Severa may not be a name high-up on the fado charts, but her short life story is etched in Portugal’s history as one of the country’s most flamboyant ‘ladies of the night’ and the first fado singer to rise to national fame. On the 178th anniversary of her death, we look back at Severa’s life and learn how she became one of Portugal’s near-mythical figures.
Born Maria Severa Onofriana on 26 July 1820 in Madragoa, Lisbon, the young cantor began singing fado at a young age in her mother’s tavern in the centre of Lisbon. Over the years, Severa incorporated the Portuguese guitar into her performances, wowing revellers with her flamboyant style and beautiful looks.
She took the stage name Severa in her early years, which presumably came from her father, Severo Manuel, who was of Portuguese Gypsy origin and from Santarém. Her mother, Ana Gertrudes, known as A Barbuda (the bearded woman), was originally from Ponte de Sor in Alentejo before migrating to Lisbon with local fishermen, to find work in the capital. She eventually opened her own tavern in the city, where Severa became a regular guest performer.
As Severa’s repertoire grew, so did her popularity. She would grace the floors of Lisbon’s taverns and at social events just a stone’s throw away from her home in Lisbon’s entertainment district, Bairro Alto. Referred to at the time as a “gracious courtesan”, she became well known in the capital and across Portugal, leading her to national fame as the girl who would enchant passersby as she strolled the working-class districts of the capital.
With her good looks, often attributed to her gypsy origin, Severa was rumoured to have several high-profile lovers amongst her clientele, including the 13th Count of Vimioso, Francisco de Paula Portugal e Castro. The count was enchanted by Severa’s voice and would often take her to bullfights, an important cultural event at the time, which undoubtedly gave her great celebrity status, allowing her to rub shoulders with the rich and famous, and social elites.
While little is known about Severa’s life, many first-hand accounts give us a glimpse into the life of Portugal’s first nationally acclaimed fado singer. One account by poet Bulhão Pato explained his meeting with Severa: “The poor girl was a very interesting fado singer, as Mouraria will never have again”. Given the inequalities of the time, Severa was known to stand her ground and was “ready to slap anyone who mistreated her”. Júlio de Sousa e Costa described her as “brave, full of affection for those she loved, but was also rude to her enemies. She was not an ordinary woman, that is for sure.” Some say that upon meeting Severa, you couldn´t forget the slender girl with fire in her eyes and a loud voice. Eventually, Severa would move indefinitely to Lisbon’s historic district of Mouraria, where she would serenade Portuguese and English sailors who often frequented the area.
Author Luís Augusto Palmeirim had the privilege to meet Severa at her modest home in the city. He described her as “smoking, lying on a straw canapé, wearing polishing slippers with red dots, a silk scarf with branch motifs in her head and her dress’ sleeves rolled up”. Severa appeared just as flamboyant off-stage, immaculately dressed and ready to defend herself in the male-dominated world.
Sadly, just like many of the characters in the solemn songs that she sang, Severa met her fate at a young age. She succumbed to tuberculosis on 30 November 1846, in a run-down brothel on Rua do Capelão in the Mouraria neighbourhood in Lisbon. She was buried in a common grave, without a coffin in the Alto de São João Cemetery. It is said that Severa’s last words were, “I die, without ever having lived.”
At just 26 years of age, Severa became a mythical figure following her death and was regarded as the first fado singer to have risen to fame, despite her short life, most likely for her unusual outstanding beauty and outlandish character, in addition to her harmonic vocal skills.
Fifty-five years after her death, Severa was remembered in the novel A Severa by Júlio Dantas, which was made into a play in 1901. The play would later become a film in 1931, directed by Leitão de Barros. It was subsequently the first Portuguese film to feature sound, thus bringing Severa’s story to a modern-day audience. More recently, Severa was portrayed by fado singer Cuca Roseta in the 2007 film Fados by Spanish director Carlos Saura, which received the most prestigious award in Spanish cinema, the Goya Award. Today, fado enthusiasts can still see Severa’s last home on Rua do Capelão No. 35A in Mouraria, where a plaque commemorating the singer simply reads “Casa da Severa”.
While Severa’s music may not be as widely remembered as some of her contemporaries, her legacy lives on through books, films, and numerous fado restaurants that bear her name. They all pay homage to a woman who brought fado into the spotlight for generations to come, and a singer who is remembered for her enchanting character and fearless spirit, which has become part of Portugal’s musical heritage.
