Mísia (born Susana Maria Alfonso de Aguiar, in 1955 in

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

) is a

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre that can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado was ...

singer. Mísia is a

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingualism, monolingual speakers in the World population, world's pop ...

. Despite singing mostly fado, she has sung some of her songs in Spanish, French, Catalan, English, and even Japanese.

Parentage

Mísia's mother was Catalan and used to be a

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

dancer, which accounts for many of the influences that shaped her music:

tango Tango is a partner dance and social dance that originated in the 1880s along the Río de la Plata, the natural border between Argentina and Uruguay. The tango was born in the impoverished port areas of these countries as the result of a combina ...

bolero Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

, the use of

Portuguese guitar The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra ( pt, guitarra portuguesa, ) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six course (music), courses of two strings. It is one of the few musical instruments that still uses wat ...

with

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, violin and the piano.

Style

Throughout her career, Mísia developed a new style: she modernized

Amália Rodrigues Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues GCSE, GCIH (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999), better known as Amália Rodrigues () or popularly as Amália, was a Portuguese '' fadista'' (fado singer) and actress. Known as the 'Rainha do Fado' ("Queen ...

'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.

Recordings

She recorded a little-known record in

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid #1 ...

. Her first solo album was released in 1990, at a time when fado was a poor career choice for a portuguese singer. With the exception of

and

Carlos do Carmo Carlos Manuel de Ascenção do Carmo de Almeida ComIH (21 December 1939 – 1 January 2021), better known as Carlos do Carmo, was a Portuguese fado singer. The son of Lucília do Carmo, a well-known ''fadista'', do Carmo began his career in fad ...

, 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 poems by famous Portuguese poets, such as

José Carlos Ary dos Santos José Carlos Ary dos Santos, GCIH or just Ary dos Santos (Lisboa, December 7, 1936 – Lisboa, January 18, 1984) was one of the most relevant names of the Portuguese popular poetry of the 20th century. Born of a bourgeois family, Ary dos Sant ...

, and even a piece from

Vinicius de Moraes Marcus Vinícius da Cruz e Mello Moraes (19 October 1913 – 9 July 1980), better known as Vinícius de Moraes () and nicknamed O Poetinha ("The little poet"), was a Brazilian poet, diplomat, lyricist, essayist, musician, singer, and playwright ...

's 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 Sérgio de Barros Godinho OL (; born 31 August 1945) is a Portuguese singer-songwriter, composer, actor, poet and author. Considered one of the most influential popular musicians in Portugal, Godinho started his music career singing folk songs o ...

("Liberdades Poeticas"), Amália Rodrigues ("Lágrima"), along with poems from

António Lobo Antunes António Lobo Antunes, GCSE (; born 1 September 1942) is a Portuguese novelist and retired medical doctor. He has been named as a contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has been awarded the 2000 Austrian State Prize, the 2003 Ovid ...

("Nasci Para Morrer Contigo"),

Rosa Lobato de Faria Rosa Lobato de Faria (, Rosa Maria de Bettencourt Rodrigues Lobato de Faria; 20 April 1932, Lisbon, Portugal – 2 February 2010, Lisbon) was a Portuguese actress and writer whose career encompassed a variety of media including acting, scriptwrit ...

("Fado Quimera" and "Velhos Amantes" based on a song by

Jacques Brel Jacques Romain Georges Brel (, ; 8 April 1929 – 9 October 1978) was a Belgian singer and actor who composed and performed literate, thoughtful, and theatrical songs that generated a large, devoted following—initially in Belgium and France, l ...

) and even a text by future

Nobel prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

winner

José Saramago José de Sousa Saramago, GColSE ComSE GColCa (; 16 November 1922 – 18 June 2010), was a Portuguese writer and recipient of the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his "parables sustained by imagination, compassion and irony ith which heco ...

("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

, but also

Fernando Pessoa Fernando António Nogueira Pessoa (; 13 June 1888 – 30 November 1935) was a Portuguese poet, writer, literary critic, translator, publisher, and philosopher, described as one of the most significant literary figures of the 20th century and ...

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

Mário de Sá Carneiro Mario is the Italian, French, Croatian, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Greek, and English form of the Latin Roman name Marius. In Croatia, the name Mario was among the most common masculine given names in the decades between 1970 and 1999, and ...

Natália Correia Natália de Oliveira Correia, GOSE, GOL (13 September 1923 – 16 March 1993) was a Portuguese intellectual, poet and social activist, as well as the author of the official lyrics of the "Hino dos Açores", the regional anthem of the Auton ...

