She grew up far from the fado houses of Lisbon and nothing suggested that she was predestined for the fado. Like almost all young Portuguese born after the revolution of 1974, she was interested in folk music, jazz, blues, bossa nova but not in fado. She regarded it as a genre for a different generation. This lasted until her 18th birthday, when her grandfather gave her the album Rara e Inédita by Amália Rodrigues. Suddenly, Cristina Branco discovered all the emotions that the genre could offer in the close connections that arose among voice, poetry and music. The amateur singer - then studying communication sciences and still full of her ambition to become a journalist - began to develop her vocal technique and to take her new vocation seriously.
After that, Cristina studied the poems from which major fado lyrics are taken.
Since then, Cristina has worked on her fado repertory, accompanied by Custódio Castelo on guitar and as composer.
Halfway through the nineties, other young musicians also found a new means of expression in the fado and this contributed to a surprising renaissance. Just as they did, Cristina Branco began to make clear choices in which respect for the tradition went hand in hand with the desire for renewal.
There can be no doubt that Cristina Branco is developing her own style from a number of primary components. She employs a traditional group (voice, Portuguese guitar, guitar and bass guitar) and offers us concurrently a light, warm and experienced voice; she mixes the traditional fado with themes and folk songs that are personal favourites and seems always to choose the words of the best Portuguese, or even Dutch poets with discretion.
Disse-te Adeus e Morri
Cristina Branco Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
E o cais vazio de ti
Aceitou novas mares.
Gritos de búzios perdidos
Roubaram dos meus sentidos
A gaivota que tu es.
Gaivota de asas paradas
E acorda i noite a chorar.
Gaivota que faz o ninho
Porque perdeu o caminho
Onde aprendeu a sonhar.
Preso no ventre do mar
O meu triste respirar
Sofre a invés das horas,
Pois na ausência que deixaste,
Meu amor, como ficaste,
Meu amor, como demoras.
The song "Disse-te Adeus e Morri" by Cristina Branco is a beautiful and melancholic piece that tells the story of a love that has ended, leaving behind nothing but emptiness and pain. The lyrics describe the moment when the singer said goodbye to her love and watched as he sailed away, accepting the new adventures that lay ahead of him. The deserted dock serves as a poignant metaphor for the singer's feelings of loss and abandonment.
The song also touches upon the idea of the gaivota or seagull, which represents the singer's own sense of longing and displacement. The gaivota, which is said to have lost its way and is unable to find its dream, is a symbol of the singer's own struggles to find meaning and purpose in the wake of her broken relationship. The imagery used in the song is as powerful as the emotions that the lyrics convey.
Line by Line Meaning
Disse-te adeus e morri
I said goodbye to you and felt like dying
E o cais vazio de ti
And the empty pier without you
Aceitou novas mares.
Accepted new tides.
Gritos de búzios perdidos
Lost conch shell cries
Roubaram dos meus sentidos
Stole away my senses
A gaivota que tu es.
The seagull that you are.
Gaivota de asas paradas
Seagull with still wings
Que nele sente as madrugadas
Feels the early morning in him
E acorda i noite a chorar.
And wakes up at night crying.
Gaivota que faz o ninho
Seagull that builds a nest
Porque perdeu o caminho
Because it lost its way
Onde aprendeu a sonhar.
Where it learned to dream.
Preso no ventre do mar
Trapped in the womb of the sea
O meu triste respirar
My sad breathing
Sofre a invés das horas,
Suffers instead of time
Pois na ausência que deixaste,
Because in the absence you left
Meu amor, como ficaste,
My love, how you left
Meu amor, como demoras.
My love, how you delay.
Contributed by Parker P. Suggest a correction in the comments below.