Sai Sai Catarina – Capoeira Song – Lyrics, English Translation and Meaning
This song doesn’t have many secrets, but it does have a lot to give!
Sorry for shattering your illusions, but not all capoeira songs hide a mysterious story or hidden meaning, sometimes they are just that, songs.
There are sources that say that Catarina may refer to Iemanjá, but since it’s a theory that we haven’t been able to verify, your guess is as good as ours ?
What I really like about this song is its rhythm and its melody, it gives a boost to the energy of the roda, and having short phrases it’s fun for the soloist to improvise the verses depending upon what’s happening with the game.
Improvising verses in Portuguese sounds like a big challenge, but Sai Sai Caterina is a good place to start with baby steps.
To begin with, you can simply change the order of the phrases, change if she comes out “do mar” or “da mata” or if she is going to see Idalina, or if she simply comes to see, come see. See the examples below.
Sai sai Catarina
Saia do mar venha ver Idalina
Sai sai Catarina
Saia do mar venha ver venha ver
Sai sai Catarina
Oh Catarina, meu amor
Sai sai Catarina
Saia do mar, saia do mar
Sai sai Catarina
Come out, come out Catarina
Come out of the sea, come see Idalina
Come out, come out Catarina
Come out of the sea, come see, come see
Come out, come out Catarina
Oh Caterina, my love
Come out, come out Catarina
Come out of the sea, come out of the sea
Come out, come out Catarina
The above are the most common phrases, but you’ll also often here some of the below (with the chorus in-between):
Oia saia do mar vem a ver Idalina
Oia saia do mar venha ver Catarina Oia saia do mar venha ver a menina
Oia saia do mar venha ver capoeira
Oia saia do mar venha ver Idalina
Oi Catarina minha nega
Oi tanto tempo eu nao te vejo
Oi minha negâ, linda bahiana
Oi venha cá menina Catarina
Listen, come out of the sea, come see Idalina
Listen, come out of the sea, come see, listen Caterina
Listen, come out of the see, come see Capoeira
Oi Caterina my nega
Oi, how long since I’ve seen you
Oi my nega, beautiful Bahiana
Oi, come here Caterina girl
