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/

Transparente
Mariza Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Como a água da nascente
Minha mão é transparente
Aos olhos da minha avó

Entre a terra e o divino
Minha avó negra sabia
Essas coisas do destino
Desagua o mar que vejo

Nos rios desse desejo
De quem nasceu para cantar

Um Zambéze feito Tejo
De tão cantado que invejo
Lisboa, por lá morar

Vejo um cabelo entrançado
E o canto morno do fado
Num xaile de caracóis

Como num conto de fadas
Os batuques são guitarras
E os coqueiros, girassóis

Minha avó negra sabia
Ler as coisas do destino
Na palma de cada olhar

Queira a vida ou que não queira
Disse Deus à feiticeira
Que nasci para cantar

Que nasci para cantar

Que nasci para cantar
Que nasci para cantar

Overall Meaning

In Mariza's song "Transparente," the singer reflects on her lineage and the wisdom passed down from her black grandmother. The first stanza compares the singer's hand to the transparency of spring water, signifying her purity and honesty, qualities that are evident to her grandmother. The second stanza references the connection between the divine and the earth, highlighting how her grandmother, who was deeply connected to her African roots, understood the workings of destiny. The singer mentions the river as a metaphor for desire, its course dictated by fate.

The following stanzas evoke Lisbon, the city where Mariza grew up, and the mix of Afro-Portuguese cultures that blend there. The singer imagines the Tejo River transformed into the African Zambezi River, which flows through several countries, including Zimbabwe and Zambia, before pouring into the Indian Ocean. Mariza's envy towards the Zambezi stems from the fact that both this river and Lisbon's Tejo were sung countless times in songs and poems. In the chorus, the singer emphasizes that she was born to sing, a divine gift that her grandmother recognized in her since childhood.

Line by Line Meaning

Como a água da nascente
My hand is as clear as spring water

Minha mão é transparente
My hand is transparent

Aos olhos da minha avó
In the eyes of my grandmother

Entre a terra e o divino
Between the earthly and the divine

Minha avó negra sabia
My black grandmother knew

Essas coisas do destino
These things about destiny

Desagua o mar que vejo
The sea I see flows into

Nos rios desse desejo
The rivers of this desire

De quem nasceu para cantar
Of someone born to sing

Um Zambéze feito Tejo
A Zambezi river like the Tejo

De tão cantado que invejo
So sung that I envy