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.

Palavras Proibidas
Cristina Branco Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Levou-te a noite e partiu
Em duas, uma palavra;
Ficam sempre retalhadas
As palavras que são ditas
Para ser adivinhadas

Porque o avesso das palavras
Que em duas são divididas

É o eco distorcido
Daquilo que não dizemos
Das palavras proibidas

Levou-te a noite e deixou-me
Memórias inacabadas
E segredos pressentidos
E o silêncio no lugar
Das palavras murmuradas

E o silêncio das palavras
Mal esboçadas entre nós
Anda a gritar o teu nome

Pelas esquinas das ruas
Por detrás da minha voz

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Cristina Branco's song Palavras Proibidas explore the aftermath of a relationship that has ended, leaving the singer with unfinished memories and unspoken secrets. The first verse describes how the night took the subject away, leaving just one word behind. The lines "Ficam sempre retalhadas/As palavras que são ditas/Para ser adivinhadas" suggest that the words spoken in the relationship are always fragmented and incomplete, as if they were meant to be deciphered or guessed at rather than fully understood.

The second verse delves into the theme of unsaid words and hidden meanings. The "avesso das palavras" (the reverse side of words) is described as the distorted echo of what is left unsaid. This hints at an underlying tension or unexpressed emotions in the relationship. The "palavras proibidas" (forbidden words) represent both the unspeakable thoughts that were never shared, as well as the words that were perhaps too hurtful to say out loud.

The final verse suggests that even in the silence between the singers, there is still a connection. The memories and secrets left behind are like echoes of the relationship that haunt the singer, and the silence becomes a way of speaking indirectly to the absent subject. The line "Por detrás da minha voz" (behind my voice) implies that there is a hidden meaning or intention in everything that is said, but also in everything that is not said. Overall, the lyrics explore the complex layers of communication and intimacy that can exist between two people who are no longer in a relationship.

Line by Line Meaning

Levou-te a noite e partiu
The night took you and went away

Em duas, uma palavra;
In two, one word;

Ficam sempre retalhadas
They are always scattered

As palavras que são ditas
The words that are spoken

Para ser adivinhadas
To be guessed

Porque o avesso das palavras
Because the reverse side of words

Que em duas são divididas
That are divided in two

É o eco distorcido
Is the distorted echo

Daquilo que não dizemos
Of what we don't say

Das palavras proibidas
Of forbidden words

Levou-te a noite e deixou-me
The night took you and left me