DESCRIPTION:
"Shakespeare & Company" "Pierre Barouh" "Eric Delalonde" saudade Baden-Powell Eric Delalonde www.saravah.fr www.saravah.jp www.chateauresidence.com www.delalonde.com www.bois-briand.com Paris France Bohemian existentialist existentialism poet art artist artist-life France Nantes nostalgia nostalgie bohémien Bohême "vie d'artiste" poète poésie -



"When the tide is down, I come and see Juliana".

One word comes often in Brazilian song: Saudade.
It's a very important word in Brazilian popular poetry.
Many poets tried to find a translation for it.
I tried,often myself, to find a French equivalent or translation.
Until when I found one word. This word is "manque" or "missing" in English.
In the poetic context it has quite a different meaning. For instance, when you say "I miss Paris" or "I miss Bahia" or "I miss you". Then we get closer to "saudade" meaning.
This song belongs to Bahia fishermen folklore.
It was sung by Dorival Cayimmi. During all his life, Dorival has been singing Bahia fishermen songs. The text meaning is very simple:
This song means "When the ocean is calm, I come and see Juliana". It is just an image. One night, while we were having fun with friends, like to-night, with you, he built quite a mythology with these few words. About this Juliana. When the ocean is calm, means, when there is nothing left, when I feel lonely, I come and visit Juliana. This Juliana, then, becomes an important character in the myth. It is the woman who lives, lonely, in her house located at the end of the beach. We go and see her when there is nothing; nothing left than despair.
This woman, we did not see her since 10 years or 3 months.
No need to talk. She understood everything. She stands, there, in the room, "repassant", preparing dinner or doing some simple domestic task.
She says, "sit down, what about a drink"? Then, suddenly, everything goes better.

Juliana is not, necessaryly, from Brazil.
But, each of us can have his Juliana.
Baden told me that one who would not have his own Juliana could not understand the specific meaning of "saudade".