cantiga da roda

(1997) 4’30”
satb a cappella (or version with string orchestra)


Program Notes

Cantiga da Roda is a free arrangement of a traditional melody recorded in the field by ethnomusicologist Michel Giacometti, circa 1969, in Dornelas do Zêzere, Pampilhosa da Serra, Portugal. It was sung while working  a watering “wheel” used to pull the water from the river, or well, to irrigate the fields. It was moved by the pressure of the feet and to help pass the time in this slow and monotonous work,  the worker sang to the drone created by the moving wheel. 

Lyrics

Sung in Portuguese

Cantiga da roda

Ái borda d'água, borda d'água
Ái borda d'água, Santarém
Borda d'água, Santarém
Ái vale mais uma borda d'água
Ái que quanto Lisboa tem
Borda d'água, Santarém

Ái ó mar largo, ó mar largo
Ái ó mar largo sem ter fundo
Ó mar largo sem ter fundo
Ái vale mais andar no mar largo
Ái que'andar nas bocas do mundo
Ó mar largo sem ter fundo


Score Excerpts


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