Martinho da Vila: Voz Afro-Brasileira
Posted: February 12, 2012 Filed under: Martinho de Vila, Portuguese | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on Martinho da Vila: Voz Afro-Brasileira
Martinho de Vila (nasce 12 fevereiro 1938)
“Madrugada, Carnaval e chuva” (1970)
Carnaval, madrugada
Madrugada de carnaval
Cai a chuva no asfalto da avenida
E a escola, já começa a desfilar
Molha o surdo, molha o enredo, molha a vida
Do sambista cujo o sonho é triunfar
Cai o brilho do sapato do passista
Mas o samba tem é que continuar
Os destaques se desmancham na avenida
E o esforço já é sobrenatural
Mas a turma permanece reunida
Um apito incentiva o pessoal
E a escola já avança destemida
É o samba enfrentando o temporal
Madrugada,vai embora, vem o dia
E o sambista pensa em outro carnaval
E a todos novamente desafia
A vitória do seu samba é o ideal
Chama o surdo e o pandeiro pra folia
Alegria, alegria pessoal
Carnaval, carnaval, carnaval
Volta o surdo pra folia
Alegria pessoal.
Carnaval, carnaval, carnaval,
Volta o surdo pra folia,
Alegria pessoal.
“Brasil mulato” (1969)
Pretinha, procure um branco
Porque é hora de completa integração
Branquinha, namore um preto
Faça com ele a sua miscigenação
Neguinho, vá pra escola
Ame esta terra
Esqueça a guerra
E abrace o samba
Que será lindo o meu Brasil de amanhã
Mulato forte, pulso firme e mente sã
Quero ver madame na escola de samba sambando
Quero ver fraternidade
Todo mundo se ajudando
Não quero ninguém parado
Todo mundo trabalhando
Que ninguém vá a macumba fazer feitiçaria
Vá rezando minha gente a oração de todo dia
Mentalidade vai mudar de fato
O meu Brasil então será mulato.
_____
Nicomedes Santa Cruz: “Black Rhythms of Peru” / “Ritmos negros del Perú” – “Latin America” / “América Latina”
Posted: February 12, 2012 Filed under: English, Nicomedes Santa Cruz, Spanish, ZP Translator: Alexander Best, ZP Translator: Lidia García Garay | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on Nicomedes Santa Cruz: “Black Rhythms of Peru” / “Ritmos negros del Perú” – “Latin America” / “América Latina”
Nicomedes Santa Cruz
( Poeta y músico afro-peruano, 1925-1992)
“Ritmos negros del Perú” (1957)
Ritmos de la esclavitud
contra amarguras y penas.
Al compás de las cadenas
Ritmos negros del Perú.
*
De África llegó mi abuela
vestida con caracoles,
la trajeron lo´epañoles
en un barco carabela.
La marcaron con candela,
la carimba fue su cruz.
Y en América del Sur
al golpe de sus dolores
dieron los negros tambores
ritmos de la esclavitud
*
Por una moneda sola
la revendieron en Lima
y en la Hacienda “La Molina”
sirvió a la gente española.
Con otros negros de Angola
ganaron por sus faenas
zancudos para sus venas
para dormir duro suelo
y naíta´e consuelo
contra amarguras y penas…
*
En la plantación de caña
nació el triste socabón,
en el trapiche de ron
el negro cantó la zaña.
El machete y la guadaña
curtió sus manos morenas;
y los indios con sus quenas
y el negro con tamborete
cantaron su triste suerte
al compás de las cadenas.
*
Murieron los negros viejos
pero entre la caña seca
se escucha su zamacueca
y el panalivio muy lejos.
Y se escuchan los festejos
que cantó en su juventud.
De Cañete a Tombuctú,
de Chancay a Mozambique
llevan sus claros repiques
ritmos negros del Perú.
_____
Nicomedes Santa Cruz
(Black Peruvian poet and singer, 1925-1992)
Black Rhythms of Peru (1957)
Rhythms of slavery
Against bitterness and sorrows.
