- original music and arrangements -
Luanda BeachLuanda BeachLuanda Beach

Take Me To Aruanda

Carlos Lyra/Norman Gimbel

There's a land, Aruanda
Diamond sand, Aruanda
Silver stars on the hill top
Take me to Aruanda

Lots of fish in the stream there
Lots of time just to dream there
Golden sun in the valley
Take me to Aruanda

There where nobody worries
There where nobody hurries
Easy life waving a welcome
Take me there

(Solos)

Leave my sadness behind me
Let sweet paradise find me
Heaven waits over yonder
Take me to Aruanda

There where nobody worries
There where nobody hurries
Easy life waving a welcome
Take me there

Take me to Aruanda
Take me to Aruanda
Vai, vai, vai pra Aruanda
Vem, vem vem de Luanda
Deixa tudo que é triste
Vai, vai, vai pra Aruanda
Take me to Aruanda
Take me to Aruanda...

Music, Vocals: Rich Coffey
Recorded at Mistura Productions


Aruanda/Luanda

Music

Regretfully, when I toured with Astrud Gilberto ages ago we never did this tune! :-( Too bad—not only because I think its a great tune—but I think she sounds great doing it (see YouTube Link below). The riffs for the breaks on my arrangement are taken from the Carlos Lyra / Paul Winter version. Solos feature the guitar and trombone.

The ensemble "soli" section (unison bone and guitar on the B section after the solos) I composed - I thought it was a nice addition to the tune. :-)

Other Versions


Lyrics - The Poignant Deeper Meaning

This catchy Bossa Nova tune was written by Carlos Lyra with English lyrics by Norman Gimbel. When one thinks of Brazil and hears these lyrics one naturally assumes the song is referring to a beach on the coast of Brazil—an idyllic paradise of sun and sand, however the actual meaning is very different...

Brazil Beach
Brazil Beach

Luanda and the Slave Trade

During the Atlantic slave trade era, Brazil imported more African slaves than any other country. An estimated 4.9 million slaves from Africa were brought to Brazil during the period from 1501 to 1866. Until the early 1850s, most enslaved Africans who arrived on Brazilian shores were forced to embark at West Central African ports, especially in Luanda (present-day Angola). Today, with the exception of Nigeria, the largest population of people of African descent is in Brazil.

Brazil was the last country in the Western world to abolish slavery. By the time it was abolished, in 1888, an estimated four million slaves had been imported from Africa to Brazil, 40% of the total number of slaves brought to the Americas.

Slave Trade (thumbnail_
Click Map for a larger view

Source

Aruanda

Still a major city today, Luanda was once the largest port for the Portuguese trafficking of slaves to Africa for over 300 years. It was in Luanda that the slaves were gathered, chained, stored in the basements of ships and sent off across the Atlantic to be sold in Brazil.

The transformation of Luanda to Aruanda occurred slowly overtime. To the early generations of slaves, Luanda burned deep in their memory as the last vision they had of home, their last taste of freedom. For this reason, wherever slaves was transported in Brazil, hey fondly recalled and spoke of their African city "Luanda."

Slavery continued on for centuries, though, and as time passed, children were born into slavery that had never traveled on ships, nor seen a port. They had never known Africa, nor of a city called Luanda.

As this magical idea of a place called Luanda passed from slave to slave through the years , the word got transformed. "Luanda" became "Aruanda". It was where the slave once lived free, where the slave lived equal and in peace.

Gradually over time, the word Aruanda no longer represented a city, it represented the idea of liberty. For some, liberty meant a land far away, hidden in the forest. For others, liberty meant death, a freeing of the spirit. Where the someone went after his/her death... Aruanda could only mean heaven.

Source