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.

Pombas Brancas
Cristina Branco Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Pombas brancas
Que voam altas
Riscando as sombras
Das nuvens largas
Lá vão
Pombas que não voltam

Trazem dentro

Das asas prendas
Nas bicos rosas
Nuvens desfeitas
No mar
Pombas do meu cantar

Canto apenas
Lembranças várias
Vindas das sendas
Que ninguém sabe

Onde vão
Pombas que não voltam

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Cristina Branco's song Pombas Brancas talk about the beautiful and graceful sight of white doves flying high in the sky, with their wings spreading wide and cutting through the shadows of the large clouds above. The doves carry with them a precious cargo - the remnants of the clouds, and the delicate and soft petals of flowers that may have been destroyed in the storm that just passed. The doves do not return, but rather they disappear into the unknown essence of the universe. The song speaks about the memories that are associated with the flight of these doves, and the uncertain and unpredictable journey of life that we all must traverse. The doves represent the freedom that we all long for, and the beauty of the life we live.

The song speaks about the theme of transience, and how life is fleeting and can disappear at any moment. The doves represent innocence and purity, and the delicate moments of life that can easily slip away. The song is also an allegory for the search for a higher meaning in life, and the quest to find answers to the unknown aspects of our existence. The song speaks about our innate desire to find beauty in the ordinary and the mundane, and the significance of the journey that we all must undertake.

Line by Line Meaning

Pombas brancas
White doves

Que voam altas
Soaring high

Riscando as sombras
Drawing shadows

Das nuvens largas
From the big clouds

Lá vão
There they go

Pombas que não voltam
Doves that never return

Trazem dentro
They carry within

Das asas prendas
Treasures in their wings

Nas bicos rosas
In their pink beaks

Nuvens desfeitas
Dissolved clouds

No mar
In the sea