Eucalol (Helio Contreiras)
Riding my horse,
freed Prometheus,
fought the Minotaur
and was friends with Theseus.
I travelled the whole world
in Eucalol cards.
Icarus fled the sun
in the shade of an avocado tree.
I climbed Mount Olympus,
a cliff in the backyard.
I dove to Neptune
in the abyssal ocean.
Saint George went to the moon
to fight the dragon.
Saint George almost died,
but I gave him my hand.
And he came back bringing the girl
I was going to marry.
She was my teacher,
whom I stole from King Lear.
Music in an image
Eucalol prints are trade cards that came as a gift in soap boxes. The famous Liebig cards from Europe served as inspiration. They were published between 1930 and 1960 in Rio de Janeiro and covered numerous cultural themes, such as Legends of Antiquity. I inherited a collection of hundreds of these old trade cards from my grandmother, most of them Eucalol. Here you can see a graphite drawing I made of my grandma. I am gradually cataloguing this collection in my new extension project at UFMG. I love travelling through these prints with my museology students and with our children, just like in this music.
Notes
Eucalol music original version by Xangai and Geraldo Azevedo, on Kuarup Produtora Channel. My favourite version is from Conversa de Cordas.
In the photo, we have some Eucalol cards featuring Rio’s Concrete Christ, Legends of Brazil, Travelling through Brazil (Vineyards in Santa Catarina State), Santos Dumont – the father of aviation (Sorry, Americans, it wasn’t only the Wright brothers), and the Amazon River. The book is called Fine Prints and is about Eucalol cards.
In Brazilian folklore, Saint George lives on the moon and fights a dragon.
The wood sign says something like: “Disconnect it so that your problems will go away.”
Translating is transcreating. I translated not word for word but the poetic meaning of the music, being faithful to the author’s probable intention. If you have suggestions for improvement, please get in touch by clicking here.
Images: Marble Statue (Pexels), Eucalol Cards and Book (Ana Cecilia Rocha Veiga).
