Fado ‘Princesa’ Chats to Aydınlık Daily
Fado’s 21st century luminary Ana Moura sits down with Aydınlık Daily to discuss her latest album, Desfado, her Istanbul concerts, and her life long ‘paixão’ for music.
The Portuguese musical genre Fado has come a long way from the port cities of the Iberian nation, as it continues to gain love and adoration across the Earth for its unique sounds, passionate tunes and dance-inducing rhythms. After a number of ups and downs over the decades, one of the names which has brought the genre to global attention is Ana Moura, whose rise to fame has seen her perform in the four corners of the world, including the prestigious Carnegie Hall of New York where she was the first Portuguese singer to perform.
This week, Ana Moura was in Istanbul for the first concert of a European tour where she will visit a number of cities across the continent. Prior to her evening show at the Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall -where she delighted her Turkish fans with a wonderful mix of old and new, slow and passionate and up-tempo and playful - she spoke to Aydınlık Daily about her music, her past and her future:
Fado is a very traditional genre, rooted in the history of Portugal, and songs sung about lives of those in the past. What do you try to bring to the genre as a singer of the 21st century?
Fado is mainly about feelings and sharing those feelings. Feelings, through generations and generations, obviously don’t change, but the way we face those feelings has been changing, mainly with women. We, this new generation, are trying to bring in lyrics and tell stories that are more part of our generation and our lives. Musically, I try to bring something new because we have our musical influences and this is the reason I decided to do an album so different from the previous ones.
Emotion is very much intertwined into music, whether it be love, despair, or loss, and singer have different ways of interpreting these in music. Is there one emotion that you have a connection to, which you try to bring out in your music?
It depends on the mood of the moment, but its very nice to choose the right poems to sing in a certain time and to share that because when we share that we kind of fix our emotions.
This is the first stop on your European tour, and you have also given concerts in places from Angola to Singapore. With Fado music being a strong part of Portugal, do you find that you get homesick at all when singing abroad or do you try to carry the passion of your country and the Portuguese people?
I try to carry this passion with me but sometimes I do miss the simple things like Portuguese soup or my niece or my two kids, those kinds of things!
Carrying on with this, having travelled all over the world to some extent, is there one place where you were quite surprised by their passion for your music?
I was surprised when I went to China because I was not expecting it. The culture is so different but they were so enthusiastic towards my music, I was very surprised.
Singers from all over the world have many different reasons for why they embarked on music careers. What were the reasons for you wanting to become a singer; did you always know that this was the path that you would end up on, and what drew you in particular to Fado music?
I have known Fado since I was very young because my parents both sing very well and my father plays the guitar. And when I was four years old, when my parents were still very young, all our weekends were spent with friends jamming where my father would sing and play, and I grew up in this very musical environment. They felt that I could sing and was very in tune, and they started to ask me to sing and there would always be a moment for me to sing! When I started to grow up I listened to other styles but I always had a special feeling for Fado.
Getting into professional Fado was a coincidence. I was with some friends and we went to a place where there were guitarists and Fado singers, and my friends used to say ‘Ana, go and sing!’ and I did, and the guitar players enjoyed it and wanted to invite me to the real, traditional Fado clubs. I went to one of these clubs where all the poets and singers from different generations were, and I sang there that night. That was when everything changed as the owner of one of the most popular Fado houses in Portugal heard me sing that night and she invited me to sing in her Fado house. I was very glad because everything started from there.
Moving back to the present day, you new album blends in a bit of jazz and pop together with the traditional Fado music. Is this an area where you want to expand your wings, or will Fado always be in your heart?
Fado will always be in my heart. I believe that, and I think I am a Fado singer. But I love to explore and have been doing some collaborations with other musicians from jazz to rock, and I wanted to do something different that could show to the people what I have been doing in music, and this is why I wanted to mix these all together. I think that jazz with Fado is a good blend. This latest album has traditional songs from the north of Portugal, and with all these flavours together. I’m very happy with the result!
Final question: What can fans expect from your upcoming concerts? Will you be focusing on the modern tunes or bringing in some of the older material too?
I will bring in some of the older tracks as well but it will mainly be songs from the new album. I will be bringing in new instruments as well, keyboard, drums, bass player and acoustic guitar along with the traditional Portuguese guitar for the show.
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Her latest album, Defado, produced by the famous Larry Klein, sees Moura blend in pinches of jazz and folk music into her traditional Fado repertoire. It is no surprise that this incredible concoction has become a hit in diverse places such as Belgium, Poland, the United States and the United Kingdom. Of course, it is going multi-platinum in Moura’s native land, Portugal. The album, whose songs would pair well with a glass of Portuguese red and good friends is thoroughly recommended by the writer and can be found in D&R stores in Turkey and online on iTunes and other internet music sites. Dates for her latest tour can be found on her official website: Don’t miss out on witnessing this incredible performer live!