Saudade

[8][9] Some specialists argue that the word may have originated during the Great Portuguese Discoveries, expressing and giving meaning to the sadness felt about those who departed on journeys to unknown seas and often disappeared in shipwrecks, died in battle, or simply never returned.

[citation needed] The state of mind has subsequently become a "Portuguese way of life": a constant feeling of absence, the sadness of something that's missing, wistful longing for completeness or wholeness and the yearning for the return of what is now gone, a desire for presence as opposed to absence—as it is said in Portuguese, a strong desire to matar as saudades (lit.

Besides the implications derived from a wave of emigration trend from the motherland, historically speaking saudade is the term associated with the decline of Portugal's role in world politics and trade.

"[12] The Dictionary from the Royal Galician Academy, on the other hand, defines saudade as an "intimate feeling and mood caused by the longing for something absent that is being missed.

Despite being hard to translate in full, saudade has equivalent words in other cultures, and is often related to music styles expressing this feeling such as the blues for African-Americans, añoranza in Spain, Sehnsucht in German, dor in Romania, Tizita in Ethiopia, Hiraeth in Welsh, or Assouf for the Tuareg people, appocundria in Neapolitan, or mall in Albanian.

In Turkish, the word Hasret meaning longing, yearning or nostalgia has similar connotations, as does the Polish “tęsknota”.

The similar melancholic music style is known in Bosnia-Herzegovina as sevdalinkah (from Turkish sevda': infatuation, ultimately from Arabic سَوْدَاء sawdā': 'black [bile]', translation of the Greek μέλαινα χολή, mélaina cholē, from which the term melancholy is derived).

In the book In Portugal of 1912, A. F. G. Bell writes: The famous saudade of the Portuguese is a vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist, for something other than the present, a turning towards the past or towards the future; not an active discontent or poignant sadness but an indolent dreaming wistfulness.

[14]A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as old ways and sayings; a lost lover who is sadly missed; a faraway place where one was raised; loved ones who have died; feelings and stimuli one used to have; and the faded, yet golden memories of youth.

Although it relates to feelings of melancholy and fond memories of things/people/days gone by, it can be a rush of sadness coupled with a paradoxical joy derived from acceptance of fate and the hope of recovering or substituting what is lost by something that will either fill in the void or provide consolation.

The alternative rock band Love And Rockets has a song named "Saudade" on their album Seventh Dream of Teenage Heaven.

The Dutch jazz/Rock guitarist Jan Akkerman recorded a composition called "Saudade", the centerpiece of his 1996 album Focus in Time.

The jazz fusion group Trio Beyond, consisting of John Scofield, Jack DeJohnette, and Larry Goldings released in 2006 an album dedicated to drummer Tony Williams (1945–1997), called Saudades.

New York City post-rock band Mice Parade released an album entitled Obrigado Saudade in 2004.

"Nancy Spain", a song by Barney Rush, made famous by an adaptation by Christy Moore, is another example of the use of saudade in contemporary Irish music, the chorus of which is: "No matter where I wander I'm still haunted by your name The portrait of your beauty stays the same Standing by the ocean wondering where you've gone If you'll return again Where is the ring I gave to Nancy Spain?"

Kingston-Upon-Hull IDM Electronica, Downtempo and Deep Groove legend, Steve Cobby, of Fila Brazillia, Solid Doctor, Heights of Abraham, the Twilight Singers debut notoriety and other musical incarnations and collaborations, released a 12 track album "Saudade"[16] in March 2014 on DÉCLASSÉ Recordings.

Washington DC electronica duo Thievery Corporation released the studio album Saudade in 2014 via their Eighteenth Street Lounge Music label.

Brazilian singer Ana Frango Electrico released a song called "Saudade" as the opening track on their 2019 album "Little Electric Chicken Heart".

[17][18] A. R. Rahman's soundtrack for the 2020 Hindi film Dil Bechara features an instrumental track called "The Horizon of Saudade".

[20] The Portuguese author Fernando Pessoa's posthumous collection of writings The Book of Disquiet is written almost entirely in a tone of saudade, and deals with themes of nostalgia and alienation.

[citation needed] Australian author Suneeta Peres Da Costa's novella Saudade follows Maria, a young girl from a Goan immigrant family, growing up in a political hierarchy of racism and colonialism[21] In an episode of the Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea, Brazilian actress Taís Araújo (guest-starring as herself) discussed the concept of saudade with the heartbroken titular character.

In Cape Verdean Creole there is the word sodadi (also spelled sodade), originated in the Portuguese saudade and with the same meaning.