Mísia
Encyclopedia
Mísia is a Portuguese
fado
singer, born in 1955 in Porto
, Portugal
. Mísia is a polyglot
. Despite singing mostly fado, she sings some of her themes in Spanish, French, Catalan, English and even Japanese. Mísia depicts herself as a cabaret dancer living in the "Drama Box Hotel" with her musicians.
and used to be a cabaret
dancer, which accounts for many of the influences that shaped her music: tango
, bolero
, the use of Portuguese guitar
with accordion
, violin
and the piano
.
's fado, shocking orthodox audiences by adding to the traditional instruments (bass guitar
, classical guitar and Portuguese guitar) the sensuality of the accordion and the violin, and borrowing their finest verses from the greatest Portuguese poets.
was released in 1990, at a time when, even at home in Portugal, fado was a poor career choice for a singer. With the exception of Amalia Rodrigues and Carlos do Carmo
, there was no audience for "fadistas". Nevertheless Mísia went on to record an album respecting all the traditional features of the genre, including poems from popular fado songwriters, such as Joaquim Frederico de Brito or José Niza, alongside with poems by famous Portuguese poets, such as José Carlos Ary dos Santos, and even a piece from Vinicius de Moraes
´ song, "Samba em Prelúdio
".
The album bore her name, "Mísia", and was very well received by both audience and critics outside Portugal, mainly in France. The album was followed by "Fado" in 1993, in which she maintained her decision to use lyrics by popular writers and poets. This time she sang songs by Sérgio Godinho
("Liberdades Poeticas"), Amália Rodrigues ("Lágrima"), along with poems from António Lobo Antunes
("Nasci Para Morrer Contigo"), Rosa Lobato de Faria
("Fado Quimera" and "Velhos Amantes" based on a song by Jacques Brel
) and even a text by future Nobel prize
winner José Saramago
("Fado Adivinha").
In 1995 she recorded "Tanto Menos Tanto Mais" (Means "Less Is More"), which combines the texture of classical fado instruments, the Portuguese guitar, the acoustic guitar and the bass, with that of the violin, the accordion, the piano and even the harp. Once more, she sang António Lobo Antunes
, but also Fernando Pessoa
and João Monge, one of the most appreciated Portuguese lyrics-writer.
The first album to be released in the USA was "Garras dos Sentidos" ("Claws Of The Senses") in 1998. The concept of this album was to use lyrics by famous Portuguese poets with melodies belonging to Traditional Fado (where the melody is not bound to specific lyrics). This way, Mísia not only sang text by past poets like Fernando Pessoa
, Mário de Sá Carneiro, Natália Correia
or António Botto
but also contemporary poets like José Saramago
and Mário Cláudio, and she also invited two writers to write poems for the album, Agustina Bessa-Luís
, who wrote the lyrics for the titletrack, and Lídia Jorge
, whose main poem, Fado Do Retorno is sung in two versions: track 4 with piano, accordion, violin and double bass, and track 11 with Portuguese guitar, acoustic guitar, bassa, double bass, violin and accordion.
Her 1999 album, "Paixões Diagonais" ("Diagonal Passions") again used songs from a variety of writers, from João Monge, Amélia Muge, Antonio dos Santos or Vitorino Salomé, to Rosa Lobato de Faria or Sérgio Godinho.
In 2001, she decided to pay a tribute to Amália Rodrigues, after the latter's death, and recorded "Ritual", where all the songs (except the last one) were recorded as traditional three-instrument fados.
Her 2003 album, Canto, may be considered as her masterpiece.
Mixing pieces of the best works of the Portuguese guitarist Carlos Paredes
with poems by Vasco Graça Moura
(and lyrics by Sérgio Godinho
and Pedro Tamen), Mísia created a musical work she would describe as belonging to her "gallery of impossible things".
In her 2009 album, Ruas (streets) Mísia goes beyond the boundaries of the fado. The first part of the double album, "Lisboarium" is an imaginary journey through Lisbon, expressed in fado. The second part, "Tourists", however, contains performances by Mísia of very different kinds of music. It includes music in Turkish, Spanish, English and French. The concept is non-fado music that according to Mísia has the "fado soul". An example of this is her version of "Hurt", originally by Nine Inch Nails
but inspired by the version by Johnny Cash
.
Portuguese people
The Portuguese are a nation and ethnic group native to the country of Portugal, in the west of the Iberian peninsula of south-west Europe. Their language is Portuguese, and Roman Catholicism is the predominant religion....
fado
Fado
Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar, Rui Vieira Nery, states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best...
singer, born in 1955 in Porto
Porto
Porto , also known as Oporto in English, is the second largest city in Portugal and one of the major urban areas in the Iberian Peninsula. Its administrative limits include a population of 237,559 inhabitants distributed within 15 civil parishes...
, Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
. Mísia is a polyglot
Polyglot (person)
A polyglot is someone with a high degree of proficiency in several languages. A bilingual person can speak two languages fluently, whereas a trilingual three; above that the term multilingual may be used.-Hyperpolyglot:...
. Despite singing mostly fado, she sings some of her themes in Spanish, French, Catalan, English and even Japanese. Mísia depicts herself as a cabaret dancer living in the "Drama Box Hotel" with her musicians.
Parentage
Mísia's mother was SpanishSpain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
and used to be a cabaret
Cabaret
Cabaret is a form, or place, of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue: a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables watching the performance, as introduced by a master of ceremonies or...
dancer, which accounts for many of the influences that shaped her music: tango
Tango music
Tango is a style of ballroom dance music in 2/4 or 4/4 time that originated among European immigrant populations of Argentina and Uruguay . It is traditionally played by a sextet, known as the orquesta típica, which includes two violins, piano, double bass, and two bandoneons...
, bolero
Bolero
Bolero is a form of slow-tempo Latin music and its associated dance and song. There are Spanish and Cuban forms which are both significant and which have separate origins.The term is also used for some art music...
, the use of Portuguese guitar
Portuguese guitar
The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses comprising two strings each. It is one of the few musical instruments to use Preston tuners. It is most notably associated with fado.-History:The origin of the Portuguese...
with accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
and the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
.
Style
Throughout her career, Mísia developed a new style: she modernized Amália RodriguesAmália Rodrigues
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues, GCSE, GCIH, , also known as Amália Rodrigues was a Portuguese singer and actress.She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" and was most influential in popularizing the fado worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a...
's fado, shocking orthodox audiences by adding to the traditional instruments (bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, classical guitar and Portuguese guitar) the sensuality of the accordion and the violin, and borrowing their finest verses from the greatest Portuguese poets.
Recordings
Her first albumAlbum
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
was released in 1990, at a time when, even at home in Portugal, fado was a poor career choice for a singer. With the exception of Amalia Rodrigues and Carlos do Carmo
Carlos do Carmo
Carlos do Carmo, ComIH is a Portuguese fado singer, one of the finest in the "Lisbon Song"...
, there was no audience for "fadistas". Nevertheless Mísia went on to record an album respecting all the traditional features of the genre, including poems from popular fado songwriters, such as Joaquim Frederico de Brito or José Niza, alongside with poems by famous Portuguese poets, such as José Carlos Ary dos Santos, and even a piece from Vinicius de Moraes
Vinicius de Moraes
Marcus Vinicius de Moraes , known as Vinicius de Moraes and nicknamed O Poetinho , was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Son of Lydia Cruz de Moraes and Clodoaldo Pereira da Silva Moraes, he was a seminal figure in contemporary Brazilian music...
´ song, "Samba em Prelúdio
Samba em Prelúdio
Samba em Prelúdio is a song composed in 1962 by the Brazilian guitarist Baden Powell and the composer Vinicius de Moraes and recorded by many others artists....
".
The album bore her name, "Mísia", and was very well received by both audience and critics outside Portugal, mainly in France. The album was followed by "Fado" in 1993, in which she maintained her decision to use lyrics by popular writers and poets. This time she sang songs by Sérgio Godinho
Sérgio Godinho
Sérgio Godinho, OL is a Portuguese poet, composer, and singer. He was born on August 31, 1945 in Porto, Portugal, and is one of the most influential popular musicians in Portugal...
("Liberdades Poeticas"), Amália Rodrigues ("Lágrima"), along with poems from António Lobo Antunes
António Lobo Antunes
António Lobo Antunes, GCSE, MD ; born 1 September 1942) is a Portuguese novelist and medical doctor.-Life and career:António Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon as the eldest of six sons of João Alfredo de Figueiredo Lobo Antunes , prominent Neurologist and Professor, close collaborator of Egas Moniz,...
("Nasci Para Morrer Contigo"), Rosa Lobato de Faria
Rosa Lobato de Faria
Rosa Lobato de Faria was a Portuguese actress and writer whose career encompassed a variety of media including acting, scriptwriting, literature and songwriting....
("Fado Quimera" and "Velhos Amantes" based on a song by Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel
Jacques Brel was a Belgian singer-songwriter who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following in France initially, and later throughout the world. He was widely considered a master of the modern chanson...
) and even a text by future Nobel prize
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
winner José Saramago
José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
("Fado Adivinha").
In 1995 she recorded "Tanto Menos Tanto Mais" (Means "Less Is More"), which combines the texture of classical fado instruments, the Portuguese guitar, the acoustic guitar and the bass, with that of the violin, the accordion, the piano and even the harp. Once more, she sang António Lobo Antunes
António Lobo Antunes
António Lobo Antunes, GCSE, MD ; born 1 September 1942) is a Portuguese novelist and medical doctor.-Life and career:António Lobo Antunes was born in Lisbon as the eldest of six sons of João Alfredo de Figueiredo Lobo Antunes , prominent Neurologist and Professor, close collaborator of Egas Moniz,...
