, commonly known as or in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, is the title of the

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

version of the popular

English language English is a West Germanic language of the Indo-European language family, with its earliest forms spoken by the inhabitants of early medieval England. It is named after the Angles, one of the ancient Germanic peoples that migrated to the is ...

song, ''

Happy Birthday to you "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 ''Guinness World Records'', it is the most recognised song in the English language, followed by "For ...

''. It is traditionally sung to celebrate a person's

birthday A birthday is the anniversary of the birth of a person, or figuratively of an institution. Birthdays of people are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with birthday gifts, birthday cards, a birthday party, or a rite of passage. Many relig ...

in countries where Portuguese is an official language. The lyrics were written by

Berta Celeste Berta Celeste Homem de Melo (March 21, 1902 – August 16, 1999) was a People of Brazil, Brazilian pharmacist, writer and poet. Known for writing the Portuguese language lyrics for the birthday song ''Parabéns a Você''. Early life Berta was ...

, a Brazilian poet, in 1942.

History

The traditional English language song, ''Happy Birthday to you'', arrived in Brazil in the 1930s, where it would be sung, in English, at birthday parties. In 1942 the singer Almirante (Henrique Foréis Domingues), a Rádio Tupi

presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, launched a competition to select Portuguese lyrics to the

melody A melody (from Greek language, Greek μελῳδία, ''melōidía'', "singing, chanting"), also tune, voice or line, is a Linearity#Music, linear succession of musical tones that the listener perceives as a single entity. In its most liter ...

of ''Happy Birthday to you''. The winning entry took five minutes to write, and was written by Berta Celeste from

Pindamonhangaba Pindamonhangaba is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Federative units of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo, Brazil, located in the Paraíba Valley, between the two most active production and consumption regions in the co ...

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

Lyrics

Until her death in 1999, Berta Celeste insisted that the lyrics be sung as she wrote them. However the lyrics that are most commonly sung in Brazil are slightly different from the original, and it is also customary to add a second, unofficial verse.

Copyright

While the English language version of the song is in the public domain, the

Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição The ''Escritório Central de Arrecadação e Distribuição'' (also known as ECAD; can be translated as ''Central Bureau for Collection and Distribution'') is the national copyright collection agency in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officia ...

still collects royalties for the Portuguese song on behalf of the descendents of Berta Celeste.

References

{{reflist 1942 songs Songs about birthdays Songs about birthday parties Copyright infringement Public domain music Songs involved in royalties controversies Quotations from music

History

Lyrics

Copyright

See also

References