Comments about Slash’s Book and My Translation
to Portuguese
The autobiography written by Slash, Saul Hudson, born in England
in 1965, is a real trip throughout the music world. Slash tells us about his
musical preferences since he was a kid and traces an interesting time line
since, mainly, the 1970s till present day. This alone, for those who enjoy
music (almost everyone, I guess), would turn it into a “must-have” book. In Guns
N’ Roses golden days, Slash was (and always will be, of course) an extremely
talented guitarist, indeed. But, to me, as a rock fan, at that time he was
still someone hidden behind a mountain of hair and a top hat. The curious thing is that this book has been given to another translator
who wasn't able to do it because of the deadline, and I ended up having the
privilege of translating it.
Of course, as most fans, I've never really
known Slash, nor Saul Hudson, as a person. I only know the things I've read
about him, and I love his irresistible rock music and riffs and those
incredible songs (Though I was lucky to meet him in a show, as in the picture
below.) But it was only after I translated Slash’s book that I came to admire
him as a person as well. As I use to say, to translate a book, you have to
enter a bit into the author’s mind, to understand his/her ideas to be able to
transmit them in the most precise way, while you read the book hundreds of
times in the process. But always, as a translator, you have to transmit all
this in a detached way, and so, this translation of the book to Portuguese is
impartial as it must be.
As a reader, though, I think Slash
revealed himself a generous, gentle, sensible, determined person. Slash talks
about his childhood, his friendships, the mischievousness of the youth, of
school times, and his fascination for snakes and exotic animals in general.
It’s amazing the candidness Slash uses to give us his account, so perfectly
transmitted by Anthony Bozza’s style as he wrote the book. As Slash talks with
all his heart, we’ve got the impression, throughout the book, that we're in a
kind of chat with our idol as readers. (If you want to know it all, his book is
really great to read.)
Another admirable aspect is Slash’s innate talent for music
and to play guitar. Without many resources, he learned to play practically by
himself, starting using his grandmother’s famous flamenco guitar and reading
dozens and dozens of sheet music and guitar tabs, while playing together with his
favorite rock bands’ albums. His efforts ended up enabling him to achieve great
success in his musical projects. (I went to his shows in São Paulo in 2011 and in 2012 and was amazed
to see the energy the man has to play his guitar. We get breathless just
looking at him as fans!)
Naturally, in his book, Slash tells us about his trajectory
in Guns N’ Roses, the way the band started, how he met the other members, about
ups and downs, the huge success, what he felt becoming famous, the tours, the
opening shows to his own idols, like Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe. Like Rome, there was the
inevitable decline of the band, and it was a pity because they were perfect
together, with an incredible chemistry, as all gunners would agree. And it’s
not a report about choosing sides _ in all stories everybody has his/her own
version of the facts, his/her points of view. Anyway, I guess certain aspects
are all water under the bridge now, and concerning the parts involved. If I had
to use a single word to describe the book itself as a reader I would say it’s
about “endurance”.
And my translation, naturally, was totally
impartial as translations must be, transmitting all the contents as they are in
the original book, though I’m also giving my own opinions as a reader in this
article. The translation itself to Portuguese was long and hard with lots of
slangs, technical details about music, playing and recording, references to
countless people, places, etc. etc., and it demanded lots of researching. But
it was very pleasurable indeed. It’s my favorite among all the translations
I’ve done. Because when one translates a book, the result is much better when
he/she also enjoys it as a reader first. And I’ve been lucky enough to always translate
things I enjoy.
In the book, there is the somber and dramatic side, the deep darkness to
which addiction unfortunately drags human beings sometimes. As a reader, I
think this part about addiction/drugs/alcohol/smoke/self-destruction must be
faced as a guide about what NOT to do with our lives.
In his autobiography, Slash tells us how he has gotten his
nickname, and also the top hat that would become his trademark when he had to
improvise some garments for shows. There we find drama, friendship, nostalgia,
a lot about Rock, a bit of something like the “Twilight Zone”, and there’s a
lot of sense of humor in the book too, what’s very charming. We can laugh with
some of Slash’s mishaps, as he talks about them, including the glam period of
the band, or when he had to dress like a woman to go inside a nightclub.
One of my favorite of those parts is when
he jumped straight from the stage during a show and the audience parted like
the Red Sea, and he fell hard on the floor _ a
kind of miscalculation. Then, as if nothing had happened, he cleaned the dust,
went back to the stage and kept on playing. I think that’s a good metaphor for
the way he gathered up the pieces of his old life and turned it into a greater
success.
Slash With Anthony
Bozza
Translation to
Portuguese: Tina Jeronymo
Ediouro
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|
Show - Nov. 6th, 2012
Espaço das Américas
São
Paulo - SP |