António Botto António Botto ( Concavada, Portugal, August 17, 1897 – Rio de Janeiro, March 16, 1959) was a Portuguese aesthete and lyricist poet. Early life António Thomaz Botto was born 17 August 1897 at 8:00 a.m. to Maria Pires Agudo and Francis ...

but also contemporary poets like

and

Mário Cláudio Mario is the Italian, French, Croatian, Spanish, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Greek, and English form of the Latin Roman name Marius. In Croatia, the name Mario was among the most common masculine given names in the decades between 1970 and 1999, and ...

, and she also invited two writers to write poems for the album,

Agustina Bessa-Luís Agustina Bessa-Luís, GOSE (; 15 October 1922 – 3 June 2019) was a Portuguese writer. From 1986 and 1987, she was director of the daily '' O Primeiro de Janeiro'' (Porto). From 1990 to 1993, she was director of the D. Maria II National Theatre ( ...

, who wrote the lyrics for the titletrack, and

Lídia Jorge Lídia Jorge (born 18 June 1946) is a prominent Portuguese novelist and author whose work is representative of a recent style of Portuguese writing, the so-called "Post Revolution Generation". Life Lídia Jorge was born in the village of Boliq ...

, 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 ComSE (; 16 February 1925 – 23 July 2004) was a virtuoso Portuguese guitar player and composer. He is regarded as one of the greatest players of Portuguese guitar of all-time. Born in Coimbra, Portugal, in a family with a l ...

with poems by

Vasco Graça Moura Vasco Navarro da Graça Moura, GCSE GCIH OSE (3 January 1942 – 27 April 2014) was 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, ...

(and lyrics by

and Pedro Tamen), Mísia created a musical work she would describe as belonging to her "gallery of impossible things". In her 2005 Album ''Drama Box'', Mísia depicts herself as a cabaret dancer living in the "Drama Box Hotel" with her musicians. 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, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

but inspired by the version by

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

. Fanny Ardant, Ute Lemper, Carmen Maura, Miranda Richardson and Maria de Medeiros participate in the record. ''Senhora da noite'' was released in 2011. The lyrics are all written by women – 13 Fados, 13 women. Writers, poets, authors, Fado singers, singers. Agustina Bessa Luís, Florbela Espanca, Manuela de Freitas, Hélia Correia, Amélia Muge, Lídia Jorge and many more.

John Turturro John Michael Turturro (; born February 28, 1957) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his contributions to the independent film movement. He has appeared in over sixty feature films and has worked frequently with the Coen brothers, ...

directs the video-clip of "O Manto da Rainha" (2011), a text by Mísia herself. 2013 was the year of ''Delikatessen Café Concerto''with musical direction by the conductor Fabrízio Romano from Naples, and the participation of Ramón Vargas, Adriana Calcanhotto, Paulo Furtado (The Legendary Tigerman), Melech Mechaya, Iggy Pop and Dead Combo. ''Para Amália'' is dedicated to Amalia. The greatest hits album ''Do Primeiro Fado Ao Último Tango'' is released in 2016 by Warner. ''Pura Vida (Banda Sonora)'', released in April 2019, is the soundtrack of two difficult years where there was "hell, hardness and passion".Museu do Fad

/ref> ''Animal Sentimental'' is her latest album.

Discography

* 1991 – ''Mísia'' (EMI) * 1993 – '' Fado (Mísia album), Fado'' (BMG) * 1995 – ''Tanto menos, tanto mais'' (BMG) * 1998 – ''Garras dos Sentidos'' (Detour) * 1999 – ''Paixões Diagonais'' (Detour) * 2001 – ''Ritual'' (Erato) * 2003 – ''Canto'' (music by

) (Warner) * 2005 – ''Drama Box'' (Naive) * 2009 – ''Ruas'' (AZ) * 2011 – ''Senhora da noite'' (Sìlene) * 2013 – ''Delikatessen Café Concerto'' (Parlophone) * 2015 – ''Para Amália'' (Warner) * 2016 - ''Do Primeiro Fado Ao Último Tango'' (Warner) * 2019 - ''Pura Vida (Banda Sonora)'' (Gaileo Music) * 2022 - ''Animal Sentimental'' (Galileo Music)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Misia 20th-century Portuguese women singers Portuguese fado singers Portuguese people of Spanish descent French-language singers English-language singers from Portugal Catalan-language singers Spanish-language singers Musicians from Porto Portuguese agnostics 1955 births Living people Erato Records artists 21st-century Portuguese women singers