Monday, February 15, 2010

Re: Catalan and Yiddish

I got  a new CD today.   I ordered it after hearing a cut on a digital world music station.   The CD is Omnibus by Eduard Iniesta. I didn't actually remember the ethnic origin of the music, but kind of thought maybe it was Portuguese.   One very soulful song is as follows:

LENTO
"Lento,
hoje e tao lento
o movimento do mar.
E eu nao posso a calmar
o sofrimento. chorar"

Traslation:

SLOW
"Slow,
how slow
is the movement of the sea.
And I cannot calm down
the suffering, to cry."


As I read the translation, it made me think of the feeling in many yiddish poems.   But I was puzzled.   Wherein that dark sadness in Portuguese?   Then I looked closer at the album.  It's in Catalan.   I rest my case.

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