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)
Guitarra
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Abres-me o peito com chave de dor
Guitarra emudece
O som que me entristece
Vertendo sobre mim a nostalgia
Ò guitarra, guitarra, vais ter dó
Não rasgues o silêncio ao veres-me só
Guitarra o teu gemer
Como o vento a afagar a noite fria
Guitarra emudece, o som que me entristece
Pois se te ouço chorar, eu também choro
Maior do que a madeira em que te talham
Guitarra é o teu mundo onde moro
Ò guitarra guitarra, por favor
Abres-me o peito com chave de dor
Ò guitarra guitarra fica muda
Sem ti, talvez minh'alma inda se iluda
Vais ter que responder
Se em mim tudo morrer
Ao peso desta enorme nostalgia
In “Guitarra,” Ana Moura sings about the emotional power of this particular musical instrument. The lyrics explain how the guitar can unlock and open up the heart of the listener with its key of pain. The singer pleads with the guitar to stop emitting the sound that brings them sadness, urging it to silence instead because the sound increases their own pain. As the guitar cries, the singer cries too, overwhelmed by the nostalgia that it stirs up.
The song is a beautiful tribute to the guitar and the emotions it can evoke. The singer's plea for it to stop making sound speaks volumes to the idea of the guitar's power: it can not only unlock memories and emotions, but it can also lock them away. It's as if the singer is asking the guitar to spare them the pain and heartache that comes with the memories that it unlocks.
Overall, “Guitarra” is a powerful meditation on the power of music to move us, to evoke memories, and to stir strong emotions. The guitar, in particular, is given an almost sacred role in this song as an instrument that unlocks and reveals the truth of our emotions.
Line by Line Meaning
Ó guitarra guitarra , por favor
Oh guitar guitar, I implore you
Abres-me o peito com chave de dor
You open my chest with a key of pain
Guitarra emudece
Guitar falls silent
O som que me entristece
The sound that saddens me
Vertendo sobre mim a nostalgia
Pouring nostalgia over me
Ò guitarra, guitarra, vais ter dó
Oh guitar, guitar, you will show mercy
Não rasgues o silêncio ao veres-me só
Do not break the silence when you see me alone
Guitarra o teu gemer
Guitar, your moaning
Mais dor me vem fazer
Causes me more pain
Como o vento a afagar a noite fria
Like the wind caressing the cold night
Pois se te ouço chorar, eu também choro
For if I hear you cry, I cry too
Maior do que a madeira em que te talham
Greater than the wood in which you were carved
Guitarra é o teu mundo onde moro
Guitar, your world where I reside
Ò guitarra guitarra fica muda
Oh guitar, guitar, stay silent
Sem ti, talvez minh'alma inda se iluda
Without you, maybe my soul would still be deceived
Vais ter que responder
You will have to answer
Se em mim tudo morrer
If everything in me dies
Ao peso desta enorme nostalgia
Under the weight of this immense nostalgia
Contributed by Lincoln S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
MySoulWG
Sou brasileiro e tenho um grande amigo que é português, mas mora no Brasil. Ontem em sua casa, fui apresentado à voz de Ana Moura. Como tudo o que é bom, e principalmente a música que nos embala, fiquei impressionado com este talento que vem fazendo que este estilo tão belo, que é o Fado, não abandone este mundo. PARABÉNS e muito sucesso a você, Ana!
delmina amendoeira
Adoro
adolfo artemio morales jones
Con el paso del tiempo nos embelesa más con su voz y su belleza. Grande Ana Moura, no hay otra como ella.
Luis Lourenço
És grande, um verdadeiro espetaculo Ana Moura uma das vozes novas e muito valiosas do Fado, é bom não deixarem morrer este que ja foi considerado patrimonio Mundial da Humanidade VIVA O FADO
jazzforrum
Niedawno odkryłem pieśni FADO i zakochałem się nich. Są one zupełnie inne niż muzyka rockowa różnych odmian, w tym i polskiej odmiany. Ana Moura jest do do tego piękną kobietą co razem z muzyką przez nią wykonywaną tworzy idealną, piękną całość. Pozdrowienia z Polski dla twórcy klipu.
Lisete Larsen
Filipe Larsen arrepia qualquer um devido à sua genialidade no Baixo.
Fabio Neves
Sensacional.... A cantora, a música, as guitarras, enfim, o conjunto...
Jose Gabriel Silva
Fado the pride of Portuguese music, a unique genre with global dimension and acceptance
Romeu Barreto Almeida
Não conhecia esta interprete, maravilhosa!
Marcos saunier
Un placer escuchar y platicar con Ana Moura, saludos desde Saltillo México.