Entre dos lugares

(between two places)

PART 1
The Afro-Cuban songs
are based on Yoruba tradition from Africa
and so you do find them in different versions throughout Latin America
wherever the slave trade existed
and culture was able to be
in secret
practiced
so obviously they weren’t out and about singing songs
but they were singing these songs and passing on the traditions in secret
and so because of that
the aural tradition changed depending on what country you were in
so the songs all exist
the lyrics are there because their words are significant
but sometimes the melodies or slight pronunciation of words
might have changed
in Trinidad or Tobago
or Brazil or Cuba
or Ecuador or Peru

PART 2
this is a song written by a very well-known composer
and very close friend of mine
he was like a second father to me
José Pratas
and he wrote this song
it’s called A Brazilian home
it’s his Brazilian home
and he talks about leaving Brazil
and that pull from the heart
of being torn between two places
his home in Brazil and
his home in Australia
and he remembers reading that
when people were displaced
during World War II
a lot of people
took their house keys with them
with the intention of always going home
and this, for me, is like
it’s happening
it happens throughout history
it’s happening now
in situations where
whole peoples are obliterated
and their hope
the human hope
the desire that we have
and that hopefulness
of things always returning
back to a happy time
and carrying your house key
is really significant
he says that in the song as well