Ana Moura is a portugese Fado singer who has performed with artist such as Prince and The Rolling Stones. On her first tour to Adelaide for Womadelaide 2011, Ana spoke to The Barefoot Review to tell us a little about herself and her style of music. The following phone interview quality is low, however the included transcript will assist with poor sound quality. Enjoy.
Paul:
Ana welcome to the Barefoot Interview and thank you for joining us, you’re coming out to Adelaide for Womadelaide in a few weeks time in March, and Adelaide audiences are really excited to hear a little bit about you. What inspired you to be a singer? Where you a performer from an early age?
Ana:
Yes, since I was very young, I have this conflict with music, because I grew up listening to my parents singing, so, and when my father used to play guitar, and since I was really young that, I felt that I could sing. For example I was 5 years old, all the weekends spent with my parents and their friends singing and playing they always invited me to
sing a song.
Paul:
Have you always worked in the Fado style, or have you tried other forms of singing too?
Ana:
When I started to sing listening to my parents it was Fado and (more) Portuguese traditional music, but then I started to grow up and to pay attention to other kinds of music, and I sang Soul and Brazilian music, but I always had a special feeling for Fado.
Paul:
Australian audiences might not be familiar with Fado, can you describe what the style of Fado is like for us?
Ana:
People used to call it Portuguese blues; it’s all about soul and about sharing feelings with people, sharing experiences of life. So all the ladies are all very profound, because when they speak about those experiences they think about all the feelings involved.
Paul:
Fado is the style, or the technique, but within that Framework you can be very flexible about what story you want to tell, I guess you must often feel inspired to tell stories that fit within that framework.
Ana:
Yes, that’s true.
Paul:
You write all your own music do you?
Ana:
No, I have a few poets writing for me and a few composers too ... Because we have this tradition of putting new lyrics on the traditional Fado, the traditional Fado’s are the very old melodies with a special structure...
Paul:
I kind of read there are two different ways for the audience to thank the artist, the can either thank the artist by clapping at the end of the song or by clearing their throat, making a throat clearing noise in recognition. Who would you say have been your mentors, your guides in the style of Fado?
Ana:
Amália Rodrigues she is the soul of, because she has all the characteristics to be the greatest singer, with a beautiful soul, a beautiful color, her voice beautiful, a huge range, so she has all the characteristics to be the greatest.
Paul:
Wow. In 2007 you sang with Mick Jagger at the rolling stones concert in Lisbon. How did that come about? What was that experience like?
Ana:
It was great, I had this concert with them because they have a project, the Stones project with many singers from different areas like Nora Jones like Cheryl Crow singing songs from the Stones, but with their own style, and one of the (Rolling stones) like Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Ronnie wood and Charlie Watts they all play one instrument with one of the singers on the project, and the producer is the saxophone player and they wanted to have a, they did a songs world with world music and they wanted to have a Fado voice on the project too, so they heard a few CD’s and I had the, lucky to be chosen, so then when they came to Portugal to the concert in the stadium, they came to a traditional Fado house, and they asked to listen to me in the traditional Fado house, so after the concert that night in the Fado house they invite me to go to see them performing in the stadium....the day after, and then when I was arriving to the stadium I got this phone call that they wanted to invite me to sing with them one of the songs I recorded in this project, so it was an amazing experience.
Paul:
That’s amazing. You mentioned just now Fado Houses, is this... I’ve seen this reference quite a lot in my research is this a club which is traditionally only for Fado singing?
Ana:
Its a club, where you sing very close to the audience without amplification.
Paul:
Like a cabaret style maybe?
Ana:
Yes.
Paul:
In 2009 there were some rumors that you were going to collaborate with Prince, and there’s some video of you singing live with him playing on a guitar. I’m wondering, can we expect something new maybe incorporating a Fado and a Rock style any time soon.
Ana:
I don’t know.
Paul:
Don’t know? Is it a secret maybe?
Ana:
No, there have been a few experiences with him, and they have been amazing for me....and very important…
Paul:
You’ve completed four albums, you’ve been nominated for an Edison award, you won an Amalia award for best performer of Fado in 2007 and just last year you won a Portuguese Golden Globe for best individual musical performer. What would you say has been the highlight of your career so far?
Ana:
It’s hard to choose to be honest.
Paul:
Everything maybe.
Ana:
Yes.
Paul:
I read, in another interview you said that for you one of the most important things is just the recognition of the work, it’s not so much the future but just the respect and recognition.
Ana:
Yes, Yes that’s true.
Paul:
Your last album release was in 2009, have you been working on a 5th album or some new work?
Ana:
Yes I’m already, I already preparing the new one.
Paul:
Do you have any idea when that will come to completion? Or do you just take it as it comes and then decide when it feels like it’s finished?
Ana:
Yes, probably I think it will be finished the end of this year, yes. (2011)
Paul:
Wonderful, we will look forward to that. You’ve toured lots of countries of the world, you’ve taken your music all over the place, will this be the first time that you have performed in Australia?
Ana:
Right.
Paul:
What can Womadelaide audiences expect from your tour in a few weeks time? I’ve know that I’ve read that you’re not even sure yourself what songs you’re going to sing until just before you go on stage. Do you know what you’re going to bring to your Australian tour?
Ana:
Yes, actually I know that I want to show the last songs from the last album. But of course I always sing the most popular ones from the previous albums, but I have this, like an idea, that I like to have that freedom to live the environment, to choose what song can I play. So I think to live this freedom for the moment is very important because Fado is about that.
Paul:
Do you play with the same ensemble, the same band members all the time?
Ana:
I do, Yes.
Paul:
They understand your freedom.
Ana:
Yes. Yes, that is very important.
Paul:
That’s good that you can collaborate like that. Well we are almost completely out of time Ana and thank you so much for speaking with me, it’s been a pleasure having you on, it’s only a really short interview and a small sample of what you’ve got to offer, but were so looking forward to having you come to Adelaide in a few weeks time and we hope that we can put on a good show, some good weather. Have you been to a Womad festival before in another country?
Ana:
No, No it’s the first time too.
Paul:
Wonderful, I think you are really going to enjoy it, Womad is such a big beautiful celebration of music, and so many people from all over the world coming together to celebrate. This city, we love a festival, we love live art and we love Womadelaide, so we look forward to having you come, and thank you very much for talking to us.
Ana:
Thank you very much Paul.