Keeping time to the beat of the chains
– Black rhythms of Peru.
*
From Africa arrived my grandmother
Adorned with conch-shells,
They brought her, those Spaniards,
In a three-masted ship.
Marked by wax and fire – the
“carimba” scar was the cross she bore.
And in South America
To each strike, in her suffering,
The Black drums gave
Rhythms to that slavery.
*
For one coin
They sold my grandmother again
In Lima
And at Hacienda La Molina
She served the Spanish people.
With other Blacks from Angola
She earned for her tasks
Mosquito bites on her veins
Sleeping upon hard ground,
And nuthin’ ain’t no consolation
Against bitterness and sorrows…
*
On the sugarcane plantation
Was born that sad “socabón” dance
In the rum-press at the mill,
The Black man sang of Zaña.
The “machete” and the scythe
Cut his dark hands;
And the Indians with their reed-flutes,
The Black man and his tambourine,
Sang of their sad luck
Keeping time to the beat of the chains.
*
They died, those old Black folks…
But within the dried fibres of the cut cane
One hears the Zamacueca dance
And the distant Panalivio.
One hears the festivities they
Sang of in their youth.
From Cañete to Timbuktu,
From Chancay to Mozambique
They carried the clear pitter-patter,
The tap-tap-tap of those
Black rhythms of Peru.
_____
Glossary:
Zaña: 16th-century Spanish-Colonial town in Peru – inhabited by
wealthy, pious Spanish families involved in sugar and cotton
plantations based upon African slavery and Native-Indian servitude.
Raided by English pirates in 1686 – many people were killed,
prosperous families abandoned the town, and slaves
became unexpectedly “free”… La Zaña is an Afro-Peruvian dance
originating in the town.
Zamacueca, Panalivio: Afro-Peruvian dances of the 18th
and 19th centuries – the Zamacueca was a courtship dance and
the Panalivio’s lyrics often told of the trials of slavery.
*
Cañete, Chancay: Peruvian Spanish-Colonial towns – prominent in
the 17th through the 19th centuries – surrounded by haciendas
and sugar/cotton plantations. Large African-born and native-
born Black slave populations.
* * *
Nicomedes Santa Cruz:
“América Latina”(1963) / “Latin America”(1963)
Mi cuate My pal
Mi socio My mate
Mi hermano My brother
Aparcero Sharecropper
Camarado Colleague
Compañero Comrade
Mi pata My buddy
M´hijito My boy
Paisano… Compatriot…
He aquí mis vecinos. Here I have my neighbours
He aquí mis hermanos. Here I have my brothers
*
Las mismas caras latinoamericanas The same Latin-American faces
de cualquier punto de América Latina: from every corner of Latin America:
Indoblanquinegros Indianwhiteblacks
Blanquinegrindios Whiteblackindians
y Negrindoblancos and Blackindianwhites
*
Rubias bembonas Blondes with thick lips
Indios barbudos Bearded Indians
y negros lacios and straight-haired Blacks
*
Todos se quejan: All of them complain
-¡Ah, si en mi país – Oh, if only in my country
no hubiese tanta política…! there wasn’t so much “politics”…!
-¡Ah, si en mi país – Oh, if only in my country
no hubiera gente paleolítica…! there weren’t such paleolithic people…!
-¡Ah, si en mi país – Oh, if only in my country
no hubiese militarismo, there was no militarism,
ni oligarquía or oligarchy
ni chauvinismo or chauvinism
ni burocracia or bureaucracy
ni hipocresía or hypocrisy
ni clerecía or clergy
ni antropofagia… or anthropophagy…
-¡Ah, si en mi país…! – Oh, if only – in my country…!
*
Alguien pregunta de dónde soy Someone asks where I’m from
(Yo no respondo lo siguiente): (I do not answer with the following):
Nací cerca de Cuzco I was born close to Cuzco
admiro a Puebla Puebla I admire
me inspira el ron de las Antillas I’m inspired by rum from The Antilles
canto con voz argentina I sing in an Argentinian voice
creo en Santa Rosa de Lima I believe in Saint Rose of Lima
y en los Orishas de Bahía. and in the Orishas of Bahia.
