Throughout her career, in which it is clearly traced and expressed a deep respect, understanding and humbleness before Fado, Mísia developed a new style: she stripped the Fado off the shawl of the "amalian" type, and adds to the traditional instruments (bass guitar, classical guitar and Portuguese guitar) the sensuality of the accordion and the violin, and borrows from the best Portuguese poets their finest verses. The piano was often used in fado before, and this she also uses.
Her 2003 album "Canto" may be considered her masterpiece. Mixing pieces of the best works of the Portuguese guitarist Carlos Paredes with poems of Vasco Graça Moura (and some of Sérgio Godinho and Pedro Tamen), Mísia has built a piece of music that she would describe as belonging to her "gallery of impossible things". Mísia is also known for covering other artists' songs in a very "fadoish" way. The classic "As time goes by", and some of the songs of Luis Eduardo Aute ("De Alguna Manera", for instance) are some of the examples.
Mísia is a polyglot. Despite singing mostly fado (which is sung in Portuguese), she sings some of her themes in Spanish, French, Catalan or even English. One of the examples is her last album "Drama Box", a collection of tangos, boleros and fados, sung in Portuguese and Spanish. In "Drama Box", Mísia depicts herself as a cabaret dancer living in the "Drama Box Hotel" with her musicians. It's a very personal album, simultaneously a tribute to her mother and a real description of her life: travelling through the world, taking fado everywhere.
In spite of being famous in Portugal, her music has from the beginning been greatly appreciated in foreign countries: France and Japan for example.
Discography
1991 — Mísia
1993 — Fado
1995 — Tanto menos, tanto mais
1998 — Garras dos Sentidos
1999 — Paixões Diagonais
2001 — Ritual
2003 — Canto (music by Carlos Paredes)
2005 — Drama Box
2009 — Ruas
Dança De Mágoas
Mísia Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Que ninguém ergue da mesa
Transborda de dor alheia
Meu coração sem tristeza.
Sonhos de mágoa figura
Só para ter que sentir
E assim não tem a amargura
Ficção num palco sem tábuas
Vestida de papel seda
Mima uma dança de mágoas
Para que nada suceda.
The lyrics to Mísia's song "Dança De Mágoas" speak about the feeling of being trapped by one's own emotions. The first verse compares the heart to a full but useless glass that no one bothers to lift from the table. The heart is overflowing with the pain of others, yet it remains untroubled by any sadness of its own. The second verse talks about the idea of dreaming of pain in order to experience it, rather than pretending to be happy while burying the bitter feeling deep within. The final verse describes a character on a stage performing a dance of sorrows, dressed in delicate paper silk, as if mimicked to keep things from happening.
Overall, the song is a reflection of the human tendency to suppress emotions and live in denial rather than confronting them, even if it means experiencing temporary unhappiness. The singer seems to imply that it is better to acknowledge one's own sadness and let it out rather than the pain of others.
Line by Line Meaning
Como inútil taça cheia
My heart is like a useless full cup
Que ninguém ergue da mesa
That no one lifts from the table
Transborda de dor alheia
Overflowing with others' pain
Meu coração sem tristeza.
My heart without sadness.
Sonhos de mágoa figura
Figures of sorrowful dreams
Só para ter que sentir
Just to have to feel
E assim não tem a amargura
And so they don't have the bitterness
Que se temeu a fingir.
That was feared by pretending.
Ficção num palco sem tábuas
Fiction on a stage without boards
Vestida de papel seda
Dressed in silk paper
Mima uma dança de mágoas
Mimes a dance of sorrows
Para que nada suceda.
So that nothing happens.
Contributed by Isabella H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.