The birth of a song...

Silvia plans her trip and tries on suitable clothing for September and October in England

The tune that we used for  the song 'Rio Logh' was Neil's composition for Dalla entitled 'King Harry Ferry Furrey' which was inspired by the rhythm generated by the machinery of the old King Harry chain ferry. (You can hear the original on Dalla's first CD - 'A Richer Vein' which is available here). Neil actually sent Silvia a selection of tunes to choose from but this was the one that particularly resonated with her. She had this to say about the song -
"I wrote the lyrics thinking about a fusion between the cultures of the two countries. It tells of a boat in a river.  I used a legend from Amazônia (of the Cuigang tribe), about the supernatural origin of music. They say the lyrics for the first song, which came out of a small branch of a tree,  was “andó xo ca e vô” (with no translation to Portuguese, either). I mixed it with the Candomblé deity of the wind and lightning, and I put them all together in the story, the wind blowing the boat that navigates river Logh."

Here is the lyric in English and in Portuguese. The translation is by Silvia, with a little help from her partner, Rodrigo de Castro Lopes -

desliza  o barco descendo o rio Logh   vento assopra a brisa a embalar

The boat slides down on the river Logh, the wind blows, the breeze is soothing

em terra firme caiurucré ouviu a voz  salve o som do canto e o barco a navegar

On the ground Caiurucré heard the voice, save the sound of singing and the sailing boat

quem vêm em paz segue seu caminho vento que leva o barco ao seu destino 

Who comes in peace follows his path, the wind leads the boat to his destiny

a natureza conhece sua gente  salve iansã guerreira e o barco a deslizar

Nature knows its people, cheers to Iansã the warrior and the sailing boat       

nesse percurso o vento assopra forte

In this route the Wind blows strong

é iansã guerreira e o barco a hesitar canta o encontro entre a sua gente

It's Iansã the warrior and the hesitating boar, sing the meeting of their people

salve a voz do encontro e o canto a celebrar

cheer the voice of the meeting and the celebrating chant

dia de festa  nesse dia quente vento que leva o barco (à sua gente) nasce o canto andó xô cá e vô

Party day in this hot Day that takes the boat to the people, the singing andó xô cá e vô is born

e vê  desce o Logh  o barco a deslizar 

The sailing boat glides in the river Logh

We are also looking into the possibilty of doing some Brazilian Music workshops whilst Silvia is in Cornwall so if you are interested in learning more about these then watch this space, or contact me via the blog.