Lisbon may not be the first city that comes to mind when you start planning a European holiday, but singer Nelly Furtado finds Portugal’s capital to be a diamond in the rough. Something to think about before you take your girl to Paris-again.

Why Go

Lisbon is an untouched jewel. My parents are from the Azores islands, but I’ve been to Lisbon 10 times. It’s a cosmopolitan city, but it’s off the radar, which makes it cool. Artistically and creatively, it’s ahead of the game. When you’re there, it’s like you’re in on a little secret.

Where To Stay

During my most recent trip, for the MTV Europe Music Awards, I stayed at the Four Seasons Hotel Ritz Lisbon (+351-21-381-1400; fourseasons.com (that number and website are actually in the article, as well as others)). If you choose a chain hotel, you’re comfortable, but it ends up giving you the “on tour” feeling. I like to kind of seek out what’s cool in the city- like the Palacio Belmonte (+351-21-881-6600; palaciobelmonte.com). It used to be a royal palace, and they made it into a hotel, so there’s only maybe 10 rooms in the whole place.

Where To Eat

Every time I’m in Lisbon, I go to Santa Antonio de Alfama (+351-21-888-1328). It’s tucked away in one of the city’s older districts. We know the chef, and you can sit and drink red wine and eat for five hours! The wine is cheap because it’s local, so for $2, you’ll get an amazing bottle. This last trip, I also went to this Italian-Portuguese fusion restaurant Mezzalluna (+351-21-387-99-44). It was really, really wonderful.

What To Do

What’s really fun is to go to a fado bar. You can sit down, have dinner and wine (Tiff’s note: Nelly’s such a drunk. LOL!! Just joking), and singers will perform this original, nostalgic music, accompanied by a guitara. It’s truly enchanting. For nightclubs, there’s an area called Docas. Portugal used to have colonies in Angola and Mozambique, so there’s a large African population in Lisbon. The music in the Angolian nightclubs is incredible. It’s a fusion of African rythm and a little bit of Portuguese fado- absolutely beautiful music- and somtimes couples will dance, almost like a semba. My favourite semba club is Discoteca Mussulo (+351-21-355-68-72), located in the central district. The first time I heard this music, I almost died. It’s totally unique.

What To Buy

Portugal is big in the textile industry. Near the Jeronimos Monastery, which has the tombs of Portuguese writer Luis Camoes and our great explorer vasco da Gama, there are artisan stores with really nice handmade woven sweaters and embroidered things, like tablecloths and handkerchiefs. My last time there, I picked up a traditional folk-dancing outfit for my daughter.

What To Pack

You’ll be out late drinking lots of amazing tasting wine, so bring a hangover helper. I travel with homeopathic medicine, which I highly recommend.

As told to Brenden Frederick.

Concert Pictures – [Click to Enlarge]

[new_years_albufeira_portugal] – NEED TO FIND

Credit: Lovelynelly (BITS Member)

There’s also a rumour going around that Nelly will play a hour long radio show (that will be broadcasted live, and the radio channel always gives away tickets) next month. The show is called Live-Kantine. From what I know the show would be in the Munich area then, it’s a German radio channel called Antenne Bayern. But so far there’s no confirmation. They state it as planned…G

Now take a look at Nelly’s lyrics to “Forca” and, using your own skill and judgement, decide whether or not she succeeded in avoiding being “cornball-y”.

“It is the passion flowing right on through your veins
And it’s the feeling that you’re oh so glad you came
It is the moment you remember you’re alive
It is the air you breathe, the element, the fire
It is that flower that you took the time to smell
It is the power that you know you got as well
It is the fear inside that you can overcome
This is the orchestra, the rhythm and the drum
It is the soundtrack of your ever-flowing life
It is the wind beneath your feet that makes you fly
It is the beautiful game that you choose to play
When you step out into the world to start your day
You show your face and take it in and scream and pray
You’re gonna win it for yourself and us today
It is the gold, the green, the yellow and the grey
The red and sweat and tears, the love you go. Hey!”

NOT A BALL OF CORN IN SIGHT!

