With her bob hairstyle of pitch-black hair and black clothes, contrasting with a pale face, Misia is an appearance that you will not soon forget. The singer has been in the fado circuit since the early 1990s, but her career has long been overshadowed by the success of singers such as Dulce Pontes, Cristina Branco and Mariza. Misia was born the daughter of a Portuguese father and a Spanish mother.
Her grandmother was a variety performer, her mother a ballerina. She grew up in Spain, but returned to Portugal as an adult. There she decided to dedicate herself as a singer to a revaluation and renewal of fado. Many albums followed including Misia (1991), Garras Dos Sentidos (1998) and Paixões Diagonais (1999). For her album Canto (2003), Misia commissioned the poet Vasco Graça Moura to write lyrics to the instrumental works of the Portuguese composer and guitarist Carlos Paredes. The instrumental line-up of a string group in addition to the traditional Portuguese guitar is striking. Strings can also be heard on Dulce Pontes' album Primeiro Canto. Yet the two albums are completely different. While Pontes is surrounded by nature with her love for Africa, Misia evokes images of a trendy club in a metropolis from the 1920s with Canto. (CP) While Pontes is surrounded by nature with her love for Africa, Misia evokes images of a trendy club in a metropolis from the 1920s with Canto. (CP) While Pontes, with her love for Africa, is surrounded by nature, Misia with Canto conjures up images of a trendy club in a metropolis from the 1920s. (CP)more