Ana Moura has become a leading exponent of this poetic, deeply expressive idiom which personifies the Portuguese psyche as it explores such universal themes as lost love, separation, and longing.
As Ana explains, "It's very special because it's all about emotions and feelings. It needs no translation."
Ana was born in 1980, in Santarém, the bustling capital of the Ribatejo province in the center of Portugal's heartland on the Tejo River northeast of Lisbon.
The city of half a million souls is also one of Portugal's most historic cities -- an ideal place to develop an appreciation for fado. "I've been singing fado since I was little, because grew up listening to it at home," she recalls of her early home life. "My parents sang well, and at family gatherings, we all would sing."
Like young people everywhere, she soon developed an appreciation for other styles of music. The lure of singing fado, however, never waned. In her late teens, while sing pop and rock music with a local band, Ana always included at least one fado in each performance. Then, one night on a whim, about five years ago, she and some friends went to one of Lisbon's storied fado houses -- small performance venues where singers, guitarists and aficionados gather to worship the affecting style that's become Portugal's most important music export.
At the urging of her companions, she sang. "People liked me," she recalls of her first foray into a venerated bastion of the fado culture. Later that year, at a Christmas party that was attended by a lot of fadistas (fado singers) and guitarists, she sang again and, as fate would have it, noted fado vocalist Maria de Fe was in the audience and was duly impressed. "She asked me to sing at her fado house," Ana recalls of the fortuitous moment that launched her career.
"My life changed when I began going to the fado houses," Ana states today. "There's no microphone -- it's very intimate. New singers learn through a kind of apprenticeship, learning the intricacies of the style from the older, more established singers."
Before long, word of Ana's rich contralto, stunning looks and innate affinity for the demanding style spread, winning airtime on local television programs devoted to fado and rave reviews in Lisbon newspapers.
Ana has emerged as a leading voice of traditional fado just as the venerable idiom is enjoying a renaissance of popularity. "Today," she explains, "there's a new generation that sings lyrics related to our time. There are some older fado songs that we, the younger singers, cannot perform, because the lyrics are about a time and themes we don't identify with. We don't feel it, and fado is all about feelings. We must feel what we sing, and there are many older fados that don't belong to our generation. Younger singers use lyrics that speak of today, so young people have begun to get more interested in the music again."
As with jazz and country music in the U.S., tango in Argentina, samba in Brazil, fado sprang from the culture of working class people. And, as with the aforementioned examples, over the years the style evolved from humble origins to win broad appeal. Today, as Ana proudly proclaims, "In Portugal, fado is for everyone."
Like virtually every aspiring fadista, Ana drew early inspiration from the example of Amalia Rodrigues, the revered singer who most personified the style. "It was her soul and her voice," she comments of the late vocalist's singular imprint on the music. "She had everything in her. Some singers have a great voice by no soul, no intensity. Others have feeling but not a suitable voice. She had it all, and, she was a very good improviser."
Improvising is an under-appreciated part of the fado tradition. One technique, which Ana uses to great effect on the song "Lavava no rio lavava" (I Went to the River to Wash), is what the Portuguese term vocalisos -- the expression of words and effects through use of vocal trills. The practice is believed to have been absorbed over centuries of exposure to Spanish flamenco and Moorish styles.
A key track from her album exquisitely sums up the magnetic pull fado has exerted on Ana. "Sou do fado, sou fadista" (I belong to fado, I am a fadista) by her mentor and primary collaborator, guitarist Jorge Fernando, eloquently explains Ana's total surrender to the style:
"I know my soul has surrendered, taken my voice in hand, twisted in my chest and shown it to the world. And I have closed my eyes in a wistful longing to sing, to sing. And a voice sings to me softly, and a voice enchants me softly, I belong to fado, I belong to fado, I am a fadista."
Today, Ana Moura still thinks of how and where it all began, and of the importance of keeping those vital ties alive. "Before," she muses, "I used to sing in the fado house every day. Today, because of my concert schedule and travel, it's impossible. But, when time permits, I like to return. Sometimes I feel that I must go there. I need that."
