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.

Soneto Destruído
Cristina Branco Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Talez logo na berma duma estrada
Um par se beije transtornadamente
E o destino os separe de repente
Entre as duas e as três da madrugada

Talvez a lua fria os desinvente
E só lhes traga sombras e mais nada
E por saída só lhes dê a entrada

Para o túnel da noite à sua frente

Talvez então as faces se desolem
Talvez depois em cinza e solidão
A aurora ponha um luto, talvez colem

As nuvens o seu dorso rente ao chão

Talvez por não ousar ninguém mereça
O que viveu. Talvez não amanheça

Overall Meaning

In the song "Soneto Destruído" by Cristina Branco, the singer describes a moment in time where two lovers are kissing intensely on the side of a road. The timing of their separation is abrupt, as it happens between two and three in the morning. The singer then questions if the cold moon will take away their love and only leave them with shadows. The only way out for them may be to enter the tunnel of the night that lies ahead.

As the night progresses, the lovers' faces may become somber, and they may begin to feel lonely. The dawn may arrive with a sense of mourning and the clouds may lie low and heavy like a burden. Perhaps these lovers don't deserve the love they share because they didn't have the courage to fight for it. Maybe they won't make it to morning at all.

The song is filled with melancholy and heartbreak, painting a picture of a relationship that is destined to fail. The lyrics suggest that the two lovers may be torn apart not only by external forces but also by the burden of their choices or lack thereof. The song reminds us of the fragility of love and the inevitable feeling of loss that comes with it.

Line by Line Meaning

Talez logo na berma duma estrada
Perhaps soon on the edge of a road

Um par se beije transtornadamente
A couple kisses passionately

E o destino os separe de repente
And destiny separates them suddenly

Entre as duas e as três da madrugada
Between two and three in the morning

Talvez a lua fria os desinvente
Perhaps the cold moon will un-invent them

E só lhes traga sombras e mais nada
And only bring them shadows and nothing more

E por saída só lhes dê a entrada
And as an exit only gives them the entrance

Para o túnel da noite à sua frente
To the tunnel of the night in front of them

Talvez então as faces se desolem
Perhaps then their faces will become desolate

Talvez depois em cinza e solidão
Maybe later in ash and loneliness

A aurora ponha um luto, talvez colem
The dawn may mourn, perhaps stick