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)
Fado Das Mágoas
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
No plano da minh'alma já não moram
Se as águas se evaporam, não são águas
São etéreas lembranças do que foram
O canto que então frágil não contive
Do cimo dos meus olhos se lançou
Que de tanto chorar não mais o tive
Não deitei fora as dores, mas hoje trago-as
À beira do meu ser de ti deserto
O que vês nos meus olhos não são mágoas
São penas dum amor que não deu certo
In Ana Moura's song "Fado Das Mágoas", the singer says that her sorrows do not hurt her anymore, as they no longer reside in the realm of her soul. She compares her sorrows to water, which evaporates and becomes ethereal memories of what they were. She then explains that the fragile singing she could not contain came out of the top of her eyes. She cried so much that she no longer has any tears left. While she did not get rid of her pains, she carries them near her being, deserted by the one she loved. In her eyes, one does not see her sorrows, but rather the feathers of a love story that went wrong.
The song speaks to the idea of moving beyond one's pain and the natural fading of hurt over time. The imagery of water and evaporation is a powerful and elegant way to communicate this idea. The line, "que de tanto chorar não mais o tive" ("I cried so much that I no longer have any tears left") is particularly poignant and embodies the feeling of being completely spent, both physically and emotionally. The ending line, which translates to "They are the feathers of a love that did not work out" is a powerful way to encapsulate the theme of the song and encapsulate the essence of Fado music.
Line by Line Meaning
As mágoas não me doem, não são mágoas
I no longer feel pain from my sorrows, they are no longer sorrows.
No plano da minh'alma já não moram
They no longer reside in my soul.
Se as águas se evaporam, não são águas
If water evaporates, it is no longer water.
São etéreas lembranças do que foram
They are ethereal memories of what they once were.
O canto que então frágil não contive
The fragile song that I could not contain at the time.
Do cimo dos meus olhos se lançou
It burst forth from the top of my eyes.
Que de tanto chorar não mais o tive
I cried so much that I could not cry anymore.
Nem a última das lágrimas me ficou
I had no last tears left.
Não deitei fora as dores, mas hoje trago-as
I did not discard the pain, but today I carry it.
À beira do meu ser de ti deserto
I am at the edge of my being, desert-like without you.
O que vês nos meus olhos não são mágoas
What you see in my eyes is not sorrow.
São penas dum amor que não deu certo
They are the feathers of a love that did not work out.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Written by: Jose Miguel David, Jorge Fernando
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Desativado Desativado
Letra !!! Cadê a letra?
Ana Esmeralda Fadista
Aqui vai a letra:
Fado das mágoas
Letra de Jorge Fernando / Música: José Manuel David
As mágoas não me doem, não são mágoas
No plano da minh’alma já não moram
Se as águas se evaporam, não são águas
São etéreas lembranças do que foram
O canto que então frágil não contive
Do cimo dos meu olhos se lançou
Que de tanto chorar não mais o tive
Nem a última das lágrimas me ficou
Não deitei fora as dores, mas hoje trago-as
À beira do meu ser de ti deserto
O que vês nos meus olhos não são mágoas
São penas dum amor que não deu certo
Ana Esmeralda Fadista
Nem os autores do Fado põem quanto mais a letra!😀