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)

Fado de Pessoa
Ana Moura Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Um fado pessoano
Num bairro de Lisboa
Um poema lusitano
No dizer de Camões
Uma gaivota em terra
Um sujeito predicado
Um porto esquecido
Um barco ancorado

Leva-as o vento
Meras palavras
Guarda no peito
A ingenuidade
Figura de estilo
Tua voz na proa
De um verso já gasto
No olhar de Pessoa
Uma frase perfeita
E um beijo prolongado
Uma porta aberta
Traz odor a pecado
Uma guitarra com garra
Ouvida entre os umbrais
Numa cidade garrida com vista para o cais
Leva-as o vento
Meras palavras
Guarda no peito
A ingenuidade
Figura de estilo
Tua voz na proa
De um verso já gasto

No olhar de Pessoa
Leva-as o vento...

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Ana Moura's song "Fado de Pessoa" are a tribute to the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, who is considered an important literary figure not only in Portugal but also throughout the world. The song starts with the description of a typical Lisbon neighborhood where fado, a traditional Portuguese music genre, was born. The lyrics then make reference to Pessoa's poetry, describing it as a "poema lusitano" (Lusitanian poem), a term that emphasizes its national symbolism. The metaphor of a seagull on land and a man as a subject and a predicate, along with the forgotten harbor and anchored boat, depict the melancholic feeling that pervades Pessoa's work.

The chorus of the song, "Leva-as o vento, meras palavras, guarda no peito a ingenuidade, figura de estilo, tua voz na proa de um verso já gasto no olhar de Pessoa", can be interpreted as a reflection on the transience of human life and the powerlessness of language to capture the essence of our existence. Despite this, the lyrics suggest that Pessoa's voice, embodied in his poetry, endures and that it is capable of conveying a perfect phrase, as well as a prolonged kiss, and leading us to a door that smells of sin. The image of a guitar with garra (claw), heard from the doorways of a vibrant city with a view of the docks, reinforces the idea of the emotional intensity of fado and its connection to the urban landscape of Lisbon.

Overall, "Fado de Pessoa" is a beautifully crafted song that pays homage to a literary giant through the lens of a melancholic and romantic musical genre that captures the essence of Portuguese culture and identity.

Line by Line Meaning

Um fado pessoano
A personal fado

Num bairro de Lisboa
In a neighborhood of Lisbon

Um poema lusitano
A Portuguese poem

No dizer de Camões
In the words of Camões

Uma gaivota em terra
A seagull on land

Um sujeito predicado
A subject and predicate

Um porto esquecido
A forgotten port

Um barco ancorado
An anchored boat

Leva-as o vento
Carried away by the wind

Meras palavras
Mere words

Guarda no peito
Keeps in the heart