.png){kind=logo}
The months of June and July are quite festive in Brazil, but not because of samba, football, or Carnival. At this time in the southern winter are celebrated the June Fest and July Fest, which are unrelated to the spring commemorations of Mayfest in the northern hemisphere. The Brazilian festivals showcase the vibrant culture of the country’s northeast, with its music, dance, clothing, and food. This region is also known as the “interior,” since it is associated with rural areas far from the coastal cities that are the capitals.
Northeastern culture has been appreciated ever since the early 20th century avant-garde artists, writers, and musicians sought to combine local folkloric traditions with global modern(ist) movements. In the countercultural spirit of the 1960s and 1970s, the neo-avant-garde Tropicalist movement revived this process of cultural “cannibalism” in the art, literature, music, and cinema of the period. One of the leaders of the movement was the eclectic singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil, whose highly poetic lyrics address both social and spiritual themes. If his significant contribution to national and international culture would initially cause him to be sent to prison and later into exile by the military dictatorship, it would ultimately result in his exaltation to the position of Minister of Culture and eventually member of the prestigious Brazilian Academy of Letters.
One of Gil’s most acclaimed albums is titled Refazenda (1975), a term which is a play on the Portuguese words fazenda (farm) and refazendo (redoing), and which has been translated into English as the portmanteau “refarm,” thus merging the words “farm” and “reform.” The album as a whole reflects a true search for the interior, for the inner or inside, not only in a geographical sense, as evident in the northeastern themes and references, but also in a social and spiritual sense, as apparent in the acute cultural and existential awareness of songs such as “Tenho Sede” (I’m Thirsty) and “Lamento Sertanejo” (Country Lament) on the one hand, and “Retiros Espirituais” (Spiritual Retreats) and “Meditação” (Meditation) on the other. It is worth mentioning that, in addition to being a follower of the Afro-Brazilian traditions of candomblé and umbanda, Gil is a longtime practitioner of yoga.
The title track “Refazenda” is the only one that has been “redone” or recreated in English, (re)recorded as “Refarm.” With exquisite wordplay, the Portuguese version speaks, or rather sings, of the harmonious and even loving relationship between humans and nature and features typical tropical fruits such as avocado, papaya, tamarind, and mango, all as metaphors for the fruits of labor. Here are the lyrics to the song in translation, which differs considerably from the original:
Refarm
Oh, avocado tree
The Eternal Life is sending me
On the task of speaking to you
Words of paciency
I bring the lion
And the duck as country fellows
May they tell you many fairy tales
Avocado tree
Oh, avocado tree
The Eternal Life is knowing
How misleading technology
Has been to us, so far
We can see
Devastation in the forest
Desolation in the city
We can feel destruction in the air
Oh, avocado tree
Although the picture is so dark
And the blue sky is no longer blue
Oh, don’t be sad, and never
Let the dead leaves of Autumn time
Be the only choice for you
Spring is coming
Somewhere in the future
In the Universal Vegetal Union
Avocado tree
Let our free wings
Fly together over lands
Of Rebirth in a Refarm
In a world of Fantasy
Refarm is a dream land
In Tennessee
Where they grow a dream
Avocado tree
The lyrics convey an ecological, social, and spiritual message that is both in line and in tune with Neohumanist principles, as can be read in the references to the divine figure of an “Eternal Life;” the fellowship of humans, animals, and plants; the use of art and literature in the form of “fairy tales;” the alarm over the “devastation in the forest,” “desolation in the city,” and “destruction in the air” caused by a “misleading technology;” the wish that the death represented by autumn will be transformed into the rebirth represented by spring, the belief in universalism in the form of a “Universal Vegetable Union;” and finally the vision of a fantastic refarm that will lead to freedom and realization.
Due to its colonial history, with agricultural plantations and slave labor, the Brazilian Northeast is arguably comparable to the American South, which is perhaps why the “dream land” Refarm is located in Tennessee. But what on earth is symbolized by the avocado tree is beyond me! Heaven only knows…
Here is the official music video of the song in both Portuguese and English:
About The Author
Marco Alexandre de Oliveira is a professor, translator, and writer. He earned his Ph.D. in Comparative Literature and M.A. in Romance Languages and Literatures from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his B.A. in Religious Studies from the University of South Carolina. He has taught several academic courses and written a number of scholarly articles on the topics of art, literature, and culture. His alter-ego, Gringo Carioca, is a poet and visual artist based in Rio de Janeiro, whose work has been published in books and journals and exhibited in galleries and museums both in Brazil and abroad.
Learn more about his upcoming course "The Aim(s) of Art - Spiritual and Social Transformation" starts August 3rd, sign up today and save your spot!
Commentaires