Maré Do Ilê
Tone Rich
Axé Ilê
Choral, percussive anthem about returning to divine home within.
📜 Lyrics
[Intro — spoken / whispered] O mar chama meu nome… Meu ilê desperta. Axé no vento, axé no tempo. The sea is calling my name… My spirit home awakens. Power in the wind, power in the time. [Verse 1] Meu ilê é o mar, doce mas sem fim, Desenhando o caminho pra mim. My home is the sea, gentle but wide, Drawing my path with the turning tide. O vento canta, me faz lembrar, Que sou da terra, mas nasci do mar. The wind remembers where I'm from, Born of the water, where I belong. [Pre-Chorus] Ele levanta-se em nosso tempo, Força antiga, corpo e sentimento. It rises now, in our time, An ancient force, a sacred sign. Vem, amor, me leva a voar, Onde a maré quiser me levar. Come, my love, let's lift and fly, Wherever the waves will carry our light. [Chorus] Maré do ilê, maré do ilê, Ondas falam, corações rezam. Tide of the ilê, tide of the ilê, The waves are speaking, hearts all pray. Maré do ilê, maré do ilê, Sou casa, sou mar, sou axé. Tide of the ilê, tide of the ilê, I am home, I am sea, I am axé. [Verse 2] Dentro das águas, escuto a canção, Doce energia, minha oração. Deep in the water, I hear a song, Sweetest rhythm that pulls me along. Luz da lua, guia da fé, Traz meu amor, leva o que é. Moonlight shining, guiding my way, Bring me my love, take pain away. [Pre-Chorus — repeat] [Chorus — repeat] [Outro — chant] Axé… axé… Maré do ilê… maré do ilê… (It rises now — in our time…)
🌊 Meaning & Context
"Maré do Ilê (Tide of Homecoming)" is a spiritual odyssey — a song of return to origin, ancestry, and divine selfhood. It weaves Portuguese lyricism with Yoruba cosmology and English translation for universality. Its message: home is not a place, but a current of consciousness. The sea (emotion), wind (breath), moon (intuition), and tide (change) are metaphors for rebirth into wholeness — where Axé flows through all things.
This anthem invokes Yemanjá, the ocean goddess mother, calling the listener back to their spiritual home (Ilê). The ocean becomes a living temple — "ilê" as sacred house of the orixás, where waves carry prayers and sound and motion fuse in worship.
🔍 Line-by-Line Interpretation
🌀 Intro – Whispered Invocation
Portuguese:
O mar chama meu nome… Meu ilê desperta. Axé no vento, axé no tempo.
English translation:
The sea is calling my name… My spirit-home awakens. Power in the wind, power in time.
Interpretation: This is a spiritual awakening. "Ilê" in Yoruba means house, home, earth, or ancestral temple. The sea (mar) calls the singer back to origin — the womb of creation. "Axé" is life-force energy, divine flow. The invocation suggests re-alignment with the rhythm of nature and ancestry: wind (air) and time (continuity) carry the sacred charge.
🌊 Verse 1
Portuguese:
Meu ilê é o mar, doce mas sem fim, Desenhando o caminho pra mim.
English:
My home is the sea, gentle but wide, Drawing my path with the turning tide.
Interpretation: Home is not fixed — it's fluid. The ocean, both nurturing and vast, is the metaphor for the soul's journey. The sea "draws the path," implying destiny and divine guidance through intuition rather than maps.
O vento canta, me faz lembrar, Que sou da terra, mas nasci do mar.
English:
The wind remembers where I'm from, Born of the water, where I belong.
Interpretation: The wind (breath/spirit) is memory itself. Though human (earth), our essence originates from water — creation, emotion, and birth. It's an ode to Yemanjá (orisha of the sea), recognizing both earthly existence and oceanic ancestry.
✨ Pre-Chorus
Portuguese:
Ele levanta-se em nosso tempo, Força antiga, corpo e sentimento.
English:
It rises now, in our time, An ancient force, a sacred sign.
Interpretation: The "it" here is Axé — ancestral energy re-awakening in the present era. It links body and feeling, matter and spirit — implying collective resurgence of awareness, culture, and sacred remembrance.
Vem, amor, me leva a voar, Onde a maré quiser me levar.
English:
Come, my love, let's lift and fly, Wherever the waves will carry our light.
Interpretation: Love here is both romantic and divine — a partner, a spirit, or the universal current itself. Surrendering to the "maré" (tide) symbolizes trust in destiny, flow, and spiritual surrender.
🌺 Chorus
Portuguese:
Maré do ilê, maré do ilê, Ondas falam, corações rezam.
English:
Tide of the ilê, tide of the ilê, The waves are speaking, hearts all pray.
Interpretation: The ocean becomes a living temple — "ilê" as sacred house of the orixás. Waves carry prayers; sound and motion fuse in worship. The chant-like repetition mirrors ritual invocation.
Maré do ilê, maré do ilê, Sou casa, sou mar, sou axé.
English:
Tide of the ilê, tide of the ilê, I am home, I am sea, I am axé.
Interpretation: This is the moment of union. The self realizes no separation from creation — body, spirit, and nature are one continuum. "Sou axé" = "I am divine energy itself."
🌙 Verse 2
Portuguese:
Dentro das águas, escuto a canção, Doce energia, minha oração.
English:
Deep in the water, I hear a song, Sweetest rhythm that pulls me along.
Interpretation: Immersion brings revelation — the song within the water represents intuition, inner guidance, and the ancestral drumbeat of life. Prayer becomes melody; the divine speaks through vibration.
Luz da lua, guia da fé, Traz meu amor, leva o que é.
English:
Moonlight shining, guiding my way, Bring me my love, take pain away.
Interpretation: The moon (feminine, cyclical) governs tides and emotion. It symbolizes spiritual navigation, love, and purification — a plea for healing and reunion.
✨ Pre-Chorus (reprise)
Repeating the earlier lines reinforces the cycle: the eternal rise and return of Axé — renewal through rhythm.
🌊 Chorus (reprise)
The collective affirmation continues. Repetition is devotional; in Afro-Brazilian ritual, repetition sustains trance and communal energy.
🔔 Outro – Chant
Portuguese / English:
Axé… axé… Maré do ilê… maré do ilê… (It rises now — in our time…)
Interpretation: The ending is meditative and circular. The chant dissolves individuality into unity — echoing waves fading into silence. "It rises now" re-states the awakening: the power, the memory, the home within.
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