Cristina Branco was born in December, 1972, in Almeirim, Ribatejo, Portugal… Read Full Bio ↴Cristina Branco was born in December, 1972, in Almeirim, Ribatejo, Portugal, where she still lives. Her music is deeply rooted in tradition, yet essentially modern.

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.

Havemos De Ir A Viana
Cristina Branco Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Entre sombras misteriosas
Em rompendo ao longe estrelas
Trocaremos nossas rosas
Para depois esquecê-las

Se o meu sangue não me engana
Como engana a fantasia
Havemos de ir a Viana

Ó meu amor de algum dia;
Ó meu amor de algum dia
Havemos de ir a Viana
Se o meu sangue não me engana
Havemos de ir a Viana

Partamos de flor ao peito
Que o amor é como o vento
Quem parte, perde-lhe o jeito
E morre a todo o momento

Ciganos, verdes ciganos
Deixai-me com esta crença

Os pecados têm vinte anos
Os remorsos têm oitenta

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Cristina Branco's song "Havemos De Ir A Viana" express a sense of longing and wandering. The first stanza speaks of exchanging and forgetting roses under mysterious shadows and breaking stars. The second stanza calls for departure with a flower in the chest, acknowledging the fleeting nature of love and life. The chorus indicates a promise of going to Viana, and the repeating line "Se o meu sangue não me engana" (If my blood does not deceive me) gives a sense of conviction.

Line by Line Meaning

Entre sombras misteriosas
In the midst of mysterious shadows

Em rompendo ao longe estrelas
As stars break away in the distance

Trocaremos nossas rosas
We'll trade our roses,

Para depois esquecê-las
Only to forget them later on

Se o meu sangue não me engana
If my blood does not deceive me

Como engana a fantasia
Unlike fancy deceptions

Havemos de ir a Viana
We'll certainly go to Viana

Ó meu amor de algum dia;
Oh, my love from another time;

Ó meu amor de algum dia
Oh, my love from another time

Havemos de ir a Viana
We'll certainly go to Viana

Se o meu sangue não me engana
If my blood does not deceive me