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 Fui Eu
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
A luz da vela que o reduz
Á sombra triste na parede entrecortada
Dos lábios solta-se indulgente
A pressa inútil do não crente
Entre palavras que por si não dizem nada
Não deixei a porta aberta
Não fui eu, Não fui eu
Ficou-me a casa deserta
Ah como fugidiu rumor
De passos que no corredor
Induzem na minha alma a dor da esperança vã
Sinais do tempo a humedecer
A voz que teima em enroquecer
E o corpo dorido pela noite no divã
Não fui eu...
Como esta febre me destroí
Perdido amor quanto me doi
Desceste em mil cruel manto de tristeza
Em cada noite morre o amor
Que a solidão faz-se maior
Mal amanhece e volta o medo que anoiteça
Não fui eu..
The lyrics of Ana Moura's song "Não Fui Eu" evokes a story of feeling trapped and alone. The opening lines "O Cristo inerte preso à cruz/A luz da vela que o reduz/Á sombra triste na parede entrecortada" vividly describe the image of a lifeless Christ on the cross, lit only by a flickering candle, casting a sad shadow on the wall. The following lines describe the singer's hopeless plea for forgiveness and understanding, as they utter the words "Não fui eu" (It wasn't me), denying any wrongdoing, but also admitting to their isolation and emptiness. The lyric "Ficou-me a casa deserta" (My house is deserted) further emphasizes the loneliness and abandonment the singer feels.
The next verse introduces sounds that disturb the singer's solitude. The "rumor" (sound) of "passos" (footsteps) in the hallway fills them with the "dor" (pain) of "esperança vã" (empty hope). We then hear of the "sinais do tempo a humedecer" (the signs of time dampening) the singer's voice, "que teima em enroquecer" (which insists on becoming hoarse), and their "corpo dorido" (aching body) from a sleepless night. The chorus repeats, and the final verse describes the singer's anguish over a lost love, as they repeat the phrase "Não fui eu" in desperation, as if trying to convince themselves of their innocence. The final line "Mal amanhece e volta o medo que anoiteça" (Hardly dawn and fear returns that nightfall) once again highlights the feeling of futility and hopelessness in the singer's life.
Line by Line Meaning
O Cristo inerte preso à cruz
The motionless Christ on the cross
A luz da vela que o reduz
The candlelight diminishing it
Á sombra triste na parede entrecortada
The sad shadows on the interrupted wall
Dos lábios solta-se indulgente
Indulgent words escaping the lips
A pressa inútil do não crente
The useless haste of the unbeliever
Entre palavras que por si não dizem nada
Between words that mean nothing
Não fui eu, Não fui eu
It wasn't me, it wasn't me
Não deixei a porta aberta
I didn't leave the door open
Ficou-me a casa deserta
The house stayed empty to me
Ah como fugidiu rumor
Oh, how the noise fled away
De passos que no corredor
From footsteps in the hallway
Induzem na minha alma a dor da esperança vã
Inducing pain in my soul from vain hope
Sinais do tempo a humedecer
Signs of time dampening
A voz que teima em enroquecer
The voice refusing to get better
E o corpo dorido pela noite no divã
And the body sore from the night on the couch
Como esta febre me destroí
How this fever destroys me
Perdido amor quanto me doi
Lost love, how much it hurts me
Desceste em mil cruel manto de tristeza
You descended into a thousand cruel cloaks of sadness
Em cada noite morre o amor
Every night, love dies
Que a solidão faz-se maior
Loneliness becomes greater
Mal amanhece e volta o medo que anoiteça
Hardly dawn breaks and the fear of nightfall returns
Não fui eu..
It wasn't me...
Contributed by Sydney I. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Américo Pereira
+fuyu ferguson It was not me
Lyrics and music by Jorge Fernando
author of the Repertoire
The inert Christ on the cross arrested
The candlelight that reduces
The sad shadow on the broken wall;
Of loose up lips indulgently
The useless prayer of the unbeliever
Between words by themselves do not say anything
Not me, not me
Do not let the door open
Not me, not me
He got me the deserted house
There are like a fleeting rumor
Steps in the hallway
Induce in my soul the pain of vain hope
Signs of time to moisten
The voice that insists on hoarse
And the body sore the night on the couch
As this disease destroys me
Lost love, how much it hurts me
It came down on me cruel sadness cloak
In each hill night, love
That loneliness makes me most
Mal dawns and back fear nightfall
Jorge Rodrigues
Como é possível haver 7 pessoas a não gostarem desta maravilha????
asalux
Que lindo. Nunca tinha ouvido Ana Moura. Doce vóz. Daqui para frente, do Brasil, te ouco todos os dias.
Rita6ouveia
É a Grande Senhora do Fado e está tudo dito! :-)
Stefan Nedelchev
A beautiful song of Jorge Fernando! Ana Moura is great!! What a emotional performance! Brava!! Greetings from Bulgaria!
Thiago Becheleni
A perfeição de um poema cantado! Simplesmente magnífico!
Américo Pereira
Muito bonito todo o Vídeo. Voz espectacular a de Ana Moura. Parabens
Fama PT
Esta canção faz-me chorar. Adoro a Ana Moura.
Américo Pereira
Que coisa bonita. Gostei iemnso, aliás a Ana Moura é a Fadista mais encantadora que temos, além dessa voz única e linda.Meu filho adora a Ana Moura, qualquer dia ainda dá alguma sarabanda ao rapaz, com tanta paixão. Um beijinho a Todos.Bateflay
RUI COSTA
voz grande voz portuguesa fado lindo feito de cultura e beleza
tararara252
cudowna,wspaniała,nastrojowa!!!miałam przyjemność być na koncercie...nie do opisania