Mariza Nunes (born December 16, 1973 in Mozambique) is a fado singer and so… Read Full Bio ↴Mariza Nunes (born December 16, 1973 in Mozambique) is a fado singer and songwriter on the World Connection label. She moved to Portugal when she was three, and was raised in one of the most traditional quarters of Lisbon, Mouraria, where she learned how to sing fado. She has a Portuguese father but her mother is from Mozambique (the song Transparente is a tribute to her African grandmother).

For the Olympic Games of Athens 2004 she collaborated with Sting for the duet "A Thousand Years", released on the official pop album of the Athens Olympics Unity, where fado is sung in both English and Portuguese.

Mariza is considered by many as a more contemporary follower of Amalia Rodrigues, and has covered a number of her songs.

In 2003 she became the "Winner in the Europe category" of the BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music.

Discography:

Fado em Mim (2002)
Fado Curvo (2003)
Live in London (2005) DVD
Transparente (2005)
Concerto em Lisboa (2006) DVD and CD
Terra (2008)
Fado Tradicional (2010).

http://www.myspace.com/fadomariza
http://www.marizafriends.blogspot.com/

O Deserto
Mariza Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Deserto, império do Sol
Tão perto, império do Sol
Prova dos nove, da solidão
Cega miragem, largo clarão

Livre prisão
Sem a menor aragem
Sem a menor aragem

Que grande mar
De ondas paradas
Que grande areal
De formas veladas

Vitória do espaço
Imensidão
Ponto de fuga
Ampliação

Livre prisão
Anfitrião selvagem
Anfitrião selvagem

No deserto
Ouço o fundo da alma
E se a areia está calma
O bater do coração
É que tanto deserto

Tão de repente
Faz-me pensar
Que o deserto sou eu
Se não me vieres buscar

No deserto
Ouço o fundo da alma
E se a areia está calma
O bater do coração
É que tanto deserto

Tão de repente
Faz-me pensar

Que o deserto sou eu
Se não me vieres buscar

Overall Meaning

In Mariza's song "O Deserto", she sings about the desert as an empire of the sun. The desert is close yet far, a place where one can test for solitude and find oneself in a blind mirage with a wide, bright light. She refers to the desert as a free prison, where there is no breeze, no escape, just a vast, empty space. The desert is an endless sea of still waves and a large area of hidden shapes. It is a victory of space, a point of convergence, a place where one can find themselves in wilderness, and it's the host to many wild things.

Mariza sings that in the desert, one can hear the soul's depths, and if the sand is calm, one can hear the heart's beat. The desert suddenly makes us think that we are the desert ourselves if we are not willing to be found. In "O Deserto," Mariza is trying to find herself by getting lost in a place so vast to be found. She is searching for a way out of the loneliness and hoping someone will come and rescue her.

Line by Line Meaning

Deserto, império do Sol
The desert, a kingdom of the Sun

Tão perto, império do Sol
So close, a kingdom of the Sun

Prova dos nove, da solidão
A test of loneliness, a proof of solitude

Cega miragem, largo clarão
Blind mirage, wide flash

Livre prisão
Free prison

Sem a menor aragem
Without the slightest breeze

Que grande mar
What a great sea

De ondas paradas
Of still waves

Que grande areal
What a great expanse of sand

De formas veladas
With veiled shapes

Vitória do espaço
Victory of space