Batendo Agua
Luiz Marenco / Gujo Teixeira
See also:
Cedar tree seedling
Moving forward
Three Nations Milonga
Expat
...‘cause when the journey demands it of me, I pay the price of my livelihood, even if the path seems unsheltered.
Batendo Água is one of the most popular songs composed by Luiz Marenco, a renowned figure in traditional music from Rio Grande do Sul, a Brazilian state that shares borders with Argentina and Uruguay. The music was composed in an apartment in downtown Santa Maria-RS. At the time, Gujo Teixeira, the lyricist and Marenco’s musical partner, was working as a veterinarian. On a rainy afternoon in April 1997, while studying and drinking mate with Marenco, he noticed the storm outside. Marenco remarked, “Tá batendo água,” which translates to “the water is hitting.” This casual observation, referring to the sound of rain hitting the ground and rooftops, sparked inspiration. Gujo immediately set aside his studies, grabbed a notebook, and began writing verses. “Look, Marenco, this theme has potential for a song. I'll write some verses for it. If I finish them, you make the music.” That very day, the lyrics were set to music by Marenco, and within two months, the song was being performed at festivals.
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The song’s opening line, “Meu poncho emponcha lonjuras batendo água,” transforms the noun poncho (a traditional Latin American coat) into a verb (emponcha), symbolizing the poncho’s ability to carry and endure longing and distance through the rain. Guilherme Howes, a scholar in regional identities, ruralities, gauchismo, and traditionalism, describes the song as “the image of a man on horseback, trotting under the rain, wearing a soaked poncho that retains the water of his experiences.”
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Batendo Água exemplifies the regional poetics of Rio Grande do Sul, with its profound beauty and uniqueness often misunderstood by Brazilians outside these regions or cultural communities. The song portrays the resilience of a countryside man who endures life's hardships, facing storms and challenges with strength.
Howes adds:
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There is a specific vocabulary in the lyrics that is unfamiliar to those without at least some connection to the rural world. The music resonates because it feels authentic. Not everyone may have experienced what the song describes, but they understand its meaning and feel part of that universe. The poncho symbolizes their home, carried on their shoulders, as the countryside man spreads his arms like a large bird with its wings open, enduring the relentless cold and rain.
When it comes to the musical genre, the connection to the Paraguayan polka is evident, which in turn relates to chamamê, an Argentine hybrid genre widely performed in Rio Grande do Sul, characterized by a strong presence of the accordion. On this, Howes affirms:
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The music is rhythmically a chamamê, composed in a meter that evokes the hoof-beating of a horse's trot. The expression 'trocando orelhas' (swapping ears) refers to the horse's attentiveness, constantly shifting its ears to listen in all directions. The animal keeps one ear forward and the other to the side, continuously swapping them. The horse ‘changes the beat of its ears with every step,’ melodically resonating over the damp vegetation. The link between the melody, lyrics, and the scene described reaches its peak in the verses: ‘My zaino took the night from the dark sky, and all that the night can hear is its bugle. Its hooves hitting the water after the floodplain. Brake and spur rosettes at the same trin.’ This describes how the dark-colored horse blends into the night, with its hoofbeats as the only audible sound. The brake dewlap produces a strident sound rubbing against the metal, synchronized with the spur rosettes. The audience is drawn into the rhythm of the horse’s trot through the music while vivid images and sounds of the scene unfold through the lyrics. This quick succession of images, closely tied to the daily life of the gaucho campeiro, is one of the key elements behind the song’s enduring popularity.
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In 2014, almost two decades after Batendo Água was created, the authors gathered in the same apartment to reminisce about its composition. In 2017, the song turned 20 years old and has since been recorded more than 50 times by various nativist music artists. With its timeless beauty, Batendo Água continues to resonate, offering a metaphor for anyone unafraid to face life’s storms.
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Text by Dr Romy Martínez (Royal Holloway/Leiden University College), based on research by Prof. Ms. Guilherme Howes (UNIPAMPA)
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