Amor de mel, amor de fel

Honey and Bile

Today’s fado brings together love mingled with sin, honey mixed with bile, flowers tarnished with tears, and, as always, an inner struggle with ultimately overpowering emotions, which leaves the both the fadista and the audience exhausted. The best of fado!

This version is interpreted by another young fadista, Kátia Guerreiro. Guerreiro was born in South Africa in 1976 before moving to the Azores as a child and ultimately to Lisbon. She was always musical, learning to play the viola da terra as a child (the traditional instrument of the Azores), and as a student she sung with a band dedicated to 1960s Portuguese pop, Os Charruas, but claimed that it was only gradually that she came to realise her talent as a fadista. Having originally studied medicine at Lisbon, she is also a qualified doctor, and initially seemed reluctant to forsake her medical career for that of a fadista. Thankfully for fado addicts, she chose the latter.

Amor de mel, amor de fel, deals with a love which the fadista is battling to supress. We know only that this love is sinful, that she cannot confess it, only cry over it. Defined by opposites, it is a love which has the sweetness of honey, the freshness of a flower, but also the bitterness of bile and the darkness of sin. And whilst she tells us that she cannot allow herself to continue loving her sinful love, there is more than a hint of triumphant rebellion against her own efforts to stifle her feelings. No matter how sinful, the protagonist cannot help but feel exultation, even pride, in a love which has the power to make even the ocean seem grander than it is…

Kátia Guerreiro:





I am making an exception and including two, equally beautiful, but very different versions of this fado, the first by Kátia Guerreiro and the second by António Zambujo. I must admit that Guerreiro’s larger-than-life performance style is not always my cup of tea, but she certainly has a powerful and deeply impressive voice, whose potency is really brought to the fore by the vocal challenges of this song. Zabujo’s version is, as ever, understated and restrained, shot through with the tension of repressed desire. Enjoy!


António Zambujo:





Amor de mel, amor de fel

Tenho um amor
Que não posso confessar...
Mas posso chorar
Amor pecado, amor de amor,
Amor de mel, amor de flor,
Amor de fel, amor maior,
Amor amado!

Tenho um amor
Amor de dor, amor maior,
Amor chorado em tom menor
Em tom menor, maior o Fado!
Choro a chorar
Tornando maior o mar
Não posso deixar de amar
O meu amor em pecado!

Foi andorinha
Que chegou na Primavera,
Eu era quem era!
Amor pecado, amor de amor,
Amor de mel, amor de flor,
Amor de fel, amor maior,
Amor amado!

Tenho um amor
Amor de dor, amor maior,
Amor chorado em tom menor
Em tom menor, maior o Fado!
Choro a chorar
Tornando maior o mar
Não posso deixar de amar
O meu amor em pecado!

Fado maior
Cantado em tom de menor
Chorando o amor de dor
Dor de um bem e mal amado!



Amour de miel, amour de fiel

J’ai un amour
Que je ne peux confesser
Mais je peux pleurer
Amour de péché, amour d’amour
Amour de miel, amour de fleur
Amour de fiel, grand amour
Amour que j’ai aimé

J’ai un amour
Amour de douleur, grand amour
Amour que j’ai pleuré en mineur
En ton mineur, majeur le Fado
Je pleure à pleurer
Rendant la mer plus grande
Je ne peux pas me permettre d’aimer
Mon amour-péché

J’étais une hirondelle
Qui est arrivée au printemps
J’étais ce que j’étais
Amour de péché, amour d’amour
Amour de miel, amour de fleur
Amour de fiel, grand amour
Amour que j’ai aimé !

J’ai un amour
Amour de douleur, grand amour
Amour que j’ai pleuré en mineur
En ton mineur, majeur le Fado
Je pleure à pleurer
Rendant la mer plus grande
Je ne peux pas me permettre d’aimer
Mon amour-péché

Grand fado
Chanté en ton mineur
Pleurant l’amour de douleur
Douleur d’être bien et mal aimé !



Love of honey, love of bile

I have a love
Which I cannot confess
But I can cry
Love of sin,
Love of love
Love of honey, love of flowers
Love of bile, immense love
Love which I have loved!

I have a love
A love of pain, a great love
Love cried on a minor ton
On a minor tone, fado is major
I cry upon crying
Making the sea greater still
I cannot allow myself to love
My sinful love

I was a swallow
Who arrived in springtime
I was what I was
Love of sin,
Love of love
Love of honey, love of flowers
Love of bile, immense love
Love which I have loved!

I have a love
A love of pain, a great love
Love cried on a minor tone
On a minor tone, fado is major
I cry upon crying
Making the sea greater still
I cannot allow myself to love
My sinful love

Great fado
Sung on a minor tone
Crying this love of pain
Pain of being well and badly loved!



A note of the translations: This fado caused quite a few conundrums with respect to the English translation, and I’m not at all sure that I resolved them convincingly. The mel and fel of the originally (honey and bile) simply doesn’t have the same resonance in the English. Equally, the maior and menor (major and minor) of the Portuguese, playing on the musical as well as more general meanings of the terms, hasn’t really come across in the translation. Any suggestions for improvements would be most welcome!