(Adapted from a text by Cindy Byram)
Desfado
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
E o meu fado é nem ter fado nenhum
Cantá-lo bem sem sequer o ter sentido
Senti-lo como ninguém, mas não ter sentido algum
Ai que tristeza, esta minha alegria
Ai que alegria, esta tão grande tristeza
Esperar que um dia eu não espere mais um dia
Por aquele que nunca vem e que aqui esteve presente
Ai que saudade
Que eu tenho de ter saudade
Saudades de ter alguém
Que aqui está e não existe
Sentir-me triste
Só por me sentir tão bem
E alegre sentir-me bem
Só por eu andar tão triste
Ai se eu pudesse não cantar ai se eu pudesse
E lamentasse não ter mais nenhum lamento
Talvez ouvisse no silêncio que fizesse
Uma voz que fosse minha cantar alguém cá dentro
Ai que desgraça esta sorte que me assiste
Ai mas que sorte eu viver tão desgraçada
Na incerteza que nada mais certo existe
Além da grande certeza de não estar certa de nada
Ai que saudade
Que eu tenho de ter saudade
Saudades de ter alguém
Que aqui está e não existe
Sentir-me triste
Só por me sentir tão bem
E alegre sentir-me bem
Só por eu andar tão triste
Ai que saudade
Que eu tenho de ter saudade
Saudades de ter alguém
Que aqui está e não existe
Sentir-me triste
Só por me sentir tão bem
E alegre sentir-me bem
Só por eu andar tão triste
Ana Moura's song "Desfado" is a melancholic and introspective composition that portrays the singer's confusion and sense of loss. The lyrics start by expressing her disbelief in fate, but paradoxically, her fate is not to have a fate at all. Despite not feeling the emotions that her music expresses, she performs them expertly. The chorus shows how her joy and sorrow are constantly intertwined, creating a bittersweet feeling in the listener. Moura longs for someone who is there but does not exist - recreating the idea of an empty hole in her life that can never be filled. She is sad to feel happy and happy to be sad, and she wishes to no longer feel this way. However, her lamentations do not bring her salvation, as her pain and confusion persist.
The song's lyrics continue with Moura's sense of uncertainty, addressing her misfortunes and utter confusion. She feels that she lives in a constant state of desolation, where nothing is certain. Her sense of sadness is inescapable, and it adds to her feeling of being lost. However, she concludes that her melancholy is a result of the joy that she experiences. The final verse shows that her melancholy and joy are linked, and their balance is what makes her who she is. Her yearning for a meaningful connection in life goes unfulfilled, but the paradox of joy and sorrow creates a unique feeling that cannot be easily explained.
Line by Line Meaning
Quer o destino que eu não creia no destino
The irony of fate means that I cannot believe in fate
E o meu fado é nem ter fado nenhum
My fate is to have no fate
Cantá-lo bem sem sequer o ter sentido
To sing it well without ever having felt it
Senti-lo como ninguém, mas não ter sentido algum
To feel it like no one else, yet to have felt nothing at all
Ai que tristeza, esta minha alegria
Oh, what sadness in my happiness
Ai que alegria, esta tão grande tristeza
Oh, what joy in my great sadness
Esperar que um dia eu não espere mais um dia
To hope for a day when I no longer hope for another day
Por aquele que nunca vem e que aqui esteve presente
For the one who never comes, but was once present here
Ai que saudade
Oh, what longing
Que eu tenho de ter saudade
To long for longing itself
Saudades de ter alguém
Longing to have someone
Que aqui está e não existe
Who is here, yet does not exist
Sentir-me triste
To feel sad
Só por me sentir tão bem
Just because I feel so good
E alegre sentir-me bem
And to feel happy when I'm feeling good
Só por eu andar tão triste
Just because I walk so sad
Ai se eu pudesse não cantar ai se eu pudesse
Oh, if I could not sing, oh if I could
E lamentasse não ter mais nenhum lamento
And mourn not having any more sorrows
Talvez ouvisse no silêncio que fizesse
Perhaps I would hear in the silence I create
Uma voz que fosse minha cantar alguém cá dentro
A voice that was my own singing someone inside me
Ai que desgraça esta sorte que me assiste
Oh, what misery this luck that befalls me
Ai mas que sorte eu viver tão desgraçada
Oh, what luck to live so wretchedly
Na incerteza que nada mais certo existe
In the uncertainty where nothing else is certain
Além da grande certeza de não estar certa de nada
Beyond the great certainty of being uncertain about everything
Ai que saudade
Oh, what longing
Que eu tenho de ter saudade
To long for longing itself
Saudades de ter alguém
Longing to have someone
Que aqui está e não existe
Who is here, yet does not exist
Sentir-me triste
To feel sad
Só por me sentir tão bem
Just because I feel so good
E alegre sentir-me bem
And to feel happy when I'm feeling good
Só por eu andar tão triste
Just because I walk so sad
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: PEDRO DA SILVA MARTINS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind