“Sim, há uma”: translation and performance into portuguese of “See-line woman” based on Nina Simone’s interpretation

Abstract

“See-line Woman”, musical piece of American oral tradition, was registered in 1939, collected and reproduced in different oral performances, such as those by Leslie Feist (2007), and Nina Simone (1964). Taking as original the constant recording on the album Mississipi Goddam (1964), by Nina Simone, and evidencing the dubious sound and meaning that the recording of the lyrics, i.e. translation of orality,  can highlight, I will address some problems related to the translation of song for performance when I come across an original that strains the lyrics of the recorded song differently from the other oralized versions of 1939 and 2007.