Portuguese singer (widely known as Fadista) Mísia died this Saturday at the age of 69. The death was announced by writer Richard Zimler on social media.
“I’m heartbroken that my old friend, the singer Mísia, has just left us. She left peacefully, sweetly, painlessly. I loved her so much,” reads the Facebook post.
Mísia, stage name Susana Maria Alfonso de Aguiar, was born in Porto on June 18, 1955, to a Portuguese father and a Spanish mother.
She began her artistic career in Catalonia, but it wasn’t until the 1990s that she dedicated herself to fado, releasing her first album under her own name in 1991, followed in 1993 by ‘Fado’ and later, in 1998, ‘Garra dos Sentidos’, which was awarded the Charles Cross Prize in France.
Since then, she has performed on many different stages around the world, recording fado and other music – such as Neapolitan songs and tangos.
‘Paixões Diagonais’ (Diagonal Passions), in which Mísia is accompanied by Maria João Pires, was released in 1999, after the French academy’s award, and in 2003, with music by Carlos Paredes and texts by different poets, she recorded the album ‘Canto’, which won her the German Critics’ Prize.
‘Drama Box’ and ‘Ruas’ are other albums by the performer who, among other artists and groups, has recorded with the ensemble L’Arpeggiata, by Austrian harpist and musicologist Christina Pluhar.
In 2013 she released the album ‘Delikatessen – Café Concerto’, which she described as “a fantastic menu of songs, with a very kitsch and cinematic feel”, including an unreleased song by Tiago Torres da Silva, ‘Rasto Infinito’.
The double CD ‘Para Amália’, released in May 2015, was followed by ‘Do Primeiro Fado ao Último Tango’, also a double CD, which summarizes a 25-year career, and which she presented last December at the Trindade Theatre in Lisbon.
Throughout her career, Mísia has received various distinctions, including the Order of Arts and Letters in France in 2011, the Order of Civil Merit in Portugal, the Gilda Prize at the 33rd Cinema e Donne Festival in Italy for her role in the film ‘Passione’, directed by John Turturro. In 2012, she was awarded the Amália Rodrigues Prize in the International Publicity category.
Translation by Bruma Publications – We thank the Luso-American Education Foundation for their financial support to PBBI-Fresno State, on a variety of projects including Filamentos.
Take a listen to her magnificent voice
Filamentos (artes e letras) 