Bossa nova in Japanese

an exophonic translation of “O Pato”

Abstract

This study proposes a practical theory as the basis for a version of the lyrics of the Brazilian song “O Pato” (Jaime Silva; Neuza Teixeira, circa 1945) to the Japanese language. Considering the necessary subordination of the text to the musical elements that accompanies it and its function as a song lyric, this methodology especially observes precepts of Meschonnic’s Proposition pour une poétique de la traduction (1980), which distances the translated text from ideas of transparency in relation to the source text, directing to an act of composition in the target language. On the same direction, the concept of exophony, favoring the analytic approach of the foreign language and its components, and taking the language more for the physicality of its phonemes than for the conjugation of signified and signifier, offers different possibilities for artistic creation in Japanese. The reception of bossa nova in Japan is presented as a starting point for the search of equivalences between source and target texts, developed by the mobilization of bossa nova’s — and Brazilian popular songs’, in general — aesthetical elements and of idiosyncrasies of the Japanese language taken by their sound and musical characteristics. Additionally, the audio recording of the performance of the song in Japanese was made available to better demonstrate the functionality of the version as a song lyric.