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 Vestido De Fado
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Se é ciúme, se é pecado,
Que serás tu, meu amor,
Todo vestido de fado
Talvez sejas o quebranto
Meu pranto, em horas tardias,
Rosário de avé-marias
Pois fico neste entretanto,
Dum acorde desenhado,
Porque te chamo num fado,
Te canto com tal fervor,
Se fado é tristeza e dor
Se é ciúme se é pecado
Os meus sentidos dispersos,
Não me conseguem dizer
Razões da minh'alma ser
Refúgio de tantos versos
Mistério dos universos
Pra onde foi atirado
Este desejo, rogado
Na minha voz em clamor,
Que serás tu, meu amor,
Todo vestido de fado
Jeśli los to ból i smutek
Gdy jest zazdrość to jest grzech
Jeśli będzie miłość ma
W fado ubrana cała
Być może jesteś złamane
Mym płaczem w późnych godzinach
Różańcem, Zdrowaś Maryja
Modlę się, kiedy masz śpiewać
A gdy tymczasem zostaje
Akordem zarysowane
Czemu się losem nazywa
Z takim zapałem śpiewane
Jeśli los to ból i smutek
Gdy jest zazdrość to jest grzech
Zmysły moje rozproszone
I nie zdołam ich wyrazić
Rozsądek jest w duszy mojej
Schronem z wieloma wersami
Jest tajemnicą wszechświatów
W jakim miejscu porzucane
To pragnienie ubłagane
W głosie moim wypłakane
Jaka będzie, miłość moja
W fado ubrana cała
In Ana Moura's song "Fado Vestido De Fado," the singer ponders the true nature of the Fado music that she sings. Fado is traditionally known as a style of music that expresses the pain and suffering of the Portuguese people. In the lyrics, Moura asks what her love will become when clothed in this music of sorrow and despair. She muses that perhaps her love will become a source of misery and despair for her, a broken-hearted affliction that she must bear. However, she also suggests that her love might be the rosary prayer she turns to when she is lost in grief, a comfort in the midst of the pain.
The lyrics take on a more introspective and philosophical tone in the second stanza, where the singer reflects on the mysteries of the universe that she is unable to articulate. She describes her soul as a refuge for countless verses, a place where the words and melodies of Fado take root and grow. She wonders where these desires come from, and why they are so powerful in the Fado tradition. In the end, the song leaves the listener with a sense of enigma and wonder, a sense of the grandeur and beauty of the music which has become so intimately tied to the Portuguese people themselves.
Line by Line Meaning
Se fado é miséria e dor
If fado is poverty and pain
Se é ciúme, se é pecado
If it is jealousy, if it is sin
Que serás tu, meu amor,
What will you be, my love,
Todo vestido de fado
All dressed in fado
Talvez sejas o quebranto
Maybe you're the heartbreak
Meu pranto, em horas tardias,
My tears, in the late hours,
Rosário de avé-marias
Rosary of Hail Marys
Que rezo quanto te canto
That I pray as I sing to you
Pois fico neste entretanto,
For I remain in the meantime
Dum acorde desenhado,
With a chord outlined,
Porque te chamo num fado,
Because I call to you in fado,
Te canto com tal fervor,
I sing to you with such fervor,
Se fado é tristeza e dor
If fado is sadness and pain
Se é ciúme se é pecado
If it is jealousy, if it is sin
Os meus sentidos dispersos,
My senses dispersed,
Não me conseguem dizer
Cannot tell me
Razões da minh'alma ser
Reasons for my soul to be
Refúgio de tantos versos
A refuge of so many verses
Mistério dos universos
Mystery of the universes
Pra onde foi atirado
Where it was thrown
Este desejo, rogado
This desire, begged
Na minha voz em clamor,
In my voice, in clamor,
Que serás tu, meu amor,
What will you be, my love,
Todo vestido de fado
All dressed in fado
Jeśli los to ból i smutek
If fate is pain and sadness
Gdy jest zazdrość to jest grzech
If there is jealousy, it is a sin
Jeśli będzie miłość ma
If my love is dressed in fado
W fado ubrana cała
Fully dressed in fado
Być może jesteś złamane
Maybe you are broken
Mym płaczem w późnych godzinach
My tears in the late hours
Różańcem, Zdrowaś Maryja
With a rosary, Hail Mary
Modlę się, kiedy masz śpiewać
I pray when you're singing
A gdy tymczasem zostaje
And in the meantime,
Akordem zarysowane
Outlined by a chord,
Czemu się losem nazywa
Why it is called fate
Z takim zapałem śpiewane
Sung with such enthusiasm,
Zmysły moje rozproszone
My senses scattered
I nie zdołam ich wyrazić
And I cannot express them
Rozsądek jest w duszy mojej
Reason is in my soul
Schronem z wieloma wersami
A refuge with many verses
Jest tajemnicą wszechświatów
It's a mystery of the universes
W jakim miejscu porzucane
In what place abandoned
To pragnienie ubłagane
This begged-for desire
W głosie moim wypłakane
In my weeping voice
Jaka będzie, miłość moja
What will you be, my love,
W fado ubrana cała
Fully dressed in fado
Contributed by Gabriel M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Wim Har
Fado vestido de fado
Ana Moura
Se fado é miséria e dor
Se é ciúme, se é pecado,
Que serás tu, meu amor,
Todo vestido de fado
Talvez sejas o quebranto
Meu pranto, em horas tardias,
Rosário de avé-marias
Que rezo quanto te canto
Pois fico neste entretanto,
Dum acorde desenhado,
Porque te chamo num fado,
Te canto com tal fervor,
Se fado é tristeza e dor
Se é ciúme se é pecado
Os meus sentidos dispersos,
Não me conseguem dizer
Razões da minh'alma ser
Refúgio de tantos versos
Mistério dos universos
Pra onde foi atirado
Este desejo, rogado
Na minha voz em clamor,
Que serás tu, meu amor,
Todo vestido de fado
Cecília Grabulho
Obrigada Rita! A Ana é de facto espectacular!!! O melhor!!! 🤗🤗🤗😗😗😗
domingos mário raposo bragança bragança
Gosto muito do fado. Ana Moura é para mim, a melhor cantora de fados nestes últimos dez anos.
Jorge Marrero
El fado es "saudade" el alma del pueblo portugués, que bella interpretación:
guilherme caetano
Tem uma voz encantadora não me canso de ouvir os seus fados.
Cecília Grabulho
É espectacular! A maior! Lindooo 😥🤗🤗🤗
Ferdinand Mensch
"Os meus sentidos dispersos não me conseguem dizer razões da minh'alma ser refúgio de tantos versos."
filomena pinto
Isto sim, é fado na mais pura essência. Adoro Ana Moura, a melhor fadista desta época.
Júlio Ramalho
Deus, deu-te uma voz que encantas toda agente.
Amândio Amaral
grande Ana lindo fado corrido obrigado.
cruz urbano
cada vez que te oiço fico feliz. Venho aos meus tempos de rapaz.Volto à minha juventude. E amor? é certamente reconhecimento a tua voz linda. Obrigado. Cada vez te oiço fico feliz. Volto aos meus anos de rapaz! C'est amor? é certamente reconhecimento da tua voz linda -que me estremece. Obrigada