Yo no coloreé mi Continente I didn’t paint my Continent
ni pinté verde a Brasil the green of Brazil
amarillo Perú the yellow of Peru
roja Bolivia Bolivia’s red
*
Yo no tracé líneas territoriales I drew no border-lines
separando al hermano del hermano. separating brother from brother
*
Poso la frente sobre Río Grande I rest by the Rio Grande
me afirmo pétreo sobre el Cabo de Hornos I stand firm at Cape Horn
hundo mi brazo izquierdo en el Pacífico my left hand I dip down into the Pacific
y sumerjo mi diestra en el Atlántico. and into the Atlantic I submerge my right.
*
Por las costas de oriente y occidente By the coasts East and West
y doscientas millas entro and two-thousand miles inland
a cada Océano from each Ocean
sumerjo mano y mano I immerse both hands
y así me aferro a nuestro Continente and in this way I hold our Continent
en un abrazo Latinoamericano. in a Latin-American embrace.
*
Translation from the original Spanish into English:
“Black Rhythms of Peru”: Alexander Best
“Latin America”: Lidia García Garay
Claude McKay: “The Tropics in New York”
Posted: February 8, 2012 Filed under: Claude McKay, English | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on Claude McKay: “The Tropics in New York”
To One Coming North
At first you’ll joy to see the playful snow,
Like white moths trembling on the tropic air,
Or waters of the hills that softly flow
Gracefully falling down a shining stair.
And when the fields and streets are covered white
And the wind-worried void is chilly, raw,
Or underneath a spell of heat and light
The cheerless frozen spots begin to thaw,
Like me you’ll long for home, where birds’ glad song
Means flowering lanes and leas and spaces dry,
And tender thoughts and feelings fine and strong,
Beneath a vivid silver-flecked blue sky.
But oh! more than the changeless southern isles,
When Spring has shed upon the earth her charm,
You’ll love the Northland wreathed in golden smiles
By the miraculous sun turned glad and warm.
_____
The Tropics in New York
Bananas ripe and green, and ginger root,
Cocoa in pods and alligator pears,
And tangerines and mangoes and grape fruit,
Fit for the highest prize at parish fairs,
Set in the window, bringing memories
Of fruit-trees laden by low-singing rills,
And dewy dawns, and mystical blue skies
In benediction over nun-like hills.
My eyes grew dim, and I could no more gaze;
A wave of longing through my body swept,
And, hungry for the old, familiar ways,
I turned aside and bowed my head and wept.
_____
To Winter
Stay, season of calm love and soulful snows!
There is a subtle sweetness in the sun,
The ripples on the stream’s breast gaily run,
The wind more boisterously by me blows,
And each succeeding day now longer grows.
The birds a gladder music have begun,
The squirrel, full of mischief and of fun,
From maples’ topmost branch the brown twig throws.
I read these pregnant signs, know what they mean:
I know that thou art making ready to go.
Oh stay! I fled a land where fields are green
Always, and palms wave gently to and fro,
And winds are balmy, blue brooks ever sheen,
To ease my heart of its impassioned woe.
_____
Claude McKay (1889-1948) was born in Clarendon parish,
Jamaica. His older brother tutored him – with a bookshelf
of “classics”. In 1912 McKay published his first book of poetry,
“Songs of Jamaica”, written entirely in Jamaican Patois.
He travelled to the USA where he would become a seminal
influence on the Black cultural movement known as The Harlem
Renaissance of the 1920s. Appalled by the blunt racism he
encountered in his adopted country he articulated Black hope
and rage. He wrote also of the complex feelings of the Immigrant
experience – as evidenced by his three tender, passionate
“Winter” poems from 1922 – featured above.
