "Retratos" for Nascimento's choro regional, the group, now adding chamber music elements into their playing, opened the doors to a new choro school and became known as Camerata Carioca. In 1978, he recorded Meu Sonho (Odeon), and in the next year recorded the album Tributo a Jacob do Bandolim with Gnattali and Camerata Carioca on WEA. He performed with the Orquestra Sinfônica Brasileira, the Orquestra de Blumenau -- SC, and the Orquestra do Teatro Municipal -- RJ, among others. In 1982, he performed at the Lincoln Center in New York with Arthur Moreira Lima, Rafael Rabello, and others. Then he played in Germany, Austria, Portugal, Italy, France, French Guyana, Argentina, and Japan. He performed at festivals in Montreux (Switzerland), Nice and Corsica (France), and New Mexico (U.S.A.). He also recorded several other solo albums

Ecos
Joel Nascimento Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Recuerdo el día que
te fuiste una mañana de invierno
subiste en ese tren
e hicieron de mi vida un infierno
y los besos que entregué
te los llevaste demasiado lejos

Y me despierto en un vagón

ya me he pasado de estación
no me preguntes qué hago aquí
en las entrañas de Madrid
puede que exista una razón
que me robara el corazón, el corazón
Mil noches y una más
tratando de escapar de un mal sueño
oyendo en soledad
el llanto de los ecos eternos
¿Cuánto tiempo ha de pasar
para sentir que ya no estás viviendo?
Y me despierto en un vagón
ya me he pasado de estación
no me preguntes qué hago aquí

en las entrañas de Madrid
en las entrañas de Madrid.

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Joel Nascimento's song Ecos are about the pain and heartbreak caused by a lost love. The singer remembers the day his lover left on a winter morning, and how it made his life a living hell. He gave her kisses, but she took them too far away from him. The lyrics express the longing for that lost love and the attempts to escape from the pain that it caused. The singer feels lost and disconnected from the world, waking up on a train and having traveled too far from his destination, symbolizing the feeling of being lost and feeling like he's going nowhere.

The lyrics are heart-wrenching and full of depth and emotion. The imagery of being lost in a train or in the "entrañas de Madrid" (the bowels of Madrid) adds to the feeling of being lost in the world. The lyrics express the pain of a lost love and the difficulty of moving on from it. It's a poignant reminder of how love can be both beautiful and painful at the same time.

Line by Line Meaning

Recuerdo el día que te fuiste una mañana de invierno
I remember the day when you left on a winter morning

Subiste en ese tren e hicieron de mi vida un infierno
You got on that train and turned my life into a living hell

Y los besos que entregué te los llevaste demasiado lejos
And the kisses I gave you, you took them too far

Y me despierto en un vagón ya me he pasado de estación
And I wake up in a carriage having missed my stop

No me preguntes qué hago aquí en las entrañas de Madrid
Don't ask me what I'm doing here in the depths of Madrid

Puede que exista una razón que me robara el corazón, el corazón
Maybe there's a reason that stole my heart, my heart

Mil noches y una más tratando de escapar de un mal sueño
A thousand nights and one more trying to escape a bad dream

Oyendo en soledad el llanto de los ecos eternos
Hearing in solitude the cry of the eternal echoes

¿Cuánto tiempo ha de pasar para sentir que ya no estás viviendo?
How long must pass to feel that you're no longer living?

En las entrañas de Madrid
In the depths of Madrid

Writer(s): Joel Do Nascimento

Contributed by Tristan M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.