Tag: Salavador Sobral

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Singer who won Eurovision for Portugal in 2017, with a song penned by his sister. He has much more depth to him than this, and is a genuine exponent of other styles of Portuguese music.

Poems by Fernando Pessoa set to music

There is a song of the people
I can't even say if it is a Fado
...
But it is so comforting
This vague and sad song
That my soul no longer cries

Here's Mariza singing the whole song.

Mariza "Há uma musica do Povo"

1. Mariza "Há uma musica do Povo" (There is a song of the people)

Music: Mário Pacheco
Portuguese guitar: Luís Guerreiro

Inevitably Fadistas would like this one. But a whole host of Pessoa's other poems have been set to music, many of them as Fado, but in other styles too. In this post there's a selection.

Here are the words of the poem Mariza is singing in Portuguese, with my English free translation below each verse.

Há uma musica do Povo,
Nem sei dizer se é um fado -
Que ouvindo-a há um chiste novo
No ser que tenho guardado

There is a song of the people,
I can't even say if it's a Fado.
When I hear it it is like a new joke
Played on the me I've been guarding.

Ouvindo-a sou quem seria
Se desejar fosse ser
É uma simples melodia
Das que se aprendem a viver

Listening to it I am who I'd be
If only wishing was enough.
It's a simple melody
Of those who learn to live.

Mas é tão consoladora
A vaga e triste canção
Que a minha alma já não chora
Nem eu tenho coração

But it is so comforting,
This vague and sad song
That my soul no longer cries
Even if I don't have a heart.

Sou uma emoção estrangeira,
Um erro de sonho ido…
Canto de

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Salvador Sobral sings playful version of his 2017 Eurovision winner before the contest

Salvador and Luísa Sobral
Salvador overcame life-threatening illness to win

Salvador and Luísa Sobral "Amar Pelos Dois"

Salvador and Luísa Sobral "Amar Pelos Dois" (To love for both of us)

Salvador comes across as wildy eccentric and unworldly, while at the same time level-headed and sincere. There is a genuine backstory behind this, surprising in this age of made-up hype. In December 2017 he had a heart transplant, getting out of hospital on 12 Jan 2018.

He was already ill seven months earlier. He'd had another lesser operation just before the Portuguese heats. His sister Luísa Sobral was at the Eurovision final in Kiev in May 2017 not only because she wrote the winning song. She had special dispensation from the organisers to stand in for her convalescing brother during the rehearsals and meetings leading up to the event.

This family support meant that when Salvador was there he could concentrate on the essentials, such as his stage performance. And he had another advantage - he had thought deeply about what music and Eurovision meant in his life, and why it was worth making the effort to turn up. This showed up in his performance. It wasn't the usual frantic attempt to impress. He was very visibly concentrating on the song.

“We live in a world of disposable music - fast-food music without any content. I think this could be a victory for music that actually means something. Music is not fireworks. Music is feeling.” Salvador Sobral, May 2017 in Kiev, after winning the Eurovision Song Contest

His victory speech, with its famous "Music-is-feeling-not-fireworks" remark, was way outside the Eurovision norm. He is

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