For more china-related stuff see: cirosantilli.com/china-dictatorship/wife
Excerpt of For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway (1940), slightly adapted for brevity:Related: www.reddit.com/r/OldSchoolCool/comments/hj7bfq/comment/fwkik5v/
"The earth moved," Maria said, not looking at Pilar. "Truly. It was a thing I cannot tell thee.""It never moves more than three times in a lifetime. Did it really move?" Pilar Said."Yes," the girl said. "Truly.""For you, Inglés?" Pilar looked at Robert Jordan. "Don't lie.""Yes," he said. "Truly."
Teresinha performed by Maria Bethânia
. Source. Composed and previously performed by Chico Buarque in 1987: Video "Teresinha by Chico Buarque".
This video has English subtitles, click CC to enable them. This is one of the the best popular Brazilian music (MPB) of all time. A transcribed English translation adapted slightly by Ciro Santilli to be a bit less literal:
The first one came to me as if coming from the flower shop
Brought a stuffed toy, brought an amethyst pin
He told me about his journey and the perks he had
He showed me his watch and called me 'queen'
He found me so undefended that he touched my heart
But he denied me nothing, so, frightened, I said 'no'The second came to me as if coming back from the bar
Brought a bottle of brandy too bitter to swallow
He asked me about my past and sniffed my food
He searched through my drawer and called me 'the lost one'
He found me so undefended that he scratched my heart
But he gave me nothing, so, frightened, I said 'no'The third one arrived like he was arriving from nowhere
He brought me nothing and also asked me nothing
I barely know his name but I understand what he wants
He laid on my bed and called me 'woman'
He arrived very sneakily and before I could say 'no'
He settled inside my heart as its owner
Song of pig by Xiangxiang (2005)
Source. Chinese: 猪之歌 by 香香. Baidu Baike page: baike.baidu.com/item/猪之歌/16181836. A dude wrote the lyrics though: 毛慧 (Mao Hui), but wouldn't have been a hit if he had performed it given the insane gender imbalance in China. Chinese lyrics on mojim: mojim.com/cny104491x1x1.htm. A quick translation:Pig, you have two holes in your nose, and they have snot when you catch a cold
Pig, you have dark eyes, you can't see the edge
Pig, your ears are so big, you can't hear me calling you stupid
Pig, your tail is curled and curled. It turns out that you can't live without it when you run and jump.Pig head, pig brain, pig body, pig tail, a wise toy who is never picky about food
Every day sleep until after three in the afternoon, you never brush your teeth, and you never fightPig, your belly is so bulging, you can tell at a glance that you can't stand the hardships of life
Pig, your skin is so white, you must have been from a rich family in your past life, oh
Legend has it that your ancestor had eight rakes, and it hit a peach blossom criminal.
When you see a beautiful girl, you chuckle, won't blush, and isn't afraid
Lyrics: 1983 by Wang Jiazhen.
Music: 1995 by Hu Xiaohuan.
Lyrics:
门前大桥下
In front of the door, under the bridge游过一群鸭
a group of ducks swam by快来快来数一数
Quickly come count them二四六七八
Two, four, six, seven, eight咕嘎咕嘎
Quack, quack, quack真呀真多呀
There's really a lot of them数不清到底多少鸭
I can't count exactly how many ducks there are赶鸭老爷爷
Old man herding ducks (The documentary Most Dangerous Ways To School - Vietnam for example shows a fantastic example of a person herding ducks on a river in Vietnam)胡子白花花
with a shinning white beard唱呀唱着家乡戏
He sings his hometown opera (TODO this deserves further invetigation and examples)还会说笑话
and he can also tell jokes小孩,小孩
Children, children快快上学校
quickly go to school别考个鸭蛋抱回家
Don't go home with zero points in your exam. (Lit. "Don't bring a duck's egg home", an expression that means to have zero score at an exam, and which here fits in perfectly with the theme of the song.)
Lit: fish timber question answer.
The dialog is also known as allegory for an incredibly deep philosophical discussion between an idealized wise woodcutter and a fisherman, e.g. mentioned at: www2.kenyon.edu/Depts/Religion/Fac/Adler/Writings/Fisherman%20and%20Woodcutter.pdf
This song is just too slow for Ciro Santilli to make much out of it.
Bibliography:
Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter Chinese traditional painting by Xie Shichen
. Dialog between Fisherman and Woodcutter uploaded by Fei Sun
. Source. The best ones:
Dream of the Red Chamber 1987 red bean music
. Source. A Baidu Baike page: baike.baidu.com/item/红豆曲/81032Dream of the Red Chamber 1987 flesh and blood song
. Source. A Baidu Baike page: baike.baidu.com/item/分骨肉/8602788Dream of the Red Chamber 1987 smart song
. Source. A more playful song is a nice change from the others.
A Jackdaw is a type of crow: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_jackdaw
Considered one of the 10 famous Chaozhou music pieces TODO list.
Was also adapted by Liu Baoshan (1937-1997) as a pipa song. Ciro Santilli prefers the pipa version.
Bibliography:
Jackdaw Playing With Water performed by Xu Lingzi on the guzheng at the Wiener Musikverein
. Source. Jackdaw Playing With Water performed by Lin Shicheng on the pipa
. Source. A Baidu Baike page: baike.baidu.hk/item/層層水瀾/12386243 mentions that the score was published in 1970 by Tao Yimo (陶一陌) in a eponymous score book.
Ripples by ripples performed by Wu Li on the guzheng
. Source. Peformer's Chinese name: 吳莉.baike.baidu.com/item/江河水/1634212 Baidu Baike page. Originally composed for two pipes, but was later adapted to the erhu in 1962 by Huang Haihuai.
Water of the Yangtze performed on the erhu by Min Huifen
. Source. Chinese title: 江河水. Accompanied by a yangqin.God this song.
Lit. "sunny spring white snow".
White snow in sunny spring performed by Liu Dehai
. Source. From the 1996 album: "A Collection of Chinese Music Masterpieces: Pipa": www.amazon.com/Collection-Chinese-Music-Masterpieces-Pipa/dp/B000QZYN8E TODO recording date.White snow in sunny spring performed by Wu Man in 2020 at The Kennedy Center
. Source. It is easy to get this piece wrong. Two many videos on YouTube play it too fast. Zhang Ziqian plays perfecly, with slightly inconsistent timing, perfectly simulating the drunkard.
Wine mad performed by Zhang Ziqian
. Source. General's command performed by Mi Xuanye
. Source. Chinese title: 将军令. Baidu Baike page: baike.baidu.com/item/将军令/2884897.