'' Luar do Sertão'' (Hinterlands Moonlight in English) is a popular Brazilian song. Its verses are simple and naive praising the life in

sertão The ''sertão'' (, plural ''sertões'') is the " hinterland" or " backcountry" of Brazil. The word refers both to one of the four sub-regions of the Northeast Region of Brazil or the hinterlands of the country in general (similar to the specific ...

. Sertão is a Portuguese word for hinterlands, countryside or outback. It was originally a

coco Coco or variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Coco'' (2009 film), a French comedy film * ''Coco'' (2017 film), an American animated fantasy film * '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle'' (), a 2020 Japanese anime film ...

under the title "Engenho de Humaitá" (Humaitá's mill). Catulo da Paixão Cearense argued to be the unique composer of the song, however, nowadays the credit is given to

João Pernambuco João is a given name of Portuguese origin. It is equivalent to the given name John. The diminutive is Joãozinho and the feminine is Joana. It is widespread in Portuguese-speaking countries. Notable people with the name are enumerated in the s ...

(1883-1947). It is one of the most recorded

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

ian songs of all time.

Lyrics

Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão
Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão
Oh! que saudade do luar da minha terra
Lá na serra branquejando folhas secas pelo chão
Este luar cá da cidade tão escuro
Não tem aquela saudade do luar lá do sertão
Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão
Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão
Se a lua nasce por detrás da verde mata
Mais parece um sol de prata prateando a solidão
E a gente pega na viola que ponteia
E a canção é a lua cheia a nos nascer do coração
Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão
Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão
Mas como é lindo ver depois por entre o mato
Deslizar calmo, regato, transparente como um véu
No leito azul das suas águas murmurando
E por sua vez roubando as estrelas lá do céu
Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão
Não há, ó gente, ó não
Luar como esse do sertão

Controversy about the Authorship

The song might have its origins in the coco "É do Maitá" or "Engenho do Maitá", which has an anonymous author. This coco used to belong to João Pernambuco and it was supposedly transmitted to Catulo,{{cite web, url=http://www.pe-az.com.br/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=816:jo%C3%A3o-pernambuco&catid=69&Itemid=148 , title=João Pernambuco , author=PE de A a Z according to the testimonies of celebrities such as

Heitor Villa-Lobos Heitor Villa-Lobos (March 5, 1887November 17, 1959) was a Brazilian composer, conductor, cellist, and classical guitarist described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has globally bec ...

, Mozart de Araújo, Sílvio Salema e Benjamin de Oliveira, published by Henrique Foréis Domingues in the book No tempo de Noel Rosa (In Noel Rosa's time). João Pernambuco was a very humble man, who did not know how to read. He used to complain to be a victim of plagiarism from Catulo regarding the authorship of the song. According to Segundo Mozart Bicalho, Catulo said that Luar do Sertão was a northern melody, which belonged to the folklore domain. Catulo himself declared in an interview to Joel Silveira: "I composed Luar do Sertão listening to an old song (...)". The historian Ary Vasconcelos, in the work Panorama da música popular brasileira na belle époque (Panorama of Brazilian Popular Music in the belle époque), said that he had the opportunity to listen Luperce Miranda play two versions of the song: the original one and the one modified by João Pernambuco, which he concluded to be rather similar. Leandro Carvalho, who studied João Pernambuco's work and organized a CD about him (João Pernambuco - O Poeta do Violão (1997)), declared: "wherever João walked, Catulo was right behind him annotating everything. That's what happened to Luar do Sertão: Catulo listened, changed the lyrics and said it was his."

References

Brazilian songs Songs about Brazil Year of song missing Songs about the Moon