B RAZ I L • Songs of Protest Zelia Barbosa Sings of the SerttJo & Favela RAQUEL CHAVES, guitar / MAX HEDIGUER, bass / NELSON SERRA de CASTRO, percussion

Side One

1. OPINIAO 2:40 (Opinion) They can arrest me, beat me, they can even leave me without food but 1 won't change my opinion of this poor, dry high hill. If there is no water, 1 will dig a well If there is no meat, I'll buy a bone and make soup And that's the way things will be. No matter, what they say about me, here r don't pay any rent and if I die tomorrow, Lord, I am already quite close to heaven.

~ 2. FUNERA~ DO LAVRADOR 2:00 (Funeral of a Worker) However much you wanted a piece of land from the great plantation, this grave is the only piece of land you will ever call your own. In this tiny piece of land you will be less mistreated than ever you were in life.

~' 3. PEDRO PEDREIRO 2:30 (Peter the Mason) Peter the Mason is sad. He is waiting for the train to take him away. His whole life is a matter of waiting-waiting for the promised raise, the winning lottery ticket, the sun. His wife also waits-for the baby and tne baby waits, for what? Does Peter prefer to wait for death or shall he return to being a mason and give up waiting and hoping for the good things in life?

Y4. SINA DE CABOCLO 2:35 (Destiny of a Peasant) I will no longer share what T produce with the "master" who does no work. Rather, I'll leave my beloved village, however reluctantly. I shall go to Rio and work as a mason. But if God cares, he will give me some land that I can work by myself for myself.

• S. CHEGANCA 2:55 (Arrival) We came here, from there-from all the places which one could leave, carrying with us an old scythe, a young woman and a song of hope. To live is to get married and to have children in a real world, not in such a whirlwind.

~ 6. PAU DE ARARA 3:10 (The Parrot Roost) One day when I have had enough of hunger, I shall gather up the few things I own-two old pairs of pants and a little guitar and in the wink of an eye I'll take off for Copacabana. But in spite of the dizzying dancing and the girls, I'll return to my desolate village, back to hunger and suffering, because there I am a somebody, not just swinging on a parrot roost.

"To sing of the sea,

the sky and the flowers,

that is not enough"

This album presents twelve of the most typical

songs depicting the life of the Brazilian people.

You will come to understand the peasant, the

dweller in the "Sertao" (Desert) of the Northeast

as he sings of his sadness in having to leave the

countryside to flee the drought, as he realizes

his exploitation by the large landowner and as

he hurls his protestations.

The inhabitant of the "favela" (slums) con­

demned to vegetate on the outskirts of society

tells of his life, also, in these songs. He tells how

he constantly waits for the train to take him to

work, waits for the raise each month that has

been promised him for a year; his wife waits for

the baby to be born and the baby waits for what?

This expression of protest by the young com­

posers of popular music in Brazil, this outcry,

expresses the desire to make of a song an in­

strument to serve the people, to offer · to the

people a means of expressing themselves, of

communicating: it marks a turning point in the

evolution of the Brazilian song.

Side Two

#. 1. CARCARA 1 :52 (The Vulture) Glory to God on the highest, how I live in affliction on the lands of the plantation owner. But the vulture does not suffer, does not die of hunger. The vulture attacks, kills and eats, if not from the charred lands, then off the little lambs in the valley.

..., p 2. CANCAO DA TERRA 3 :13

(Song of the Earth) Without a country in which to live, a field to plant, a love to cherish or a voice to sing, one is dead. To be truly alive, one has to fight for love, for a place to live and to be able to call one's work .one's own and nobody else's. And let no one, however powerful, rob you of these precious things.

• 3. ZELAO 2:55 Everybody on the hill heard Zelao cry. Nobody laughed, nobody danced, even though it was Carnival .time. Zelao always said that the poor should always help the poor until things got better. The heavy rains knocked Zelao's shack down the hill. Nobody laughed.

• 4. FEIO, NAO E BONITO 2:15 (Ugly) It is ugly, it is not beautiful, it is the "morro" (the hill village). He sings, but his song is sad, because there is nothing but sadness to sing about. He cries, but be cries with laughter because he is brave and will not let himself be crushed.

6 S. CICATRIZ 3:10 (The Scar) There are a lot more than one, two or three poor people. Go and see for yourself. The poor have never put happiness to the test. Sadness is their scar. Notice that it is only once in a while that the poor are happy. It is hardly worth living that way.

,, 6. NEGA DINA 1 :45 (Dina Says No) Dina climbs up and down several hill villages looking for me. When she finds me she raises a big fuss because I didn't leave her money for food for a week. She thinks my life is a paradise. But 1 work very hard just to survive. I work all hours on the plantation without rest. T am already wrung out, without a roof over my head. I am just a half-starved Brazil­ian.

Cover photo: Bill Sumner

Music from Latin-America on Monitor Records

DANZAS VENEZUELA: The Ballet Folklorico of Venezuela.

Stereo: MFS 499

CHILE: Maria Luisa Buchino & Her Llameros. Stereo: MFS 342

STEREO

ARGENTINA: Maria Luisa Buchino & Her Llameros. Stereo: MFS 343

GUANTANAMERA: Los · Tres Para­guayos. Stereo: MFS 490

For complete "Music of the World" catalog write to: MONITOR RECORDS, 156 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010

FIESTA MEXICANA: Javier de Leon's Panorama of Mexico, old and new.

Stereo: MFS 472

Printed in U.SA