Revolta Olodum lyrics+translation

Revolta Olodum
(translation/explantion by Matt Wright with help from Vanessa Isaac, Kirk Brundage, and Wikipedia)
Retirante ruralista, lavrador
Nordestino, Lampião, salvador
Pátria sertaneja independente
Antônio Conselheiro, em Canudos presidente
Zumbi em Alagoas comandou
Exército de ideal libertador.
Sou Mandinga, Balaiada, sou male
Sou búzios, sou revolta, Arerê
Ô Corisco, Maria Bonita mandou te chamar
É o vingador de Lampião.
Eta, cabra da peste
Pelourinho, Olodum, somos do Nordeste
Migrant “ruralist,” laborer,
Northeasterner, Lampião1, savior2
Independent homeland of the sertaõ3
Antônio Conselheiro, President of Canudos.4
Zumbi5, in Alagoas (state), commanded
An army of perfect liberation.
I am Mandinga6, Balaiada7, I am Malê8
I am cowrie shells9, I am rebellion, Arerê10
Oh Corisco11, Maria Bonita12 is calling you;
You are the avenger of Lampião.
Eta13, goat plague14
Pelourinho15, Olodum, we are of the Northeast.
Historical character, a rural bandit along the lines of Jesse James or Pancho Villa. 1897-1938.
“Salvador” is also the name of the city where Olodum is based.
3 Brazil’s semi-arid inland area, away from the more populated coastal areas
4 Antônio Conselheiro (“Anthony the Counselor”) was a Brazilian religious leader, preacher, and founder of
the village of Canudos, the scene of the War of Canudos (1896–1897), a civil rebellion against the central
government which was brutally stamped out with the loss of more than 15,000 lives.
5 Zumbi was the most famous military leader of the Quilombos, independent settlements of escaped slaves.
His quilombo was “Palmares,” in the state of Alagoas.
6 Colloquialism in NE Brazil for a trickster or someone who is streetwise.
7 A social revolt 1838-1841 in the interior of the province of Maranhão.
8 The Malê Revolt (1835) was an important slave revolt, seen by many as a turning point of slavery in Brazil.
9 Cowrie shells are used in Afro-Brazilian religion; “I am búzios” declares a belongingto these traditions, not
that the speaker is literally a shell.
10 “Arerê” is a Yoruba word I have not been able to translate.
11 Another member of Lampião’s band of outlaws
12 Maria Bonita was Lampião’s partner and the mother of their daughter.
13 Slang intejection like “wow!” or “damn!”
14 “Cabra da peste” is literally “goat plague” but slang for something like “daredevil” or “tough guy.”
15 The historic center of Salvador, Olodum’s neighborhood, site of the continent’s first slave market. Literally
“pillory”, the whipping post in the central plaza for which the area is named.
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