São Paulo – The Lebanese singer Tania Saleh, hailing from Beirut, released her first song in Portuguese this month. With the tune "Algumas Imagens" (A Few Images), Saleh is looking to win over the Brazilian public.
The song in Portuguese is a version of an Arabic original by Saleh. “I translated the song into Portuguese because it has a bossa nova style. I want to record in Portuguese because I want to draw in the Portuguese-speaking public,” the artist told ANBA.
In order to create the version of the tune, Saleh relied on help from her Portuguese teacher Renata Vieira and from the Brazilian singer Naima Yazbek, who also lives in Beirut. “I changed the lyrics around a little bit because I wanted it to rhyme in portuguese,” Saleh explained.
It took two months until the Portuguese recording was to the singer’s liking. “I called on them to go to the studio with me and correct me if I made a mistake,” she said.
The singer is studying Portuguese and claims to like Brazil a lot. “I have been listening to Brazilian songs for over 30 years now. I’m familiar with the language, I watch movies and I know what’s happening in Brazil. I started taking lessons last year and I am focusing on my studies so I can improve,” said Saleh, who has no family in Brazil. The artist is a student at the Brazil-Lebanon Cultural Center, an organization affiliated with the Brazilian embassy in Beirut.
She also said she’s really fond of the style of Brazilians, whom she considers “passionate and emotional.” “I’m trying to connect with that. I love the spirit of Brazilian people. They want to have fun, they like Carnival, they like dancing and I’m very familiar with that,” she pointed out.
Saleh said she is testing for acceptance before putting out more songs in Portuguese. If the feedback’s good, she says, she might even work on a whole album sung in Portuguese.
According to the artist, Brazil sparked her interest because lots of Lebanese people moved to it and adapted themselves to life in such a distant country. She is also a fan of household names in Brazilian music. “I love Tom Jobim, Vinicius de Moraes, Elis Regina, Chico Buarque and João Gilberto,” she revealed.
Saleh says her voice is well-suited to Brazilian music. “My voice is soft and it really matches Brazilian music. I am enthused about trying [to sing more songs in Portuguese]. The closest language to me outside of Arabic is Portuguese. My tone is closer to what Brazilian singers do,” she asserted.
Saleh launched her career in the 90s and has always sung in Arabic. She has also recorded some songs in English and performed a few in French.
The song "Algumas Imagens" can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/taniasaleh/algumas-imagens-portugese-version.
*Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum
