美国国家公共电台 NPR Nella Wants To Be A Voice Of Hope For Venezuela

 

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

This week, a singer and songwriter named Nella was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the best new artist category. She is from Venezuela. And like thousands of others, she left her country because of the political and social upheaval¹ there. Betto Arcos has her story.

BETTO ARCOS, BYLINE²: Marianella Rojas, who today goes by the single name Nella, was born in the beach town of Porlamar in the island of Margarita, the largest Venezuelan island in the Caribbean.

NELLA: My parents are still there. My sister - so you can still live there, at least at the island. I always say that the island is kind of like Narnia. Of course, we're affected³ by everything, by the lack of food and the lack of basic goods.

ARCOS: Venezuela was already in turmoil⁴ when Nella was born in 1989. She grew up singing American pop music.

NELLA: All the divas - Christina Aguilera, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, you name it. All of them - I would, like, lock myself in my room from, like, 3 p.m., when I was coming back from school, until 9 p.m. and just sing.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LA NEGRA ATILIA")

NELLA: (Singing in Spanish).

ARCOS: After graduating from high school in 2007, Nella moved to Caracas, Venezuela's capital, to study communications and music. Then she applied⁵ to the Berklee College of Music in Boston.

JAVIER LIMON: In Berklee, you know, there are 4,000 students. One-thousand of them are singers.

ARCOS: Spanish guitarist, composer and producer Javier Limon is a member of the faculty⁶ at Berkeley and has worked with some of the biggest names in flamenco. He says Nella stood out when he first heard her at the college.

LIMON: In my opinion, the most valuable thing is the uniqueness, to be unique, because everybody sings amazing - perfect tune⁷, perfect rhythm, perfect technique, whatever you want, any style. But to be original, to be different, to be someone special - that's what Nella had. And that's what she is now, very special and very different.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FIN⁸ DE FIESTA")

ARCOS: Two years ago, Limon was hired to compose the music for Iranian director Asghar Farhadi's film "Everybody Knows," starring Javier Bardem and Penelope Cruz. Limon emailed Farhadi a link to a video of him and Nella singing the song "Fin De Fiesta."

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FIN DE FIESTA")

NELLA: (Singing in Spanish).

ARCOS: Farhadi loved the song and asked to hear Nella sing it over the phone.

NELLA: So I did this song. And next thing, I receive a message saying that I had to go to Madrid, to not only record the songs of the movie but also be part of this movie.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FIN DE FIESTA")

NELLA: (Singing in Spanish).

ARCOS: And that led to her debut⁹ album, a collaboration¹⁰ with Limon called simply "Voy."

NELLA: He will send me lyrics¹¹ first. I will tell him how connected I felt with the lyrics because that was also very surprising sometimes. I felt like he was reading my mind, songs that will really describe me. I mean, "Me Llaman Nella," it's obviously for me.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ME LLAMAN NELLA")

NELLA: (Singing in Spanish).

ARCOS: One day, Limon read a newspaper article about the turmoil in Venezuela and emailed Nella some lyrics.

NELLA: I just started crying. And in the middle of all of this, I told him, you know what? We should put music to this.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VOLVERE A MI TIERRA")

NELLA: (Singing in Spanish).

LIMON: The lyrics of the song say, I will return to my homeland. Venezuela is great, beloved and eternal. I will return to my homeland to sing to the sea and its full moon. I will return to my homeland, where my people are brave and awakened¹².

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VOLVERé A MI TIERRA")

NELLA: (Singing in Spanish).

ARCOS: Next, they made a video with the faces of Venezuelans.

NELLA: Friends from all around the world, friends from Venezuela or whoever wants to be part of this to be able to tell this story through these words.

ARCOS: The YouTube video went viral. Still, as a singer and public figure from a country that's constantly in the news, Nella doesn't like to wrap herself in the Venezuelan flag.

NELLA: Sometimes, people complain that you're - oh, you don't care about Venezuela. Like, you don't post things about Venezuela. I don't need to post these things to make people know that I love my country and that I would love to go back one day.

ARCOS: Nella wants her music to be the voice of Venezuelans who hope to see their country with a better future. For NPR News, I'm Betto Arcos.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SE MUERE POR VOLVER")

NELLA: (Singing in Spanish).

1 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

4 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

5 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

6 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

7 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

8 fin   

n.鳍；(飞机的)安定翼

参考例句：

• They swim using a small fin on their back.它们用背上的小鳍游动。
• The aircraft has a long tail fin.那架飞机有一个长长的尾翼。

9 debut   

n.首次演出，初次露面

参考例句：

• That same year he made his Broadway debut, playing a suave radio journalist.在那同一年里，他初次在百老汇登台，扮演一个温文而雅的电台记者。
• The actress made her debut in the new comedy.这位演员在那出新喜剧中首次登台演出。

10 collaboration   

n.合作，协作；勾结

参考例句：

• The two companies are working in close collaboration each other.这两家公司密切合作。
• He was shot for collaboration with the enemy.他因通敌而被枪毙了。

11 lyrics   

n.歌词

参考例句：

• music and lyrics by Rodgers and Hart 由罗杰斯和哈特作词作曲
• The book contains lyrics and guitar tablatures for over 100 songs. 这本书有100多首歌的歌词和吉他奏法谱。

12 awakened   

v.（使）醒( awaken的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）觉醒；弄醒；（使）意识到

参考例句：

• She awakened to the sound of birds singing. 她醒来听到鸟的叫声。
• The public has been awakened to the full horror of the situation. 公众完全意识到了这一状况的可怕程度。 来自《简明英汉词典》