World Portuguese Language Day 2026
Source: Simeon Netchev (CC BY-NC-ND)
In previous World Portuguese Language Day posts, I’ve drawn from the past and the distant past, but this year I’m bringing something much more contemporary: the first track from Lucas Santtana’s brilliant 2026 album “Brasiliano.” I haven’t totally abandoned my 20th century roots though: notorious wordplay musician Gilberto Gil features prominently in this track. And as with many of the latter’s songs, this one is almost as much about words themselves as about their meaning. In fact, the refrain is all words that don’t even require translation. (For those who are curious, the words in the refrain refer to: a park in São Paulo, a beach in Rio, a neighborhood in Salvador, a tree that gave its name to a line of cleaning products, a fruit, a museum in Minas Gerais that took its name from the Portuguese-ified name of an English landowner, a martial art, a southern state, a soccer stadium, a bird, the titular female character of one Romantic novel by José de Alencar, and a male character from another.)
This whole album is a celebration of the Portuguese language. According to Cleber Facchi in Música Instantânea (my translation):
A mixture of a celebration of the 25th anniversary of Lucas Santtana’s career and a sensitive study of Brazilian linguistic identity, “Brasiliano” (2026, Nø Førmat!) dives into topics like language formation, power, cultural erasure, and belonging, always with curiosity. … Sung in eight languages—brasiliano (Brazilian Portuguese), Tupi-Guarani, Occitan, French, Galician, Italian, Spanish, and Guinea-Bissau creole—the follow-on to “O Paraíso” (2023) sets aside the environmentalist themes of the previous album to enter into new territories. Inspired by the book Latim em pó [Powdered Latin] (2022) by Caetano Galindo, Santtana treats the language [of Portuguese] as if it were a female being who was born in the region of Lazio, Italy, where Latin became a fundamental part of the Roman Empire, and travels until she meets Tupi-Guarani. … These are compositions that alternate between political issues and moments of great delicacy, demonstrating Santtana’s versatility.
Some linguistic and content notes:
“flor do Lácio” - this was originally an idea from the great Brazilian poet Olavo Bilac (1865-1918) who wrote in his sonnet “Língua Portuguesa” that Portuguese was the “Última flor do Lácio, inculta e bela” (“Last flower of Lazio, uncultured and beautiful”), referring to the fact that Portuguese was the last language derived from the Vulgar Latin spoken there.
“rueira” - usually refers to people who stay out (“in the street”) all night, party animals, but I liked the way “street smart” worked with vulgar.
“saudade” - I often keep this word in my translations, but here it worked better as “miss” even though it’s a clear nod to the idea of “saudade” entering the language.
“afriqueza” - this is a mash up of “Africa” and “richness”; rather than make up an English word, I’ve split it apart
“A História da Nossa Lingua”
Mulher na flor do Lácio
Latina e rueira, é vulgar
Cruzou mediterrâneo
Sarau occitano, maninha
Naquele bonde celta
Bebeu sua cerveja no caminho
Ouviu do tal galego:
Eu vou sentir saudade, gracinha
Ibirapuera, Ipanema, Itapuã
Ipê, açaí, Inhotim
Capoeira, Curitiba, Maracanã
Sabiá, Iracema e Peri
Aquele moço mouro
Te deu arroz, azeite e alecrim
Entrou na caravela
Falando em moçárabe pra ti
Ibirapuera, Ipanema, Itapuã
Ipê, açaí, Inhotim
Capoeira, Curitiba, Maracanã
Sabiá, Iracema e Peri
Mas que mina
Que mina é essa?
Essa mina é brasileira
Mas que língua
Que língua é essa?
Essa língua
Que língua safa, safa, safa, safa
Aquela ameríndia
Que te ninou com as línguas gerais
Aquela afriqueza
Que te benzeu no axé dos orixás
Ibirapuera, Ipanema, Itapuã
Ipê, açaí, Inhotim
Capoeira, Curitiba, Maracanã
Sabiá, Iracema e Peri
“The History of Our Language”
Woman in the Lazio flower
Latin and street smart, she’s vulgar
She crossed the Mediterranean
Occitan soirée, little sister
On that Celtic streetcar
She drank her beer on the way
She heard from that Galician:
I’m going to miss you, little friend
Ibirapuera, Ipanema, Itapuã
Ipê, açaí, Inhotim
Capoeira, Curitiba, Maracanã
Sabiá, Iracema, and Peri
That Moorish boy
Gave you rice, olive oil, and rosemary
He got on the caravel
Talking to you in Mozarabic
Ibirapuera, Ipanema, Itapuã
Ipê, açaí, Inhotim
Capoeira, Curitiba, Maracanã
Sabiá, Iracema and Peri
But what girl
What girl is that?
That girl is Brazilian
But what language
What language is that?
That language
What a rascal, rascal, rascal language
That Amerindian
Who sang you lullabies in the common tongues
That African richness
That blessed you in the vital energy of the orishas
Ibirapuera, Ipanema, Itapuã
Ipê, açaí, Inhotim
Capoeira, Curitiba, Maracanã
Sabiá, Iracema and Peri