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)
Não é um fado normal
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A estoirar pelas costuras
Nem sei se estou em Lisboa
Será que é Tóquio ou Berlin?
Tu não me olhes assim!
Porque o teu olhar tem ópio
Tem quebras nos equinócios
Pitadas de gergelim
Mas se isto é fado
Ponho o gergelim de lado
Vou buscar o alecrim
E tu sempre a olhar p'ra mim;
Como se alecrim aos molhos
Atraíssem os meus olhos
Não tenho nada com isso
Alguém que quebre este enguiço
Que eu não respondo por mim
E já estou, quase a trocar o mal pelo bem e o bem pelo mal
Se isto é fado, não é um fado normal
A trocar, o mal pelo bem e o bem pelo mal
Vou por lugares nunca dantes visitados
E há que ter alguns cuidados
Porque bússola não há
E baralham-se os sentidos
Se andamos ao Deus-dará
Sem sentinelas nos olhos
Vou confiar no ouvido
E nada vai estar perdido
Mas se isto é fado
Vou entristecer o quadro
P'ra tom de cinza acordado
Que eu não quero exagerar;
No meio do nevoeiro
Teimo em ver o teu olhar
Que sei não ser derradeiro
Alguma coisa se solta
Que talvez não tenha volta
In Ana Moura's song "Não é um fado normal," the singer addresses someone who is looking at her in a reserved way, with a gaze that is intoxicating and full of mystery. The singer wonders if they are still in Lisbon, or if they have been transported away to Tokyo or Berlin. But the person continues to look at her in this way, and the singer feels helpless and trapped in their gaze. The singer declares that if this is what fado is, she will put aside the sesame and search for rosemary instead, trying to find a way out of this spell. As the song progresses, the singer acknowledges that she is on the verge of swapping good for bad and bad for good, but ultimately decides that this is not a normal fado. She is exploring new places, and though she is disoriented and lacks a clear direction, she is still clinging to something that feels indestructible.
The lyrics in "Não é um fado normal" speak to the idea that fado is not just a musical genre, but a way of representing emotions and experiences in a specific Portuguese context. The singer is aware of the traditional tropes of the fado genre—the melancholy, the nostalgia for a lost time, the emotional turmoil—but is also pushing against those tropes, trying to find something new and exciting amidst the pain. The use of the rosemary plant as a symbol for this search for something beyond the traditional fado tropes is particularly poignant. Rosemary is associated with memory and remembrance, but also with healing, and this suggests that the singer is looking for a way to break out of her current emotional state and find a new way forward.
Line by Line Meaning
Olhas p'ra mim com esse ar reservado
You look at me with that reserved air
A estoirar pelas costuras
About to burst at the seams
Nem sei se estou em Lisboa
I don't even know if I'm in Lisbon
Será que é Tóquio ou Berlin?
Could it be Tokyo or Berlin?
Tu não me olhes assim!
Don't look at me like that!
Porque o teu olhar tem ópio
Because your gaze has opium
Tem quebras nos equinócios
It has breaks during the equinoxes
Pitadas de gergelim
Touches of sesame
Mas se isto é fado
But if this is fate
Ponho o gergelim de lado
I'll put the sesame aside
Vou buscar o alecrim
I'll go get some rosemary
E tu sempre a olhar p'ra mim;
And you always looking at me;
Como se alecrim aos molhos
As if bunches of rosemary
Atraíssem os meus olhos
Could attract my eyes
Não tenho nada com isso
I have nothing to do with it
Alguém que quebre este enguiço
Someone break this spell
Que eu não respondo por mim
Because I'm not responsible for myself
E já estou, quase a trocar o mal pelo bem e o bem pelo mal
And I'm already close to trading bad for good and good for bad
Se isto é fado, não é um fado normal
If this is fate, it's not a normal fate
A trocar, o mal pelo bem e o bem pelo mal
Trading bad for good and good for bad
Vou por lugares nunca dantes visitados
I'll go to places I've never visited before
E há que ter alguns cuidados
And I need to be careful
Porque bússola não há
Because there's no compass
E baralham-se os sentidos
And the senses get confused
Se andamos ao Deus-dará
If we're walking blindly
Sem sentinelas nos olhos
Without sentries in our eyes
Vou confiar no ouvido
I'll trust my ears
E nada vai estar perdido
And nothing will be lost
Mas se isto é fado
But if this is fate
Vou entristecer o quadro
I'll darken the picture
P'ra tom de cinza acordado
For a woken grey tone
Que eu não quero exagerar;
I don't want to exaggerate;
No meio do nevoeiro
In the middle of the fog
Teimo em ver o teu olhar
I insist on seeing your gaze
Que sei não ser derradeiro
That I know won't be the last
Alguma coisa se solta
Something's coming loose
Que talvez não tenha volta
Maybe it can't be undone
Contributed by Zoe V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Irish Field
Bautiful ever Ana amazing ever adore this ever thank you Bello