Source: The Mirror

‘Força’ is the sixth of 12 songs on Nelly Furtado’s upcoming album, whose commercial launch takes place 25th of November in the United States and Canada. The album, entitled ‚ “Folklore”, was born from the intense experience of her summer holiday in the Azores in 2002, the native land of her parents and grandparents. And the song “Força”, as she explains, “resulted from the experience of what I received from the Portuguese people when I returned to Portugal”.

Nelly accounts that “força” translates to “keep going” or “kick ass”, “is associated to sport, especially football”, and she explains how she wrote the music and lyrics: “I combined a feminine twist to how I view our favourite sport”. And when conjoined with nationality, it becomes very intense! Thus,”Força” is a happy song, an explosion of energy, with the sounds of banjo from Bela Fleck.

On second review, the Euro-2004 organisation asked Nelly to write one version of the lyrics in Portuguese although the song should be presented in the two languages, both English and Portuguese. For the final show, singer Dulce Pontes was invited rock the international audience with the song “Cancao do Mar”, which marked the Portuguese candidacy of the organisation of Euro 2004.

Source translated by Paula Ribeiro for SOTR, 18th Oct, 2003

By Anabela Mota Ribeiro, Reader’s Digest
Edited & Translated from Portuguese by Joana Canavilhas for SOTR
Interview Feb 2001, Published Jun 2001

Anabela Mota Ribeiro: Can you tell me about your Azorean grandfather, a band conductor?

Nelly Furtado: My grandfather Virgínio Araújo Neto was a legend in S. Miguel. His brother also played in a band. (…) There was a big passion for music in my mother’s house.

AMR: Where did they live?

NF: Ponta Garça, S. Miguel. They were farmers.

AMR: Were the lyrics of their songs about their work?

NF: They were instrumentals. They didn’t write lyrics. I don’t know where my passion for writing lyrics comes from. My musical inspiration comes from my grandfather, my uncle, my mother.

AMR: How old was your mother when she went to Canada?

NF: 25 years old. My dad went first; he emigrated with his family to Canada also at the age of 25. He met my mum on a Summer holidays in S. Miguel, started dating and then he told her to go to Canada so they would get married. My mum is 54. My dad is going to be 60 next Wednesday.

AMR: Are going to be home for your father’s birthday?

NF: No.

AMR: What are you going to be doing on that day?

NF: I’m going to be at the David Letterman Show.

AMR: Do you get nervous for being in such an important show in which every artist wants to be?

NF: I get nervous. I’ve been on Jay Leno, Saturday Night Live, which is the most important one for music, and this week, in England, I’ve been in 6 tv shows, live. I’m getting used, losing my fear. Jay Leno was the 2nd tv show I’ve been to, it happened too early on my career and I was really nervous. I was afraid that I wouldn’t be what people expected. The voice becomes shaky and the music doesn’t sound as good as it should.

AMR: Are you afraid that you may not sing well?

NF: Yes. Before I’m on stage, I can only think of trying not to be nervous. The music is the most important thing. When I think of that, I calm down. If I think ‘Oh, my parents are home watching’, ‘oh, there’s so many people watching’, ‘ah, my dress’, I’m not exactly there at that moment.

AMR: Your life has changed so much that you can’t even be there at your father’s birthday. How was last year?

NF: I was in LA recording the CD. These past 2 years have been very tiring, without free time. Especially on the CD recording, we worked a lot. 12 hours per day, 6 days per week. But I was there for my mum’s birthday.

AMR: In all your interviews, you speak about your mother much more than you speak about your father.

NF: Mothers… there’s always a stronger relationship. My father is more calm, silent.

AMR: What kind of things do you tell your mum that you wouldn’t tell you dad?

NF: Many things. My dad is older. Our relationship is now becoming more open. With my mum, there was the music: I sang with her, I participated on church stuff with her. My dad enjoys being alone in the garden, in peace. A part of me is like him, calm and quiet. But there’s the other part of me that enjoys being on stage, being a star, likes to live.
Playing guitar at coffee shops

AMR: Did they pay you?

NF: Many times it was for free. I did it to show my songs to people. But my father’s comments weren’t negative, he likes music too. He likes fado music. When I was a child, he’d take us to watch canções ao desafio. I remember that very well. I never saw him singing, but I know he did. Last year I gave him some videotapes with canções ao desafio. I got them in Toronto, on a Portugal Day party

AMR: How often did you go Portugal? Once a year?