_____
Louise Bennett-Coverley and Jamaican Patois: A Unique Truth
Posted: February 7, 2012 Filed under: English: Jamaican Patois, Louise Bennett-Coverley | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on Louise Bennett-Coverley and Jamaican Patois: A Unique Truth
Jamaican Patois Poems
by Louise Bennett-Coverley
.
“Dutty Tough”
.
Sun a shine but tings no bright;
Doah pot a bwile, bickle no nuff;
River flood but water scarce, yawl
Rain a fall but dutty tough.
Tings so bad dat nowadays when
Yuh ask smaddy how dem do
Dem fraid yuh tek it tell dem back,
So dem no answer yuh.
No care omuch we dah work fa
Hard-time still een we shut;
We dah fight, Hard-time a beat we,
Dem might raise we wages, but
One poun gawn awn pon we pay, an
We no feel no merriment
For ten poun gawn pon we food
An ten pound pon we rent!
Saltfish gawn up, mackerel gawn up.
Pork en beef gawn up,
An when rice and butter ready
Dem just go pon holiday!
Claht, boot, pin an needle gawn up’
Ice, bread, taxes, water-rate
Kersene ile, gasolene, gawn up;
An de poun devaluate.
De price of bread gawn up so high
Dat we haffi agree
Fi cut we yeye pon bred an all
Tun dumplin refugee
An all dem marga smaddy weh
Dah gwan like fat is sin
All dem-deh weh dah fas wid me
Ah lef dem to dumpling!
Sun a shine an pot a bwile, but
Things no bright, bickle no nuff
Rain a fall, river dah flood, but,
Water scarce and dutty tough.
. . .
“Colonization in Reverse” (1966)
.
Wat a joyful news, Miss Mattie,
I feel like me heart gwine burs
Jamaica people colonizin
Englan in Reverse
By de hundred, by de tousan
From country and from town,
By de ship-load, by de plane load
Jamaica is Englan boun.
Dem a pour out a Jamaica,
Everybody future plan
Is fe get a big-time job
An settle in de mother lan.
What an islan! What a people!
Man an woman, old an young
Jus a pack dem bag an baggage
An turn history upside dung!
Some people doan like travel,
But fe show dem loyalty
Dem all a open up cheap-fare-
To-England agency.
An week by week dem shippin off
Dem countryman like fire,
Fe immigrate an populate
De seat a de Empire.
Oonoo see how life is funny,
Oonoo see da turnabout?
Jamaica live fe box bread
Out a English people mout’.
For wen dem ketch a Englan,
An start play dem different role,
Some will settle down to work
An some will settle fe de dole.
Jane says de dole is not too bad
Because dey payin she
Two pounds a week fe seek a job
dat suit her dignity.
me say Jane will never fine work
At de rate how she dah look,
For all day she stay pon Aunt Fan couch
An read love-story book.
Wat a devilment a Englan!
Dem face war an brave de worse,
But me wonderin how dem gwine stan
Colonizin in reverse.
_____
Louise Bennett-Coverley (1919-2006) was
Jamaica’s much-loved poet of Patois – and she
used her people’s language with warmth, humour
and trenchant wit.
As a performer on stage, and through radio
and television, Louise Bennett-Coverley “carried on”
and “held forth” in Patois – often in character as “Miss Lou” –
bringing the language’s uniqueness and truth
to the forefront.
*
Louise Bennett-Coverley’s poems “Dutty Tough”
and “Colonization in Reverse” are
© Louise Bennett-Coverley Estate and are
here reprinted by permission of her Executors.
These poems may not be duplicated
or reproduced without prior consent of the
Executors of her Estate.
. . . . .
Bob Marley: ¡Despierten y Vivan! / Wake Up and Live!
Posted: February 6, 2012 Filed under: Bob Marley, English, Spanish, Translator's Whimsy: Song Lyrics / Extravagancia del traductor: Letras de canciones traducidas por Alexander Best, ZP Translator: Alexander Best | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on Bob Marley: ¡Despierten y Vivan! / Wake Up and Live!
“Wake up and Live!”
