Canto

Misia | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 10, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2004
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Warner Bros / Wea
• ASIN: B0000C8WYW
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #86,045 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #20 in Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Portugal

Track Listings

1. Presságios de Alfama [Omen of Alfama]

2. Sem Saber [Without Knowing]

3. Lamento das Rosas Bravas

4. Tia Minha Gentil [My Kind Aunt]

5. Ah Não [Ah No]

6. Canção de Alcipe [Alcipe's Song]

7. Nenhum Sonho Se Entrega À Chegada [No Dream Surrendered to Its Arrival]

8. Horas de Breu [Dark Hours]

9. Valsa das Sombras [Waltz of the Shadows]

10. Verdes Anos [Green Years]

11. Tim Tim Por Tim Tim [Tim Tim, Tim Tim]

12. Ah Não II

13. Balada de Coimbra

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Known for her deliberately artsy live performances and, of course, her exceptionally graceful take on Portugal's fado music tradition, Mísia is one of the leading lights of the music since the great Amalia Rodrigues passed away. She toys with tradition in a different way on Canto, taking on the music of challenging Portuguese composer Carlos Paredes. Since these are not folk songs, the singer augments (and sometimes supplants) fado's traditional acoustic guitar trio with a classical string quintet. The results are stunning: the music here sounds like wildly passionate versions of baroque classics, particularly on the opening song "Presságios de Alfama." The singer maintains her fadista's soul throughout as she sings the dramatic lyrics of poet Vasco Graça Moura and others. As her voice soars, violins and the Portuguese guitar of José Manuel Neto compliment with delicate refinement. One of the more unique sounding efforts to come out of the fado tradition, Canto is a work of rare and tender beauty. --Tad Hendrickson

Product Description

Miraculous & mysterious, stirring & poetic, attractive & luminous... such is Misia, an exceptional fado singer who, since her first album release under Detour label, Garras Dos Sentidos, then followed by her passage at the Olympia in October 1998 & January 1999 (14th & 15th of January), has imposed herself as an essential figure of the international musical scene. 'Canto' is an original & ambitious project, resulting from the meeting of different artistic languages, inspired by the Portuguese composer Carlos Paredes. 13 tracks. Warner. 2003.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Cant I give it 6 stars???, February 17, 2004

By 

Leonor Barroso (3030 177 Coimbra Portugal) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canto (Audio CD)

I am portuguese, but I am not much of a fado lover.
What I like is Carlos Paredes' music; I find him the only composer to make me feel as I do when listening to J.S.Bach. I almost start believing in God.
So, this music is like the sound of the Portuguese Soul, but it is almost like sacred.
Mísia managed to sing it, with the extraordinary arrangements by Henri Agnel, adding a string quintet to the usual guitars of fado. The lyrics, from contemporary Portuguese poets are great.Even the album cover and the booklet are beautiful...
What else can I say? Now, when ever I listen to Verdes Anos, only with the guitars, I cant help hearing in my mind « Era o Amor...»....

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fado meets chamber music, February 22, 2004

By 

Karl Stull (Peoria, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Canto (Audio CD)

In this album, Misia takes a new direction, setting her rich resonant voice against the rich resonant voices of cello, viola, and violin. The songs, of course, are sad -- reflections on the sorrow that drapes every joy in life. It's perfect for an afternoon when you feel like crying your eyes out.

If you are a beginner to fado, I would recommend that you first buy Paixoes Diagonais, which is not "pure" fado either but features more of the characteristic Portuguese guitar. The gitarra is mandolin-like on high notes and zither-like (twangy) on low notes. Very different from the velvety overtones of orchestral instruments played with a bow.

Then you might try Ritual, which is pure Misia and gitarra -- all out, boohoo Portuguese torch singing. Grab a hanky.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Canto by Misia, August 30, 2005

By 

Sain Alizada (Samsun, Turkey) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Canto (Audio CD)

This is one my most favorite fado records. Canto is another one of Misia's experiments with instrumentation and commissioning lyrics by contemporary poets. Almost all songs, except for the last instrumental track Balada de Coimbra by Jose Eliseu, are composed by the Portuguese guitar legend Carlos Paredes. Enigmatic as any other fado record, these melancholic chants

stand out for the extraordinary vocals and wonderful instrumental arrangement. Jose Manuel Neto does a perfect job on the Portuguese guitar and string quartet from the Camerate

de Bourgogne makes a heart-breaking gem of Balada de Coimbra. Misia is at her best at Ah Nao II, and Tia Minha Gentil is just like sitting in a restaurant at Cais da Ribeira in Porto with a bottle of port and bacalhau, pondering about fatalism and exquisite frustration about thwarted love and matters that cannot ever be changed...