Portuguese vocalist Ana Moura, whose soulful and riveting interpretation of… Read Full Bio ↴Portuguese vocalist Ana Moura, whose soulful and riveting interpretation of her land's captivating fado style has made her a star in Europe.

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)

Crítica Da Razão Pura
Ana Moura Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Porque quiseste dar nome
Ao gesto que não se diz
Ao jeito de ser feliz
Porque quiseste dar nome?

De que te vale saber
De que é feita uma paixão
As estradas de um coração

De que te vale saber?

Porque quiseste pensar
Aquilo que apenas se sente
O que a alma luz e gente
Porque quiseste pensar?

Diz onde está a razão?
Daquilo que não tem juízo
Que junta o choro e o riso
Diz onde está a razão

Porque quiseste entender
O fogo que fomos nós?

Meu amor, se estamos sós
Foi porque quiseste entender

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Ana Moura's song "Crítica Da Razão Pura" explore the desire to understand and categorize emotions and experiences that are often difficult to put into words. The opening lines question why we try to name something that cannot be expressed through language, asking why we try to define the elusive feeling of happiness. The second stanza questions the usefulness of knowing how to categorize and analyze a passion or emotion, and wonders where reason can be found in the midst of irrational human experiences. The third stanza asks why we try to rationalize and understand something that can only be truly felt and observed within ourselves. The final stanza speaks to the loneliness that can come from trying to understand something that may be beyond our comprehension, and suggests that perhaps it is better to simply experience these emotions without trying to analyze or explain them.

Overall, the lyrics to "Crítica Da Razão Pura" seem to suggest that there are some experiences that should be accepted and experienced without the need for analysis or explanation. Moura's haunting vocals and the melancholy guitar melodies add to the song's contemplative and introspective atmosphere.

Line by Line Meaning

Porque quiseste dar nome
Why did you want to name something that can't be said, the way to be happy?

Ao gesto que não se diz
To something that is not verbalized

Ao jeito de ser feliz
To the way to be happy

De que te vale saber
What good is it to know

De que é feita uma paixão
What a passion is made of

As estradas de um coração
The paths of a heart

Porque quiseste pensar
Why did you want to think

Aquilo que apenas se sente
About something that is only felt

O que a alma luz e gente
What the soul illuminates and ignites

Diz onde está a razão?
Tell me where's the reason?

Daquilo que não tem juízo
About something that has no reasoning