Wake up and live, y’all,
Wake up and live,
Wake up and live now,
Wake up and live!
*
Me say: Life is one big road with lots of signs,
So when you riding through the ruts,
Don’t you complicate your mind.
Flee from hate, mischief and jealousy,
Don’t bury your thoughts
– put your vision to reality, yeah!
*
All together now:
Wake up and live, y’all,
Wake up and live,
Wake up and live now,
Wake up and live!
*
Rise, ye mighty people,
There’s work to be done.
So let’s do it, a little by little.
Rise from your sleepless slumber, yeah!
We’re more than sand on the seashore,
We’re more than numbers.
*
All together now:
Wake up and live, y’all,
Wake up and live,
Wake up and live now,
Wake up and live!
*
Woah, one-one cocoa full a basket,
When you use to live big today –
tomorrow you buried in a casket.
One-one cocoa full a basket, yeah,
When you use to live big today –
Tomorrow: buried in a casket!
*
All together now:
Wake up and live, y’all,
Wake up and live,
Wake up and live now,
Wake up and live!
_____
¡Despierten y Vivan!
Despierten y vivan, todos ustedes,
Despierta y vive,
Despierta y vive ahora,
Despierta y vive!
*
Digo: La vida es un camino grande con un montón de signos,
Así que cuando montas a caballo a través de los surcos,
no te complicas la mente.
Huid de odio, maldad y los celos –
No entierres los pensamientos,
ponga su visión en realidad, ¡sí!
*
Despierten y vivan, todos ustedes,
Despierta y vive,
Despierta y vive ahora,
Despierta y vive!
*
Aumenten, ustedes-los-poderosos,
Hay trabajo por hacer,
Así que vamos a hacerlo, poco a poco.
Aumente del sueño sin dormir, sí, sí,
Somos mucho más que arena en la orilla del mar,
Somos mucho más que unos números.
*
Todos juntos ahora:
Despierten y vivan, todos ustedes,
Despierta y vive,
Despierta y vive ahora,
¡Despierta y vive!
*
¿No lo ves? Una pila de cacao en una canasta,
Cuando estás viviendo “a lo grande” hoy día –
Mañana, ¡serás enterrado en un ataúd!
¿No lo ves? Una pila de cacao en una canasta,
Cuando estás viviendo “a lo grande” hoy día –
Mañana, ¡serás enterrado en un ataúd!
*
Todos juntos ahora:
Despierten y vivan, todos ustedes,
Despierta y vive,
Despierta y vive ahora,
¡Despierta y vive!
_____
Letras de una canción de 1979 – del poeta-músico
jamaicano Robert Nesta Marley a.k.a. Bob Marley
(6 febrero, 1945 – mayo 1981)
Traducción del inglés al español: Alexander Best
*
Song lyrics from 1979 by Jamaican poet and musician
Robert Nesta Marley a.k.a. Bob Marley
(February 6th, 1945 – May 1981)
Translation into Spanish: Alexander Best
_____
Juliane Okot Bitek: “Dans Sept Jours” et “À Langston Hughes”
Posted: February 1, 2012 Filed under: English, French, Juliane Okot Bitek, ZP Translator: Lan Truong, ZP Translator: Lidia García Garay | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on Juliane Okot Bitek: “Dans Sept Jours” et “À Langston Hughes”_____
“Dans Sept Jours”
Une main delicate
tient un eventail
Evoque des souvenirs de la performance d’un amoureux
*
Dis-moi
Dis-moi car je ne m’imagine pas
La chaleur qui se lève dans l’arrière de ma gorge
S’étendre dans ma poitrine
Tombe
Et se dépose
*
Je ne reviendrai pas vers toi
*
Une fleur se ferme
Se dessèche à cause de la froide étreinte
D’un vent sec et amer
*
Tout sera fini
Dans sept jours.
_____
“À Langston Hughes”
Si tu ne restes pas
Pour lire mon coeur,
Cela ne me dérange pas
*
J’ai déchiré ton livre de poésie
*
Tu as menti:
Comme je prenais le train à Harlem
Tu as déraillé.
_____
Le poète Juliane Okot Bitek est née à Kenya en 1966.
Elle a passé son enfance en Ouganda.
Et maintenant elle habite à Vancouver, Canada.
*
Traductions de l’anglais au français:
Lidia Garcia Garay, Lan Truong
_____
“Seven Days”
A delicate hand
Holds a fan
Evokes memories of a lover’s performance
Tell me
Tell me that I do not imagine
The heat that rises at the back of my throat
Spreads through my chest
Falls
And settles
I am not returning to you
A flower folds up
Shrivels from the cold embrace
Of a dry and bitter wind
In seven days
It will be over.
_____
“To Langston Hughes”
That you will not stay
To read my heart
Doesn’t matter to me
I tore your book of poetry
You lied:
While I took the Harlem train uptown
You strayed.
_____
Poet Juliane Okot Bitek was born in Kenya in 1966
and spent her childhood in Uganda.
She now lives in Vancouver, Canada.
_____
Langston Hughes: “La Señora y su Señora” / “Madame et sa Madame” / “Madam and her Madam”
Posted: February 1, 2012 Filed under: English: Black Canadian / American, French, Langston Hughes, Spanish, ZP Translator: Lan Truong, ZP Translator: Lidia García Garay | Tags: Black poets Comments Off on Langston Hughes: “La Señora y su Señora” / “Madame et sa Madame” / “Madam and her Madam”_____
Langston Hughes (February 1st, 1902 – 1967)
“Madam and Her Madam”
I worked for a woman,
She wasn’t mean–
But she had a twelve-room
House to clean.
*
Had to get breakfast,
Dinner, and supper, too–
Then take care of her children
When I got through.
*
Wash, iron, and scrub,
Walk the dog around–
It was too much,
Nearly broke me down.
*
I said, Madam,
Can it be
You trying to make a
Pack-horse out of me?
*
She opened her mouth.
She cried, Oh, no!
You know, Alberta,
I love you so!
*
I said, Madam,
That may be true–
But I’ll be dogged
If I love you!
_____
“La Señora y su Señora”
por Langston Hughes
Trabajé para una mujer
No era muy malvada—
Ella tenía una casa de doce cuartos
que yo tenía que limpiar.
*
Tenía que hacer desayuno,
Almuerzo y cena también—
Después atender a los niños,
Al terminar.
*
Lavar, planchar, y limpiar
Llevar a caminar al perro…
Era demasiado,
Casi me destroza.
*
Yo le dije, Señora,
¿Es posible que usted
Está tratando de convertirme
En un caballo de carga?
*
Ella habrió su boca
Y exclamó:
¡Oh, no!
Sabes Alberta,
¡Yo a tí te quiero mucho!
*
Yo le dije: Señora,
Puede que eso sea verdad—
¡Pero que desgracia la mía
Si yo la quiero a usted!
*
Traducción del inglés al español: Lidia García Garay
_____
“Madame et sa Madame”
par Langston Hughes
J’ai travaillé pour une femme,
Elle n’était pas méchante—
Elle avait une maison avec
douze chambres
Que je devais nettoyer.
Préparer le petit déjeuner,
Le déjeuner et le dîner aussi—
Je devais garder ses enfants
Après tout ca.
Faire la lessive et la repasser,
et nettoyer le plancher,
Promener son chien—
C’était trop!,
Le travail m’a fait presque craquer.
*
Je lui ai dit: Madame,
Est-ce qu’il est possible
Que vous essayiez
De me transformer en cheval de trait?
*
Elle a ouvert sa bouche.
Et elle a dit: Pas du tout!
Tu sais Alberta,
Je t’aime beaucoup!
*
Je lui ai dit: Madame,
Cela peut être la vérité
Mais je serais foutue
si je vous aime!
*
Traduction de l’anglais au français:
Lidia García Garay, Lan Truong
_____
