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.
Mágoa
Cristina Branco Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Meus pensamentos de mágoa
Como no sono dos ventos
As algas, cabelos lentos
Do corpo morto das águas
Bóiam como folhas mortas
À tona das águas paradas
Pós remoinhando nas portas
Das casas abandonadas
Sono de ser, sem remédio
Vestigio do que não foi
Leve mágoa, breve tédio
Não sei se pára, se flui
Não sei se existe ou se dói
These lyrics are from the beautiful fado song "Mágoa" by Cristina Branco. The song conveys a deep feeling of sadness and melancholy. The first stanza speaks of the singer's thoughts floating like the algae and long hair of a dead body in the waters. The imagery here is truly powerful and evokes a sense of despair and hopelessness. The second stanza talks about things that float to the surface of stagnant waters, only to be swept away by the current. The third and final stanza is a reflection on the singer's own sense of being adrift, with a light sadness and brief tedium that may never truly go away.
Line by Line Meaning
Bólam leves, desatentos
My thoughts of sorrow float aimlessly like small balls in the water
Meus pensamentos de mágoa
My thoughts are filled with sadness
Como no sono dos ventos
Like in the sleep of the winds
As algas, cabelos lentos
The slow-moving seaweed looks like hair
Do corpo morto das águas
From the dead body of the water
Bóiam como folhas mortas
They float like dead leaves
À tona das águas paradas
On the surface of the still waters
São coisas vestindo nadas
They are things covering nothingness
Pós remoinhando nas portas
Dust swirling at the doors
Das casas abandonadas
Of the abandoned houses
Sono de ser, sem remédio
The sleep of being, without remedy
Vestígio do que não foi
Trace of what never was
Leve mágoa, breve tédio
Light sorrow, brief boredom
Não sei se pára, se flui
I don't know if it stops or flows
Não sei se existe ou se dói
I don't know if it exists or if it hurts
Contributed by Jackson R. Suggest a correction in the comments below.