Rastejam comes from the verb rastejar, meaning 'to crawl' or 'to grovel'. It's a vivid and somewhat harsh verb that immediately conjures a strong image.
In the context of
"Face e Avesso" means "the front and the back" of something, and that is exactly what Vanessa da Mata is doing here: showing the ugly reverse side of a society that likes to talk about morality.
She opens by saying she knows the difference between how people present themselves and how they actually act. The song then lists who pays the price for that gap: women who carry the blame for other people's guilt, the poor who are looked at like scenery by the rich, and children and indigenous communities left to bear the damage.
The "ahã ahã" refrain that closes the song isn't really words. It's closer to a sigh, an exhausted sound after naming all of it, and it gives the song its resigned, matter-of-fact tone rather than an angry one.
Vanessa da Mata is one of Brazil's most beloved singer-songwriters, known for her warm voice and her blend of MPB (Popular Brazilian Music) with pop, soul and reggae. Born in 1976 in the small town of Alto Garças, in the state of Mato Grosso, she taught herself music while growing up on a rich mix of Brazilian classics and international sounds. Over the 2000s she became a household name in Brazil, and she has since won a Latin Grammy Award and published her own novels.
"Boa Sorte / Good Luck" comes from her 2007 album "Sim" and is a duet with the American musician Ben Harper. She sang the melody to him over the phone, and he answered her Portuguese verses in English, giving the song its striking bilingual back and forth. The single reached number one in both Brazil and Portugal and opened the door to her international career.