Composer: Luiz Gonzaga
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The English translation is below the Portuguese lyrics
Full lyrics
Por que cantar tanta tristeza?
Me pergunta com firmeza
Gente alegre de riqueza
Que Deus quiz pro lá de cá
Pra essa falsa realeza
Que nem sabe com certeza
Que tá tem uma princesa
Vou de novo explicar
Cabe a mim, lei do destino
Responder o destino
Já que a saga do norte ofendido
Fui eu que cantei
Quando um dia com o povo
A viola eu afinei
E com mote, tristeza é pobreza
Eu rimei...
Minha lira, que a face de norte mudou
E eu mudei
Asa Branca, Assum Preto, Acauã
Me ajudem de novo a cantar
E dizer que num é só tristeza
O que tem o sertão a mostrar
Que o caboclo que tanto sofreu
E caído, viveu pra sonhar
Amanheçer dentro de Canaã
Sem sair de seu próprio lugar
Tem agora não só a esperança
Mas certeza de se levantar
Eis porque eu voltei a cantar
Vejam todos, não há tristeza
Na viola que eu passo a tocar
Canaã, que alegria te encontrar
Canaã, Canaã, Canaã
Translation
Why sing so much sadness?
They ask me firmly
Happy people of wealth
That God wanted for this side
For this false royalty
Who doesn't even know for sure
That there is a princess
I will explain again
It's up to me, law of destiny
To answer destiny
Since the saga of the offended North
It was I who sang
When one day with the people
I tuned the viola
And with a motto, sadness is poverty
I rhymed...
My lyre, which changed the face of the North
And I changed
Asa Branca, Assum Preto, Acauã
Help me sing again
And say that it's not just sadness
What the sertão has to show
That the caboclo who suffered so much
And fallen, lived to dream
To dawn inside Canaã
Without leaving his own place
Now has not only hope
But certainty of rising up
This is why I came back to sing
See everyone, there is no sadness
In the viola that I start to play
Canaã, what a joy to find you
Canaã, Canaã, Canaã
