In 200… Read Full Bio ↴Official site (with long song extracts): www.carminho.net
In 2009, Carminho sang "Fado". This was her fado, the one she owned since an early age, when she listened to her parents’ records, when she witnessed the gathering of fado singers in her own house and when, still a teenager, she began to sing in the Taverna do Embuçado. This "Fado" was the title of her first album, which was one of the most awaited albums in the new generation of fado singers: for those who had already heard Carminho, her talent was obvious, but they had to wait – until she finished her graduation, until she travelled the world, until she knew who she really was.
And her "Fado" became one of the most acclaimed albums in 2009. It went Platinum – an enviable outcome for a debut album. With "Fado", Portugal surrendered to Carminho’s voice and the doors of the world opened to her talent. It was considered best album 2011 by Songlines magazine, she had shows in European capital cities, in Womex 2011 (Copenhagen) and in the UNESCO headquarters, in Paris, within the scope of Fado as World Heritage candidate. Then came the invitation to participate in Pablo Alborán’s album, which became a phenomenon of popularity in both Portugal and Spain.
It was about time that “Fado” had a worthy successor. And it's just around the corner. On 5th March, Carminho reveals her "Alma" (Portuguese word for soul) with 15 new songs, an album again produced and directed by Diogo Clemente, again wisely combining cover versions and originals (in the special edition, the album has 17 songs and a DVD with Carminho live in concertin May 2011 at Lux Frágil, Lisbon.
The cover versions are less evident. Some not so well known songs by Amália ("Cabeça de Vento"), Maria Amélia Proença ("À Beira do Cais") or Fernanda Maria ("As Pedras da Minha Rua"), but also from Chico Buarque ("Meu Namorado", de "O Grande Circo Místico") or Vinicius de Moraes ("Saudades do Brasil em Portugal"). The original songs are by Diogo Clemente ("Bom Dia, Amor", about poet Fernando Pessoa), Mário Pacheco ("Talvez", lyrics by Vasco Graça Moura), and Vitorino ("Fado Adeus"). And there are also some new lyrics for traditional fado tunes – one of them, "Folha", written by Carminho herself, and another one, "Impressão Digital", a poem by António Gedeão.
And it is this mixture of past and present that allows us to unveil the future of Fado, in the unrivalled voice of Carminho. A voice which, in her second album, sustains all that Carminho sings in "Talvez": "I might not know who you are, but I know who I am”.
In 2017, she released a Tom Jobim covers album, titled "Carminho Canta Tom Jobim".
Official site (with long song extracts): www.carminho.net
Espelho Quebrado
Carminho Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quebra o espelho do lago.
Em mim foi mais violento
O estrago
Porque o vento ao passar
Murmurou o teu nome
Depois de o murmurar,
Tão rápido passou
Nem soube destruir-me
Nas magoas em que sou
Tão firme.
Mas a sua passagem
Em vidro recortava
No lago a minha imagem
De escrava.
Ò liquido cristal
Dos meus olhos sem ti,
Em vão um vendaval,
Pedi,
Para que se quebrasse
O espelho que me enluta
E me ficasse a face
Enxuta.
Para que se quebrasse
O espelho que que me enluta
Em mim foi mais violento
O vento.
The song "Espelho Quebrado" by Carminho describes the emotional impact of a broken mirror in a lake, and the way the wind seems to extend the damage done to the singer's heart. The wind, personified with a whip, breaks the mirror with a force that is felt even more intensely by the singer, as she hears her lost love's name whispered in the wind. The wind moves on quickly, without looking back, but the damage to the singer's heart remains. The broken mirror in the lake becomes a symbol of the distorted reflection of herself that the singer sees, no longer able to recognize her own face as it is obscured by her sorrow.
Line by Line Meaning
Com o seu chicote, o vento quebra o espelho do lago.
With its whip, the wind shatters the mirror of the lake.
Em mim foi mais violento o estrago
In me, the damage was more severe.
Porque o vento ao passar murmurou o teu nome
Because the wind whispered your name as it passed by.
Depois de o murmurar, deixou-me.
After whispering it, it left me.
Tão rápido passou, nem soube destruir-me
It passed so quickly, it didn't even know how to destroy me.
Nas mágoas em que sou tão firme.
In the sorrows that I withstand so firmly.
Mas a sua passagem em vidro recortava
But its passing cut into the glass.
No lago a minha imagem de escrava.
In the lake, my image as a slave.
Ó líquido cristal dos meus olhos sem ti, em vão um vendaval, pedi,
Oh, liquid crystal of my eyes without you, in vain I asked for a windstorm,
Para que se quebrasse o espelho que me enluta e me ficasse a face enxuta.
So that the mirror that saddens me would break and leave my face dry.
Para que se quebrasse o espelho que me enluta, em mim foi mais violento o vento.
To break the mirror that saddens me, in me, the wind was more violent.
Contributed by Daniel V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Humberto Lemes
A fila de pretendentes seria enorme. Sou brasileiro e, ao lado da música erudita, o fado é meu estilo preferido. Carminho é apaixonante.
Peter Lunow
goes straight through my soul
Auziria Ferreira
Gostei grande fadista!!!
Vanessa Vivas
Pura e simplesmente magnifico e sublime...
marilza provin
E a quem diga que fado e enfadonho.porque nao tem ouvidos de ouvir.me encanta!
Aníbal Sutil
A mí me gusta; al Fado, también.¡ Y lo bien que nos hace gustar de Carminho!
Poraqui
O intemporal "Espelho quebrado" da Amália
Miguel Sutil
Mejor así! Carminho necesita al mejor. Yo, igualmente, la pretendo. Sería la mujer que me haría feliz! Creo que el Fado mueve los mejores sentimientos de los mejores hombres.
Miguel Sutil
Que no le guste a uno es aceptable. Queda una multitud para lo contrario. Carminho, si me aceptaras, me casaría contigo!
Miguel Sutil
Me entero que Carminho es el amor de Diogo. Tanto mejor; Diogo se lo merece.