Dâna

Sónia Mota was born in June 1980. She adopted a name that tells her a lot, Dâna, that is “Gift of Sharing”. She adopted it as a way to thank the ability to sing and to be able to share with others.

Dâna grew up in the middle of popular culture, inheriting from her grandfather, Sebastião Mateus Arenque, popular poet, writer and mentor of traditional culture in the Azambuja region, a natural taste for Portuguese traditions and culture.

In 2001 she participated with the song “No tom das cores“ (written by Américo Faria), at the Festival RTP da Canção, and obtained the 3rd place in the classification. The success of this presentation marked the beginning of her professional career dedicated to music.

Two years later she released her first solo album. The CD “Cantar Português" presents themes of fusion between traditional Portuguese music, fado and electronics. This record was released in Japan, in eastern and northern Europe.

Her first album entirely dedicated to fado, “Sei Finalmente“, was edited by Espacial, in 2007, showing “the expression of a rising singer”.

In the 11 themes that make up the album, Dâna covers some themes by Amália Rodrigues, such as “Troca de olhares” (João Linhares Barbosa - Martinho d'Assunção), “Abandono” (David Mourão-Ferreira - Alain Oulman), “As mãos que trago ”(Cecília Meireles - Alain Oulman) or “Erros Meus ”(Luís Vaz de Camões - Alain Oulman), revealing her own approach to fado: “Feeling, longing, identity, passion and compassion. This is my fado and it is through these words that I am a fado singer ”.

In 2009, Dâna registers a set of 12 themes on disk. In her third solo CD, entitled “Fado que amo”, the fado singer is again accompanied by João Chitas' portuguese guitar and José Simões's classic guitar. In the press release of the album it is revealed that: “after a year of stages and audiences covered, of encounters and disagreements, of conversations exchanged with lovers and connoisseurs of fado, the path to a repertoire, to a new album, was easy to meet. Between the "fado cravo", the "fado das horas", the "fado menor", the "fado alexandrino", among other traditional fados, as well as names like Max, Alfredo Marceneiro, Frederico Valério, we find in the middle of the history of fado, some words in the form of letters of Dâna and Vasco Lima (producer)”.

In July 2009 Dâna performed for the first time at the VII Festival of Fados of Castile and Leon, which took place in Zamora.

Source:

Biography delivered to the Fado Museum by the fado singer;

http://de.netlog.com/Danafado

http://www.myspace.com/Danaagencia

http://Danafado.blogspot.com/

http://pt-pt.facebook.com/pages/DANA/85342061893