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)

Despiu A Saudade
Ana Moura Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Despiu a saudade depois do jantar
Num prato já frio de tanto esperar
Aquele que bebe nos tascos da vida
Rodadas de amantes de tara perdida
E chega tão cheio de nada pra dar

Aquele que bebe nos tascos da vida
Rodadas de amantes de tara perdida

E chega tão cheio de nada pra dar

Sacudiu o pó desse amor primeiro
Num canto guardado do seu coração
Aquele retrato parado no tempo
Que morde por fora, magoa por dentro
Num corpo vazio de tanta ilusão

Aquele retrato parado no tempo
Que morde por fora, magoa por dentro
Num corpo vazio de tanta ilusão

Mas de repente como um sol depois da chuva
Surgiu a noite transformada em alvorada
Vai pra o espelho, faz-se bonita
Lábios vermelhos, corpo de chita
Vestido na pressa de quem sai já atrasada
Brilho nos olhos, ar de menina
Livre e rainha, de tresloucada
Saltou pra lua, na minha rua na madrugada

Trago o coração à flor da boca
E a sina escrita na palma da mão
Foram tantos anos sem imaginar
O dia sonhado da noite mais louca
Nas ruas da vida com ela a dançar

Foram tantos anos sem imaginar
O dia sonhado da noite mais louca
Nas ruas da vida com ela a dançar

Despiu a saudade
Sacudiu o pó

Overall Meaning

The song Despiu A Saudade by Ana Moura tells the story of a person who is finally able to let go of their past and move on to a new beginning. In the lyrics, the person has just finished dinner and is finally able to confront the longing (saudade) they have been feeling for a long time. They have been waiting for this moment for so long that the food on their plate has gone cold. The person depicted here is a habitual drinker who spends time in dive bars, drinking and engaging with lovers of questionable morals. Despite this, they have very little to offer anyone.

The person then decides to confront their past and take out the old picture that has been stored away in a hidden corner of their heart. This old picture is of a love that has long since passed, but that still pricks at the heart from the outside and hurts from the inside. However, something suddenly changes, and the night is transformed into dawn. The person gets dressed up and goes out, feeling like a free and liberated queen. They dance in the streets with a newfound youthful energy, finally able to leave behind their old struggles and start anew.

Overall, the lyrics of the song provide a powerful message of hope, liberation, and self-discovery. It provides an optimistic view on what it means to move on from the past and embrace a new beginning.

Line by Line Meaning

Despiu a saudade depois do jantar
After dinner, she removed the longing that had been waiting so long on a cold plate

Num prato já frio de tanto esperar
On a plate that had become cold from waiting so long

Aquele que bebe nos tascos da vida
Those who drink in life's cheap bars and taverns

Rodadas de amantes de tara perdida
Rounds of lovers with lost desires

E chega tão cheio de nada pra dar
And arrive so full of nothing to give

Sacudiu o pó desse amor primeiro
She shook off the dust of that first love

Num canto guardado do seu coração
In a corner of her heart that had been saved

Aquele retrato parado no tempo
That picture frozen in time

Que morde por fora, magoa por dentro
That hurts on the surface and aches within

Num corpo vazio de tanta ilusão
In a body empty from so many illusions

Mas de repente como um sol depois da chuva
But suddenly, like the sun after the rain