I learned Portuguese while working toward a Master's degree at Georgetown back in 2008/09, which is also when I began traveling to Brazil. My name is Victoria Broadus and I'm currently living in Oberlin, Ohio, where I teach Latin American History at Oberlin College. 2: 1958 – 1985 by Jairo Severiano and Zuza Homem de Mello Main sources for this post: Antônio Carlos Jobim: Um Homem Iluminado (pages 116-117 in Portuguese version), and A Canção no tempo: 85 anos de músicas brasileiras, vol. There were 4 landings that day - Brasilia – Port of Spain – San Juan, Puerto Rico – New York) and the hundred-and-fifty tons (air train) came to a stop. Thousands of lights, New Jersey, Manhattan - the giant bird was moving its fingers, going against the air, braking, descending - it rolled onto the runway, went into reverse thrust (already a familiar phenomenon for me. He said, hour after hour, that we were 15 minutes away from the NY area. The pilot continued making his small talk, acting like he was in striped pijamas and a wicker chair. I closed my eyes and saw the face of Beth with the mumps. The inhale is loud, and through the mouth - the pace is rigorous. Except you don’t hear the inhale, only the exhale: haaa – haaa-haaa…– the sound and the pause are about the same. They beat like a heart, they seem like a live animal, breathing, and make the sound of a person panting after a run, right by your ear. From the window (total darkness in the plane) I saw two thick flames that intermittently appeared and disappeared in the darkness. The sounds from the jet-engines started to change, and the plane slowed down - the bumps did, too. He said that the wind was against us, which would make us late. “We have some turbulence… ahh, ahh, ahh … some strong winds, more or less 200 miles an hour … ahh, ahh, ahh… Coming from the Northeast … We’re going to slow down to get more… ahh, ahh, ahh…comfortable.” Then, the pilot began to speak slowly, as if he were sleepy (how phony!) After that, all of the lights went out - great, I thought, the fuse is blown. We were at 35,000 feet - the “fasten your seatbelts” sign lit up. Well, two hours after taking off from San Juan, the bird (at midnight) started to jump. Me, alone, in an empty airplane.įrom San Juan, Puerto Rico, to New York it’s a direct flight over the Atlantic Ocean. Its wings have fingers, like a bird’s, which it uses to handle and oppose the wind. You can listen to their version here.ĭentro de mais um minuto estaremos no Galeão The song became a classic in the repertoire of the vocal group Os Cariocas. “Samba of the Airplane” was written about the joy that overwhelmed him when his plane was landing at Rio’s international airport, Galeão - now renamed “Galeão/Antônio Carlos Jobim.” Writing to Thereza about the scene, he wistfully remarked that he would be returning to Brazil by taxi.Ĭoupled with this crippling fear of flying was the euphoria he felt every time he survived a flight - a euphoria that was heightened when he was landing in his beloved Rio de Janeiro. (A full section of the letter is translated below.) Soon after, Brazil’s Varig airline suffered a tragic accident in Lima, Peru, and Tom Jobim played guitar for the Varig crew in New York City to try to cheer them up. Upon arriving in New York in 1962 for the famous Bossa Nova at Carnegie Hall show, he wrote to his wife Thereza about the “thousand years – An Eternity” during the last leg of his journey from Brazil when he felt his plane was barely staying in the air. He spent days dreading any travel that required him to take a plane, and usually needed a lot of cajoling from friends and family members before gathering the courage to board. Interpretation - The scene that inspired Tom Jobim’s “Samba do Avião” Shining water, look at the runway coming up Tighten your seatbelt, we’re going to arrive Rio de Janeiro, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |