“Onda” (Cassiano, 1976)
This seemingly simple song is the subject of today’s Brazuca Sounds bonus episode. At almost 8 minutes, this track from Cassiano’s “Cuban Soul 18 Kilates” (“18 Karat Cuban Soul”) uses fewer than 20 words total. So it would seem that translation should be pretty straightforward, but the title word itself is not as simple as it may seem at first. Linguistically, it means “wave” (as emphasized by the sounds bracketing the beginning and end of the song), but “onda” has a much broader cultural impact in Brazilian Portuguese than in English, surfer culture and slang having permeated much more deeply in Brazil than you would hear in the US. Just a sampling of the myriad expressions that use the word: “segurar a onda” (be calm, be cool, take it easy), “tirar onda” (depending on context: tease/make fun of; feel/act superior to; show off; do amazingly well, stand out; have fun; etc.), “ir na onda”/“pegar a onda” (go along with), “na boa onda” (free of stress), and many more.
There’s also the sound of the word itself, which Cassiano masterfully uses here to invoke the sounds of waves in a way that the monosyllabic English equivalent just can’t replicate. I tried a number of different synonyms to try to find something that had that lilt in English, as well as some variants like “waving” and near-synonyms like “sway” but nothing quite captured the “waviness” of the original. That sonorous element, combined with the small number of total words, leads me to recommend looking at the translation below and then sitting back and letting the song wash over you. Pun most definitely intended.
Listen to the song
Listen to the Anvil playlist
(which includes a remix of today’s song)
“Onda”
Onda
Onda
Onda
Onda
Foi somente onda
Onda
Foi somente onda
Bela
Onda
Onda
Onda
Bela
Não, não, não, não, não
Não é possivel você estar assim, assim
Você que sempre foi
Não me diga que não foi
Não vai querer se zangar
“Wave”
Wave
Wave
Wave
Wave
It was just a wave
Wave
It was just a wave
Beautiful
Wave
Wave
Wave
Beautiful
No, no, no, no, no
It’s not possible for you to be like this, like this
You who was always
Don’t tell me you weren’t
You’re not trying to get angry