Lyrics, Music and Time
Listening Post 381. When it comes to stories of time travel, the future is a blank slate, beckoning any conjecture; the past comes with a written record and hordes of opinionated sentinels. Undeterred, Bernardo Diniz has plunged, rigorously and enthusiastically, into music history. A singer, guitarist and composer, Diniz has been a fixture of Rio de Janeiro’s music scene for more than 10 years, collaborating with numerous artists on albums and tours. Saída da Casa (Leaving Home), his first solo album, carries what he calls “a 70s vibe” of MPB—Música popular brasileira—the movement that embraced Brazilian national and regional styles, but that initially held rock and other foreign influences at bay. To capture the essence of a period he has no memory of, Diniz—who is 33—partners with veteran poet Paulo César Pinheiro, who wrote for Brazilian music royalty (Tom Jobim, Dori Caymmi, Edu Lobo, Maria Bethânia, among others). The album is an odyssey into new horizons, exploring topographical and musical landmarks, merging yesterday and today into a unified personal saga about finding one’s place in the world. We hear constituent parts of early MPB, not only bossa nova and samba-canção but also toada, galope and marcha rancho. The title track transforms one man’s journey into an epic worthy of Vasco da Gama (video 1). The lover’s lament A Voz do Mar (Voice of the Sea, video 2) evokes a timeless motive for flight; while Jurando a Bandeira (Pledging to the Flag, video 3) honors a nation’s musical banner and multicultural roots. Road and song are two sides of the same coin in Destino de Violeiro (A Guitarist’s Destiny, video 4) and in Voz Rouca (Hoarse Voice, video 5). Saída da Casa is an impressive union of human and musical generations, and it may be only a first chapter. Diniz and Pinheiro have at least 50 more unpublished songs. Looks like the future holds more of the past. (Tratore)
Bernardo Diniz: Saída da Casa / Leaving Home
Bernardo Diniz: Vocals, guitars, cavaquinho
Marcelo Cebukin: Flutes
Rafael Meninão: Accordion
Fernando Moura: Piano, Rhodes, synthesizers
Federico Puppi: Cello
Diego Garbin: Trumpet
Rafael Rocha: Trombone
Bruno Repsold: Double bass
Marcus Thadeu: Percussion
Saída de Casa / Leaving Home
Lyrics: Paulo César Pinheiro/Music: Bernardo Diniz
(From the Portuguese lyrics)
I’ve already saddled my horse/Under the buriti palms
I’ll leave when the rooster crows/And to the sound of welcome
In the chime of the clapper/That comes from the church
I’ll go with São Gonçalo/To guide my way
I’ll cross the Caxangá plain/I’ll pass the Itororó ford
And take the Guajará gap/Through Serra do Cipó
Oh mother, and I’m going alone
I’ll carry in my bag/Honey, potion, root
Frying pan and casserole/Plates and canteens
I’ve said goodbye to my buddies/Next to the fountain
Playing chords/Like I always wanted
I’ll round Pedra do Indaiá/And cut across the Seridó estuary
I’ll enter Cerro do Tanguá/There in Cafundó
Oh mother, and I’m going alone
Oh oh
By myself, that’s how I’m going
A Voz do Mar / Voice of the Sea
Lyrics: Paulo César Pinheiro/Music: Bernardo Diniz
You no longer have the power to deceive me/Because your past condemns you
Your feigned love is no longer worth it/I’d rather go than keep fighting
There are no more reasons to reconsider/There’s no point in playing more games
Don’t try to confuse me with your chatter/There’s nothing left to do, there’s just nothing
I’ll disappear/It’s time, already, for my ship to sail
I’ll navigate from this port, it’s time to weigh anchor
The sea outside says that love/Has many ports worth visiting
I’ll follow the voice/Of the sea
Jurando a Bandeira / Pledging to the Flag
Lyrics: Paulo César Pinheiro/Music: Bernardo Diniz
I raised the flag/And from the mast it flies
Defending the trench/Of the popular song warrior
Of this land of palms—”Pindorama”
Rumbling in the ground/Of this musical Nation
I already know the border/I have seen Divine Tupã’s hand-drawn map
The Brazilian nation/With the spear of Ogun of the Sea Shore
In the footsteps of the Patron Saint
Carving out this tradition/That our hearts followed
In the cozy lap of the Gentle Mother/Every poet will sing
At the foot of a Brazilwood tree/Where the thrush sings
In the cozy lap of the Gentle Mother/Every poet will sing
As at the foot of a Brazilwood tree/The thrush still sings
Destino de Violeiro / Guitarist’s Destiny
Lyrics: Paulo César Pinheiro/Music: Bernardo Diniz
It’s alone that I walk/No band, no gang
Without a companion/No major, no orders
Without power, without control/No fixed address
I will cross wilderness and sea/I don’t know if it’s a duty
Whether it’s destiny or not/If it’s a mission
I carry a verse in my voice/I carry a song on my guitar
I range across mountains and countryside/Clarity and fog
Downpours from the sky/The opposite of routine
I follow my fate/I’m a guitarist
I’ll pass morning, moonlight/My little signs
They stay, they go/Through the floor
A poem, a string/A praise, a chorus
Stone, salt, sand, flower/Corner, anywhere
North, south, grotto, tide/Whatever catches the eye
I don’t know what I’ll find
I don’t even know if I’ll go back
Voz Rouca / Hoarse Voice
Lyrics: Paulo César Pinheiro/Music: Bernardo Diniz
I never get tired of wandering/Stepping through the dust of the road
Listening to the bluebird when it’s daytime/Singing when it’s dawn
I don’t know where the road will lead/Not even my feet know where they go
In the paths of the ground/The course of life and the world has no direction
My soul just wants to walk/Because it doesn’t need anything
Any melody is enough/From the birdsong
Even though I carry in my vision/So much love and passion
In a stained-glass window of emotion/I harbor no illusions about life or the world
I just want to walk/I’ll follow wherever the road takes me, and the hoarse voice of a guitar will guide me
And every song I hear/Nourishes my heart
I’m like the sea wind/And the breeze that hits the sidewalk
My song is capricious/On the trail of my journey
My brief destiny is to sing/No motive or reason
Without intention/Whoever sings in the life of the world is not lonely
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