, but also Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
and João Monge, one of the most appreciated Portuguese lyrics-writer.
The first album to be released in the USA was "Garras dos Sentidos" ("Claws Of The Senses") in 1998. The concept of this album was to use lyrics by famous Portuguese poets with melodies belonging to Traditional Fado (where the melody is not bound to specific lyrics). This way, Mísia not only sang text by past poets like Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa
Fernando Pessoa, born Fernando António Nogueira de Seabra Pessoa , was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic and translator described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and one of the greatest poets in the Portuguese language.-Early years in Durban:On 13 July...
, Mário de Sá Carneiro, Natália Correia
Natália Correia
Natália de Oliveira Correia, GOSE, GOL was an intellectual, poet and social activist, as well as author of the official lyrics of the Hino dos Açores, the regional anthem of Autonomous Region of the Azores...
or António Botto
António Botto
António Botto was a Portuguese aesthete and modernist poet.- Early life :...
but also contemporary poets like José Saramago
José Saramago
José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE was a Nobel-laureate Portuguese novelist, poet, playwright and journalist. His works, some of which can be seen as allegories, commonly present subversive perspectives on historic events, emphasizing the human factor. Harold Bloom has described Saramago as "a...
and Mário Cláudio, and she also invited two writers to write poems for the album, Agustina Bessa-Luís
Agustina Bessa-Luís
Agustina Bessa-Luís, GOSE is a Portuguese writer.From 1986 and 1987, she was Director of the daily O Primeiro de Janeiro . From 1990 to 1993, she was director of the Teatro Nacional D...
, who wrote the lyrics for the titletrack, and Lídia Jorge
Lídia Jorge
Lídia Jorge is a prominent Portuguese novelist and author whose work is representative of a recent style of Portuguese writing, the so-called ‘Post Revolution Generation’...
, whose main poem, Fado Do Retorno is sung in two versions: track 4 with piano, accordion, violin and double bass, and track 11 with Portuguese guitar, acoustic guitar, bassa, double bass, violin and accordion.
Her 1999 album, "Paixões Diagonais" ("Diagonal Passions") again used songs from a variety of writers, from João Monge, Amélia Muge, Antonio dos Santos or Vitorino Salomé, to Rosa Lobato de Faria or Sérgio Godinho.
In 2001, she decided to pay a tribute to Amália Rodrigues, after the latter's death, and recorded "Ritual", where all the songs (except the last one) were recorded as traditional three-instrument fados.
Her 2003 album, Canto, may be considered as her masterpiece.
Mixing pieces of the best works of the Portuguese guitarist Carlos Paredes
Carlos Paredes
Carlos Paredes, ComSE, was a virtuoso Portuguese guitar player, born in Coimbra, son of the equally famous Artur Paredes. He is credited with popularising the medium internationally during the 20th century, being frequently considered to be the most talented Portuguese musician in the 20th century...
with poems by Vasco Graça Moura
Vasco Graça Moura
Vasco Navarro da Graça Moura, OSE is a Portuguese lawyer, writer, translator and politician, son of Francisco José da Graça Moura and wife Maria Teresa Amado da Cunha Seixas Navarro de Castro, of Northern Portugal bourgeoisie.He was a Member of the European Parliament for the Social Democratic...
(and lyrics by Sérgio Godinho
Sérgio Godinho
Sérgio Godinho, OL is a Portuguese poet, composer, and singer. He was born on August 31, 1945 in Porto, Portugal, and is one of the most influential popular musicians in Portugal...
and Pedro Tamen), Mísia created a musical work she would describe as belonging to her "gallery of impossible things".
In her 2009 album, Ruas (streets) Mísia goes beyond the boundaries of the fado. The first part of the double album, "Lisboarium" is an imaginary journey through Lisbon, expressed in fado. The second part, "Tourists", however, contains performances by Mísia of very different kinds of music. It includes music in Turkish, Spanish, English and French. The concept is non-fado music that according to Mísia has the "fado soul". An example of this is her version of "Hurt", originally by Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
but inspired by the version by Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
.
Discography
- 1991 — Mísia
- 1993 — Fado
- 1995 — Tanto menos, tanto mais
- 1998 — Garras dos Sentidos
- 1999 — Paixões Diagonais
- 2001 — Ritual
- 2003 — Canto (music by Carlos ParedesCarlos ParedesCarlos Paredes, ComSE, was a virtuoso Portuguese guitar player, born in Coimbra, son of the equally famous Artur Paredes. He is credited with popularising the medium internationally during the 20th century, being frequently considered to be the most talented Portuguese musician in the 20th century...
) - 2005 — Drama Box
- 2009 — Ruas