Brasil (mythical island)

Brasil, also known as Hy-Brasil or several other variants, is a phantom island said to lie in the Atlantic Ocean west of Ireland. Irish myths described it as cloaked in mist except for one day every seven years, when it became visible but still could not be reached.

Etymology of the name

The etymology of the names Brasil and Hy-Brasil is unknown, but in Irish tradition it is thought to come from the Irish Uí Breasail (meaning "descendants (i.e., clan) of Breasal"), one of the ancient clans of northeastern Ireland. cf. Old Irish: Í: island; bres: beauty, worth, great, mighty.

Despite the similarity, the name of the country Brazil has no connection to the mythical islands. The South American country was at first named Ilha de Vera Cruz (Island of the True Cross) and later Terra de Santa Cruz (Land of the Holy Cross) by the Portuguese navigators who discovered the land. After some decades, it started to be called "Brazil" (Brasil, in Portuguese) due to the exploitation of native Brazilwood, at that time the only export of the land. In Portuguese, brazilwood is called pau-brasil, with the word brasil commonly given the etymology "red like an ember", formed from Latin brasa ("ember") and the suffix -il (from -iculum or -ilium).

Portuguese language

Portuguese (português or, in full, língua portuguesa) is a Romance language and the sole official language of Angola, Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, Portugal, and São Tomé and Príncipe. It also has co-official language status in East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, and Macau. As the result of expansion during colonial times, a cultural presence of Portuguese and Portuguese creole speakers are also found in Goa, Daman and Diu in India; in Batticaloa on the east coast of Sri Lanka; in the Indonesian island of Flores; and in Malacca in Malaysia.

Portuguese is a part of the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia. With approximately 215 to 220 million native speakers and 260 million total speakers, Portuguese is usually listed as the fifth most natively spoken language in the world, the third-most spoken European language in the world in terms of native speakers, and a major language of the Southern Hemisphere. It is also the most spoken language in South America and the second-most spoken in Latin America after Spanish, and is an official language of the European Union, Mercosul and the African Union.

Brasil (The Manhattan Transfer album)

Brasil was The Manhattan Transfer's tenth album. It was released in 1987 on Atlantic records

This album was a new foray for the group into Brazilian music. During the recording sessions they worked with many songwriters, including Ivan Lins, Milton Nascimento, Djavan, and Atlantic records Jazz recording artist Gilberto Gil. After the initial recording sessions, the songs were re-arranged and then fitted with English lyrics.

Awards

This album won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals.

Charts

The song "Soul Food To Go" reached #25 on Billboard Magazine's Top Adult Contemporary chart.

Track listing

Brasil (1981 album)

Brasil is a 1981 album by Brazilian artist João Gilberto, featuring Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil and Maria Bethânia. The album was later released along with João Gilberto's 1977 album Amoroso.

Track listing

References