Since her breakthrough, Mercury has become one of the best known Brazilian female singers, selling over 20 million albums worldwide. Daniela has a degree in dance from the Federal University of Bahia, having started her studies in this art since she was four years old, later becoming a teacher of jazz, modern and classical ballet, besides having specialized and performed in other genres, such as Afro Dance and contemporary dance. She began singing professionally at the age of fifteen, the same age at which she rode a trio elétrico for the first time, integrating her career as singer and dancer.
She released her eponymous album in 1991, followed by O Canto da Cidade in the following year, leveraging her career as a national artist and bringing the axé music genre to the forefront. Over the years, she released several albums, generating great hits like "Swing da Cor", "O Canto da Cidade", "À Primeira Vista", "Rapunzel", "Nobre Vagabundo", "Ilê Pérola Negra (O Canto do Negro)", "Mutante", "Maimbê Dandá", "Levada Brasileira", "Oyá Por Nós", among others. She recorded a DVD commemorating 25 years of Cirque du Soleil and was part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. In addition, she participated in Alejandro Sanz's album and sang with Paul McCartney in Norway during the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony. Winner of a Latin Grammy for her album Balé Mulato - Ao Vivo, she also received six Brazilian Music Awards, an APCA award, three Multishow awards, and two VMB awards, for best music video and photography. On television she was a judge and mentor for the talent shows Popstars, Superstar, and The Voice Kids Portugal.
In 2013, Daniela released in partnership with her wife Malu Verçosa, whom she married in Portugal the same year, her first book, Daniela e Malu: Uma História de Amor.
Attentive to the Brazilian social reality and with a great desire to contribute to the preservation of our cultural matrices, Daniela created her Institute "Sol da Liberdade" in 2008. Today, in partnership with UNICEF and ESPN Brasil, the ISL carries out the Caravana da Música project. The Caravana da Música is an itinerant project that has been touring Brazil since 2007, visiting one city every month. The cities to be visited are indicated by UNICEF, according to the HDI (Human Development Index) and the IDI (Child Development Index). In each of the cities visited, the "Music Caravan" sets up a large infrastructure where it offers 3,000 children an unprecedented experience with dance, music, theater, instrument building, circus art, and several other artistic experiences. In addition to the children, the Music Caravan also offers training in Art Education for 250 public school teachers from each of the visited cities. The Music Caravan has already directly assisted more than 50 thousand children and 30 thousand teachers. Considering that each public school teacher trained by the Caravan becomes an Art Education multiplier, it is estimated that the Music Caravan has already indirectly reached more than half a million Brazilians. All the activities of the Music Caravan in the countryside of Brazil are recorded by the ESPN Brazil team, which broadcasts a monthly documentary about the project's activities. The documentary is shown in Brazil and in 157 other countries.
Besides presiding the Instituto Sol da Liberdade, Daniela is also UNICEF's National Goodwill Ambassador, a title she received in 1995, when she became the second Brazilian personality to receive such honor. She has also participated in several benefit shows in favor of children, among them the UNICEF/ Rede Globo's Criança Esperança and the AACD/SBT's Teleton. Part of the rights to her 1998 album Elétrica were donated to UNICEF. She is also an ambassador for the Ayrton Senna Institute. Daniela has also participated in other charitable projects, not directly linked to children. On October 7, 2003, she took part in the show Solidariedade Brasil-Noruega in favor of Fome Zero at the National Theater, in Brasilia. She is also connected to the NGO América Latina em Ação Solidária (ALAS), having participated in September 2007 in an advertising campaign promoting aid to the earthquake victims in Peru. In 2013 she was invited to participate in the UN global campaign, Free & Equal, along with Ricky Martin and other international artists.
O Canto Da Cidade
Daniela Mercury Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
O canto dessa cidade é meu
A cor dessa cidade sou eu
O canto dessa cidade é meu
O gueto, a rua, a fé
Eu vou andando a pé pela cidade bonita
O toque do afroxé e a força de onde vem
Ninguém explica (ela é bonita)
O gueto, a rua, a fé
Eu vou andando a pé pela cidade bonita
O toque do afroxé e a força de onde vem
Ninguém explica, ela é bonita
Uô ô verdadeiro amor
Uô ô você vai onde eu vou
Uô ô verdadeiro amor
Uô ô você vai onde eu vou
Não diga que não me quer
Não diga que não quer mais
Eu sou o silêncio da noite
O sol da manhã
Mil voltas o mundo tem
Mas tem um ponto final
Eu sou o primeiro que canta
Eu sou o carnaval
A cor dessa cidade sou eu
O canto dessa cidade é meu
A cor dessa cidade sou eu
O canto dessa cidade é meu
In "O Canto Da Cidade," Daniela Mercury sings about her personal connection to the vibrant and diverse city of Salvador in Brazil. Throughout the song, Mercury emphasizes her role as a part of the city's culture and environment, describing herself as its color and its sound. She celebrates the beauty and power of the city, with its mix of different people, neighborhoods, and traditions, represented by the gueto, or ghetto, and the various street cultures that make up Salvador's character.
As Mercury walks through the city on foot, she feels the beat of the afroxé, a type of Brazilian music that blends African rhythms and Brazilian percussion. She also senses the different sources of strength that make the city what it is, and acknowledges that this magic cannot be fully explained. She claims that the love she has for the city is true and everlasting, and that whoever follows her will find that love as well.
Through these lyrics, Daniela Mercury expresses her deep connection and pride for her birthplace, and honors the rich cultural heritage of Salvador from which she draws her inspiration. The song's catchy chorus and upbeat tempo have made it a popular anthem not only in Brazil, but around the world.
Line by Line Meaning
A cor dessa cidade sou eu
I am the embodiment of the colors of this city
O canto dessa cidade é meu
The song of this city belongs to me
O gueto, a rua, a fé
I walk through the ghetto, street and faith
Eu vou andando a pé pela cidade bonita
I walk on foot through this beautiful city
O toque do afroxé e a força de onde vem
The beat of the Afro-Brazilian music and its powerful roots
Ninguém explica (ela é bonita)
No one can explain (it's just beautiful)
Uô ô verdadeiro amor
Oh, oh true love
Uô ô você vai onde eu vou
Oh, oh you go where I go
Não diga que não me quer
Don't say you don't want me
Não diga que não quer mais
Don't say you don't want it anymore
Eu sou o silêncio da noite
I am the silence of the night
O sol da manhã
The morning sun
Mil voltas o mundo tem
The world has thousand places to go
Mas tem um ponto final
But there is an end point
Eu sou o primeiro que canta
I am the first to sing
Eu sou o carnaval
I am the Carnival
A cor dessa cidade sou eu
I am the embodiment of the colors of this city
O canto dessa cidade é meu
The song of this city belongs to me
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: Daniela Mercuri De Almeida, Antonio Jorge Souza Dos Santos
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind