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
Fogo Preso
Mísia Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Quando se ateia em nós um fogo preso, / O corpo a corpo em que ele vai girando / Faz o meu corpo arder no teu
Aceso / E nos calcina e assim nos vai matando / Essa luz repentina / Até perder alento, / E então é quando / A sombra
Se ilumina, / E é tudo esquecimento, / Tão violento e brando. / Sacode a luz o nosso ser surpreso / E devastados nós
Vamos a seu mando, / Nessa prisão o mundo perde o peso / E em fogo preso à noite as chamas vão pairando / E vãose
Libertando / Fogo e contentamento, / A revoar num bando / De beijos tão sem tento / Que não sabemos quando /
São fogo, ou água, ou vento, / A revoar num bando / De beijos tão sem tento, / Que perdem o comando / Do próprio
Esquecimento. / Para Fontes Rocha com carinho e admiração
The song "Fogo Preso" by Mísia was written by Vasco Graça Moura and Fontes Rocha. The lyrics depict the uncontrollable passion and desire that one can feel when trapped by an intense and consuming flame. The imagery in the song is poetic and vivid, with lines that describe the fire as "calcining" and "devastating" the bodies of those caught in its embrace. The fire brings both hardship and joy, with the weight of the world lifted and the lovers lost in a haze of kisses and forgetfulness.
The song is a powerful representation of the all-consuming nature of passion, highlighting the ways in which it can both destroy and liberate us. The chorus sings of the "fire and contentment" that sweep them away, lost in a whirlwind of sensation that blurs the lines between air, water, and flame. The final lines of the song are a tribute to Fontes Rocha, with whom the song was inspired by and dedicated to.
Overall, "Fogo Preso" is an evocative and beautifully crafted song that captures the intensity and complexity of human desire. It speaks to the ways in which we can become both trapped and liberated by our passions, and the line between the two is often blurred and indistinct.
Line by Line Meaning
Quando se ateia em nós um fogo preso,
When a trapped fire ignites within us,
O corpo a corpo em que ele vai girando
The struggle it causes in our bodies,
Faz o meu corpo arder no teu Aceso
Makes my body burn in your presence,
E nos calcina e assim nos vai matando
It consumes and destroys us,
Essa luz repentina Até perder alento,
This sudden light until we lose our breath,
E então é quando A sombra Se ilumina,
And then the shadow becomes light,
E é tudo esquecimento, Tão violento e brando.
And everything fades away, both aggressively and gently.
Sacode a luz o nosso ser surpreso
The light shakes our surprised beings,
E devastados nós Vamos a seu mando,
And we, devastated, follow its lead,
Nessa prisão o mundo perde o peso
In this prison, the world loses its weight,
E em fogo preso à noite as chamas vão pairando
And the flames trapped in the night keep hovering,
E vão se Libertando
And they are freed,
Fogo e contentamento, A revoar num bando
Fire and happiness, flying together,
De beijos tão sem tento Que não sabemos quando
With kisses without purpose that we lose track of time,
São fogo, ou água, ou vento,
Are they fire, water, or wind,
A revoar num bando De beijos tão sem tento,
Flying together, kisses without purpose,
Que perdem o comando Do próprio Esquecimento.
That lose control of forgetting themselves.
Para Fontes Rocha com carinho e admiração
To Fontes Rocha with affection and admiration.
Contributed by Reagan K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.