O Festival Internacional do Tambor Muhtadi: “Quero ser tambor” / “I want to be a drum”

A performer deeply involved in the energy of The Drum_Muhtadi International Drumming Festival in Toronto_June 9th 2013_photograph by Elisabeth Springate

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José Craveirinha

(1922–2003, Maputo, Moçambique)

“Quero ser tambor”

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Tambor está velho de gritar
Oh velho Deus dos homens
deixa-me ser tambor
corpo e alma só tambor
só tambor gritando na noite quente dos trópicos.

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Nem flor nascida no mato do desespero
Nem rio correndo para o mar do desespero
Nem zagaia temperada no lume vivo do desespero
Nem mesmo poesia forjada na dor rubra do desespero.

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Nem nada!

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Só tambor velho de gritar na lua cheia da minha terra
Só tambor de pele curtida ao sol da minha terra
Só tambor cavado nos troncos duros da minha terra.

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Eu!

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Só tambor rebentando o silêncio amargo da Mafalala
Só tambor velho de sentar no batuque da minha terra
Só tambor perdido na escuridão da noite perdida.

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Ó velho Deus dos homens
eu quero ser tambor
e nem rio
e nem flor
e nem zagaia por enquanto
e nem mesmo poesia.

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Só tambor ecoando como a canção da força e da vida
Só tambor noite e dia
dia e noite só tambor
até à consumação da grande festa do batuque!

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Oh velho Deus dos homens
deixa-me ser tambor
só tambor!

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Isshin Daiko (“One Heart” Japanese-traditional drummers)_Muhtadi International Drumming Festival in Toronto_June 9th 2013_photograph by Elisabeth Springate

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José Craveirinha

“I want to be a drum”

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The drum is all weary from screaming

Oh ancient God of mankind
let me be a drum because I want to be a drum
body and soul – just a drum
just a drum playing in the hot tropical night.

I don’t want to be a flower born in the forest of despair
I don’t want to be a river flowing toward the sea of despair
I don’t want to be an assegai spear tempered in the hot flame of despair
Not even a poem forged in the searing pain of despair.

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Nothing like that – I want to be a drum!

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Just a drum worn from wailing in the full moon of my land
Just a drumskin cured in the sun of my land
Just a drum carved from the solid tree trunks of my land.

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Just a drum splitting the bitter silence of Mafalala village
Just a drum worn from sitting in on the batuque jam-sessions of my land
Just a drum lost in the darkness of the lost night.

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Oh ancient God of mankind
I want to be a drum – just a drum
not a river
not a flower
not an assegai spear just for now
and not even a poem – I don’t want to be a poem.
Only a drum echoing like the song of strength and life
Only a drum night and day,
day and night, only a drum
until the final great batuque jam session!
Oh ancient God of mankind
let me be a drum
just a drum!

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Mafalala – a neighbourhood or bairro in the city of Maputo, Mozambique

batuque – festival of drumming

assegai – an African hardwood, used to make the iron-tipped “zagaia” spear

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Dhol Circle_Muhtadi International Drumming Festival in Toronto_June 9th 2013_photograph by Elisabeth Springate

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José Craveirinha  é considerado o poeta maior de Moçambique. Em 1991, tornou-se o primeiro autor africano galardoado com o Prémio Camões, o mais importante prémio literário da língua portuguesa.

José Craveirinha (1922 – 2003) was a Mozambican journalist, short-story writer, and poet.  He was the child of a Portuguese father and a black (Ronga) Mozambican mother.  An impassioned supporter of the anti-Colonial group Frelimo during the Portuguese Colonial War/War of Liberation, he was imprisoned from 1966 to 1974.  Craveirinha was one of the pioneers of Poesia Moçambicana da Negritude, a literary movement that highlighted African traditions and the reaffirmation of African values.

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Master drummer Muhtadi Thomas came to Canada in 1974 from Trinidad and Tobago.  He settled in Toronto where he has established himself as the premier percussion-instrument mentor among students in the city’s school and community programmes.  He plays djembe, bongos, congas, timbales, plus T&T’s steel pan – among other world drums.   June 8th and 9th, 2013, marked the 14th year of the Muhtadi International Drumming Festival.

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Our thanks to Professor Kwachirere of the University of Zimbabwe for his Portuguese-into-English poem translation

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