Most Brazilian lullabies and children songs are scary like hell. Some of them are not exactly child-appropriate. Or human-appropriate.
Check this hit parade:
The big classic “Atirei o Pau no Gato”, that says: I hit a cat with a stick, but he didn’t die. Mrs. Chica was surprised by the cat’s cry.
What about the morbid “A Canoa Virou“: the canoe turned down, because someone let it happen: [name of the kid] didn’t know how to row. If I were a little fish and knew how to swim, I would rescue [the kid] from the bottom of the sea.
Or the even scarier “Nana neném“: sleep baby, because Cuca (a forest monster) will come for you. Mammy is in the plantation and daddy is working.
Or the vaguely racist “Boi da Cara Preta”: Black-faced ox, come for this kid that is afraid of grimaces!
Or the gloomy “O Cravo Brigou com a Rosa”: Carnation fought with Rose, under a set of stairs. Carnation got hurt and Rose lost her petals. Carnation got sick, Rose came visit. Carnation fainted. Rose began to cry.
You can also try “Ciranda, Cirandinha“, that says: “the ring you gave me was made of glass and broke. The love that you had for me was not enough and vanished”.
Or “Samba Lelê”: Samba Lelê is sick, his head is broken. What he really needs is to be spanked.
You’ve got the spirit.
You don’t have to have a PhD in Psychology to realize you might want to keep your kids away from this songs. Instead, look for Paulo Tatit’s brilliant work – such as “Palavra Cantada” and “Pé com Pé“. Or maybe, go for Chico Buarque de Hollanda’s “Os Saltimbancos”. Also, check the Cocoricó TV program soundtrack. This (low quality) video of a Cocoricó’s sketch shows some of the main characters, chickens, singing their omnipresence and offering translations of “hen” in different languages.
Neither Giselle, nor destitute homeless. A new portrait of Brazilian women emerges from a series of studies released in the last few days. She studies and works hard, both at home and professionally, earns less than her male counterparts and has an increasing importance in the country’s economy.
Study more – 56.8% of 15 to 17-year-old girls were in school in 2008 (at the grades expected for their age), while only 44.4% of boys were studying. A similar proportion can be observed among young adults, according to Ipea : 15.7% of women and 11.8% men between 18 e 24 were in college two years ago.
Do most of the housework – Really, no surprise here. According to Ipea, women dedicate, in average, 23.9 weekly hours to cooking and cleaning their own houses, while men spend 9.7 hours on those chores.
A high percentage hasbad jobs – In 2008, 42.1% of working women are paid either low or no salaries, or have informal jobs (no vacations, no job stability, no paid retirement). In contrast, only 26.2% of men work under those conditions. In fact, these numbers hide some good news. Things are getting a little better. In 1998, 48.3% of women and 31.2% of men had jobs this insecure. Keep reading
Financial Times – Heading in opposite directions ( a great article about the resistance Brazilian mining group Vale faced when it bought Canadian nickel miner Inco, in 2006) – (depends on free subscription)
This week, the main Brazilian magazines offer a very diversified menu.
Época interviews the story of billionaire Eike Batista, on of the 10 richest men in the world. His empire, that goes from mining to tourism, reaches US$ 27.5 billion – thanks to an unbelievable US$ 20 billion growth in 2009.
Isto É remembers a two-year-old crime – the death of Isabella Nardoni, supposedly killed and thrown from an apartment building by her middle-class father and stepmother, whose trial is happens this week.
Veja does the follow up of the previous week cover on a corruption case involving Partido dos Trabalhadores, Brazil’s governing party .
Only two Brazilian rock bands really made it abroad. Heavy-metal Sepultura and psychedelic Os Mutantes.
Os Mutantes’s success is peculiar in the fact that the band had its heyday in the late sixties and early seventies, when it was instrumental in shaping counterculture in Brazil. It was dismantled for decades, till the nineties, when it was progressively brought back to life, championed by Kurt Cobain, Beck and David Byrne.
Initially formed by brothers Arnaldo Baptista and Sérgio Brito, and red-haired-enfant terrible singer Rita Lee, it blew the country’s mind with its experimentalism and funny, surreal performances, that mixed bridal dresses and Napoleon outfits. Their free and crazy attitude was particularly striking in the tense period of censorship and political restrictions the country faced at the time. Keep reading
Oscar Niemeyer, the centenary Brazilian architect that gained world fame for his sculptural reinforced concrete buildings, is still producing in an almost compulsive rhythm.
His signature is everywhere – not only in Brasília, the country’s capital and the main showcase of his creativity. During the last decade, he designed at least a dozen new projects, including a couple of museums and an annex for the Serpentine Gallery in the Hyde Park, in London. This week an impressive group of buildings by Niemeyer were inaugurated in Belo Horizonte. They will host Minas Gerais state government headquarters. The project, that cost over R$ 1 billion (US$ 560 million), includes two 15-floor towers and an auditorium. Keep reading
In fact, the transition to a new host and a new look was smoother than I expected. Thanks for sticking with me through this process. I hope you like the results. And, please, remember your feedback is always welcome.
So, back to the topic of the day: Veja covers one more scandal involving the governing Partido dos Trabalhadores. Época gives tips on how to help your kids being good students while Isto É discusses new treatments for male impotency.
In the next few weeks, I intend to change several features of this blog. It will be moving from Wordpress.com to a self hosted version. I hope it will gain flexibility – wider columns, space for more content and, maybe, some ads.
I am not a computer wizard, so this process might be painful. Please, be patient. I believe I will be back to regular business soon.
I am also looking for ways to make the design friendlier and more pleasant. I would really appreciate if you could give me your feedback on these topics:
Do you like the look of the website? Too many/few photos?
Is it easy to read? Would you prefer a different font/letter size?
Can you figure where the links are (or maybe they are too discreet)?
Would you like to have more/less blank spaces?
Thanks! I hope you will enjoy the new look of Deep Brazil.
Every Sunday you will find here the latest news about Brazil published by the international media.
The Economist – The Money Trail – “Corruption in Brazil:Many corruption scandals stem from the high cost of politics, and unrealistically tight campaign-finance rules”
Most Brazilian lullabies and children songs are scary like hell. Some of them are not exactly child-appropriate. Or human-appropriate.
In the next few weeks, I intend to change several features of this blog. It will be moving from Wordpress.com to a self hosted version. I hope it will gain flexibility – wider columns, space for more content and, maybe, some ads.
