“Falsa baiana” (Geraldo Pereira, 1944)
Source: Teca Lamboglia from São Paulo, Brasil, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Today’s post is a return to the soundtrack of the fantastic Brazilian movie “Ainda Estou Aqui”—as well as a celebration of what would have been Gal Costa’s 80th birthday. The film uses Gal Costa’s haunting version of this classic by Geraldo Pereira (1918-1955), from her 1970 album “Legal” (“Cool”), which has slightly different lyrics. Needless to say, this classic song has been covered by tons of artists. Gal’s version stands out from almost all others for being a little slower and softer.
A word about the title, more specifically about the word “baiana”: obviously that means a Bahian woman, but somehow replacing the one Portuguese word with two (less sonorous) English words when that word is so integral to the song itself would have been extremely clunky. So I’ve chosen to keep the word in Portuguese throughout. (This song is ostensibly based on a true story of women who would dress up like baianas but didn’t have the real spirit of Bahia.) And a word about the ending: São Salvador is the saint for whom the capital of Bahia is named - and also the name the Portuguese gave to the capital of the Kongo Kingdom in 1570 in what is now Angola, originally and now again called M’banza-Kongo.
Listen to Gal sing the song
Listen to Roberto Silva’s version
“Falsa baiana”
Baiana que entra no samba, só fica parada
Não samba, não mexe
Não bole, nem nada
Não sabe deixar a mocidade louca
Baiana é aquela que entra no samba
De qualquer maneira
Que mexe, remexe
Dá nó nas cadeiras
Deixando a moçada com água na boca
A falsa baiana quando entra no samba
Ninguém se incomoda
Ninguém bate palma
Ninguém abre a roda
Ninguém grita: Oba!
Salve a Bahia, senhor
Mas a gente gosta
Quando uma baiana samba direitinho
De cima embaixo
Revira os olhinhos
Dizendo: Eu sou filha de São Salvador
“False Baiana”
Some baianas get into the samba and just stand there
She doesn’t samba, she doesn’t move
Doesn’t sway or do anything at all
She doesn’t know how to drive folks crazy
A baiana is someone who gets into the samba
However she can
Who moves, grinds
Twists her hips in a knot
Leaving everyone’s mouth watering
When the false baiana gets into the samba
Nobody cares
Nobody claps
Nobody opens the circle
Nobody shouts “Oba!
Hail Bahia, lord”
But we like it
When a baiana sambas just right
From top to bottom
Rolls her little eyes
Saying: “I’m a daughter of São Salvador”