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)
Sou Filha Das Ervas
Ana Moura Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cheira-me a jasmim o resto que trago
Trago umas mezinhas para o coração
Feitas das ervinhas que apanhei no chão
Sou filha das ervas
Nelas me criei
Comendo as azedas todas que encontrei
Horas que passei
Sou filha das ervas e pouco mais sei
Rosa desfolhada, quem te desfolhou?
Foi a madrugada que por mim passou!
Foi a madrugada que passou vaidosa
Deixou desfolhada a bonita rosa
Ramo de salgueiro, terra aberta em flor
Amor verdadeiro é o meu amor
Papoila que grita no trigo doirado
Menina bonita, rainha do prado
In "Sou Filha Das Ervas," Ana Moura sings about being the daughter of the herbs (or weeds). She begins by describing the different herbs she carries - rosemary, sage, and "rest" she associates with the scent of jasmine. These herbs are not just plants to her, they hold a deeper meaning and purpose. She sings how she has collected these herbs to craft some medicine for her heart, a concoction made from these herbs she has gathered from the ground.
The chorus, "Sou filha das ervas / Nelas me criei / Comendo as azedas todas que encontrei / Atrás das formigas / Horas que passei / Sou filha das ervas e pouco mais sei," translates to "I am a daughter of the herbs, I was raised within them / Eating all the sour greens I could find / Spending hours chasing after ants / I am a daughter of the herbs and I know little else." Here, Moura is expressing her deep connection to nature, how she has been brought up by it, and how it has shaped her. She describes her childhood spent eating sour greens and chasing ants, living a simple life in nature, which has made her who she is today.
Moura continues to illustrate her connection to nature as she sings about a rose that has been stripped bare by the morning dew, a willow branch blooming within an open field, and a poppy that rules over the golden wheat. "Sou Filha Das Ervas" is a poetic and moving tribute to the power and beauty of nature and how it has molded and influenced Moura's life and identity.
Line by Line Meaning
Trago alecrim, trago saramago
I bring rosemary, I bring savory
Cheira-me a jasmim o resto que trago
The rest I bring smells like jasmine
Trago umas mezinhas para o coração
I bring some remedies for the heart
Feitas das ervinhas que apanhei no chão
Made of the little herbs I picked from the ground
Sou filha das ervas
I am the daughter of the herbs
Nelas me criei
I was raised amongst them
Comendo as azedas todas que encontrei
Eating all the sour herbs I found
Atrás das formigas
Chasing after ants
Horas que passei
Hours I spent
Sou filha das ervas e pouco mais sei
I am the daughter of the herbs and don't know much more
Rosa desfolhada, quem te desfolhou?
Rose, who took off your petals?
Foi a madrugada que por mim passou!
It was the dawn that passed by me!
Foi a madrugada que passou vaidosa
The dawn passed by vain
Deixou desfolhada a bonita rosa
Left the pretty rose desolate
Ramo de salgueiro, terra aberta em flor
Willow branch, land open in bloom
Amor verdadeiro é o meu amor
True love is my love
Papoila que grita no trigo doirado
Poppy that screams in the golden wheat
Menina bonita, rainha do prado
Pretty girl, queen of the meadow
Contributed by Adeline L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
armandoacgarcia
Ana Moura
Tu, tens o porte e a graça
Duma Fadista de raça
Um brilho que não se apaga
Numa voz, que nos afaga !
Conquistas milhares de fãs
Com teu porte de mulher,
Fadista por natureza
Que ama o Fado pra valer !
Se Amália foi a rainha
Tu, dela és a princesa,
Que um dia será rainha
Na sucessão da nobreza
Ana Moura, és a Fadista
Predestinada a tal fim,
Teu destino está na lista
O tempo dirá que sim.
Já li nos livros de história
Princesa virar rainha,
Que Deus, te dê a glória,
Do Fado, seres a rainha !
São Paulo, 17/05/2017 (data da criação)
Armando A. C. Garcia
Visite meus blogs:
http://brisadapoesia.blogspot.com
http://preludiodesonetos.blogspot.com
http://criancaspoesias.blogspot.com
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VicceB
I could seriously listen to this song endlessly, her voice is so comforting and it always gives me some kind of weird feeling inside, thanks for uploading this work of art!
Dani
Linda música! Retrato do que há de melhor em Portugal. A alegria, a simpatia, a simplicidade. Amo Portugal.
Américo Pereira
Obrigado. Um abraço
Francisco Baudouin
Ana Moura tem excelentes tocadores de Guitarra Portuguesa
Antonio Manuel Reis Silva
Um fado da Amália na voz da Ana Moura...não perdeu nada da sua beleza visto a Ana Moura cantar de forma maravilhosa. Muito obrigado por partilhar.
Salesalsa
Parabens a musica é fantastica... 7:)
Nidia Rocha
lindo fado ,maravilhoso bela vós beijinhos ,,ANA MOURA !!
Cristina Dauria
/**** "MARAVILLOSA, INTERPRETACION "****/
Maraca Pipas Norma celeste
Maravilhosaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
ana maria santo
Adoro ouvir esta menina que é senhora tudo que ela canta gosto