NF: Not that often. I spent whole summers there, once when I was 9, another time when I was 12. At 16 I went there alone and I spent Summer with my grandmother. Last year I went there with my mum.

AMR: Was it boring for you?

NF: Hum… when you’re a kid, you find boring many ‘adult’ things. The canções ao desafio – don’t have much going on on stage: it’s just sitting down and singing. But I always knew it was something very beautiful, with a big history. I’ve always loved the Portuguese culture, including the Azorean one, ever since I was a little child. And I was very proud.

AMR: Were you really?

NF: Yes. Because it was something different. There weren’t many Portuguese people; in Victoria there aren’t even 2000 Portuguese-descendants. In elementary school, there wasn’t any Portuguese kids. In the city there are many British people, with very white skin and light hair. I felt very different. And the others could see I was different. I’d take beans sandwiches to school.

AMR: Beans?

NF: Yes, beans. The others would take cheese and ham sandwiches. The beans was something really Portuguese. I felt that difference almost with embarrassment. But it wasn’t that really. I had my community, I found it on the church. I felt proud. And I’d come home from school, turned on the TV and I’d never see any Portuguese people. So I used to think ‘Someday I’ll be on TV so the children will see a Portuguese person’. It was a dream. So I’m always talking about Portugal and the Azorean culture.

AMR: What was the social level of your friends at school? Did their parents work hard?

NF: No. I remember when I was in 1st grade, the teacher asked us what were our parents’ jobs. Each one of us spoke. When I said ‘my mum is a cleaning lady’: they looked at me with a surprise look. I grew up on the washing machines room at the Motel! I had lots of respect for my parents and I didn’t find it strange that my mum did the cleaning and my dad worked with his hands.

AMR: Being someone who worked a lot in the past is also part of the American dream.

NF: My life wasn’t really difficult; we always had what we needed. But yes, the USA likes the American dream concept, a nice dream, a good story. My story is interesting. I talk about those subjects because the Portuguese culture is part of my music, the Portuguese universe is my inspiration. If it didn’t, I wouldn’t talk about Portugal so much.

AMR: You’ve always had everything, but you got used to work. For 8 summers you helped your mother making the beds at the motel.

NF: Yes, I always worked in the summer.

AMR: You probably preferred to go to the beach or to the pool.

NF: I worked to have the money to travel. My parents made us very responsible at an early age. At the age of 12, 13 we had to work to buy the stuff we wanted: clothes, trips. But it was difficult, 7 o’clock in the morning, Saturday, «pum pum pum», ‘it’s time to go to work’.

AMR: How old were you when you began working?

NF: 12 years old. At 17 I worked for the whole summer to pay for the ticket to Toronto. I stayed there for a year, worked from 9 am to 5 pm at an alarm company. The job was really boring, worse than cleaning! I used the money to pay for the recordings of my band at that time (Nelstar) and the ticket to Europe. )

AMR: How was that summer in Europe?

NF: I went to Madrid, Barcelona, San Sebastian, Paris, London. I travelled for 5 weeks. Then, I came back to Victoria, went to University and enrolled in creative writing. Throughout that year I also worked with my mom. And I was tired of it! Ah, I thought it was over, the work at the Robin Hood Motel, oh, when is it gonna end?’ And you know what? Inside of me, I still think someday I’ll be cleaning rooms at the Robin Hood Motel.

AMR: Really?

NF: Working there is part of my imaginary. It was the story of Cinderella, cleaning and dreaming. But I didn’t want to be a star. I thought about making albums: about the music, the lyrics, the instruments.

AMR: So you’re saying you’re afraid things will go back?

NF: Nothing remains forever. So it’s important to live the moment. So I invited my family to go the Junos, in Toronto.

AMR: You were nominated for 6 categories.

NF: I want to be seen. I have lots of faith in my talent, in what my spirit has to give. I believe I’ll be making music, that I’ll be successful in music. I don’t know about the rest. There’s always stuff that I have to remember: In this career there are so many false things and people are so real… the tv is false. The interviews can be false. This one isn’t! (laughs)

AMR: Thank you.

NF: The media is really powerful. There are rules: make a happy face, you can’t be boring…

AMR: Is that what the managers tell you?

NF: My managers are very honest with me, they don’t hide anything. I’m learning a lot about promotion. I didn’t know almost anything. It’s so different when you’re dreaming…

AMR: What’s the big difference?

NF: You imagine the applause, the passion for the writing. You don’t imagine the work. I’m very perfectionist. ‘War’ is with me! Nelly wants to be perfect, in the promotion, on the interviews, everything. High expectations.

AMR: The expectations are yours, to start with.

NF: Yes, I’m the worst.

AMR: How different is it when you give an interview in Portuguese? Would it be different if you spoke in English?

NF: Yes. I’m more honest when I speak Portuguese. Because I don’t have as much vocabulary as I have in English, I only say the truth, I don’t have many words to go around the subjects. I limit myself to the actual facts.

AMR: You think in English, Portuguese is your second language.

NF: I want to spend a period in Lisbon and in S. Miguel so I can improve my Portuguese. Maybe when I finish the promotion of this CD. Romantically I’ve always wanted to live in Portugal, I like the European style of living. I’d like to come in a few years.

AMR: One side is your dad’s and the other is your mum’s.

NF: Yes. My dad’s side is about thinking, writing; it belongs to the islands. My mum’s side is about sharing. I don’t know which one I prefer. Maybe the strongest passion is about writing, to tell you the truth. I may wanna try writing books, having a more calm life, in, say, 10 years. And more politics too. (My brother and sister are involved in political subjects, my brother is a socialist). Before I was 17 I didn’t even know my parents’ country was under the fascist power! I was interested in studying the history of Portugal, to know who I am.

AMR: Study the roots to understand better who you are.

NF: Yes. And I love the idea of revolution. It’s so cool. Don’t you think? When I was 16-17 I was in Portugal and I found a very artistic environment, the modern Portuguese music. That was when I was even more proud to be Portuguese. I found out that being Portuguese isn’t only about canções ao desafio. There’s a movement of modernity.

AMR: How can a 22 year old girl be so confident?

NF: Music gives me that confidence. I’ve played instruments. I’ve sang. I’ve danced. I’ve always heard nice words of support from teachers, friends, family. ‘You’re very talented, you’ve got to do it as your career.’

AMR: Were you looked upon as the prodigious little girl?

NF: I was the perfect little girl. (laughs) Since I was very little. But when I was 13-14 I was very interested in having fun with my girlfriends!

AMR: Did your parents allow you to go out at night?

NF: For my sister it was more difficult, she’s older. I’d escape from the window. I was never caught! My dad wouldn’t let me bring my boyfriends home; but he would let my sister. It was also about me being perfect, being the princess. ‘Nobody touches Nelly’. My mother used to call me all these baby names… I always replied ‘I’m not a baby!’

AMR: Do you have a boyfriend?

NF: I’ve had a boyfriend. He was a Portuguese immigrant from Lourinhã. We broke up in September.

AMR: Do you have time to date?

NF: No. And, to tell you the truth, I’m afraid of love. I travel a lot, and if I fall in love, my life would be about missing him. I’m better off this way, free, single. But of course I want a family. If God allows it.

AMR: What kind of relation do you have with your family nowadays?

NF: We have a more mature relation. They respect me, they see I work a lot. People are what they are; it’s a result of their education, of what they naturally are. I think I was born this way, being responsible and all. Sometimes I think my fate is already written. And my fate is making the others happy with my music. That’s all.

AMR: And now you’re living the dream of all your family.

NF: I think that’s it. But my grandmother doesn’t like me to be on tour, that I travel so much, that I meet so many guys. When she saw the video-clip (ILAB), they were all sitting around the TV at the kitchen… you know that part where there are thousands of people? She saw that part and she said: ‘In front of all those boys, with her tummy uncovered!’ (laughs) To tell you the truth, my grandmother is proud, but she doesn’t understand my life.

AMR: Are your parents afraid that you change?

NF: Maybe so. Maybe they are afraid that I become too different from them.

AMR: Are you afraid of becoming too different from the life you had?

NF: Yes I do, I’m afraid of becoming foreign. I don’t want to be different. I don’t have anything else, do you understand? Only my family. People don’t have anything if they don’t have their family. I think that’s about true love. To be without it? I don’t think I could…