Fate in the Future

Listening Post 329. Fado means destiny, and those who sing Portugal’s signature music explore saudade—nostalgia for what, or who, is lost and longed for. But what is the fate of fado itself? The first post-Amália Rodrigues generation of fadistas—an extraordinary cadre that includes Ana Moura, Camané, Carminho, Cristina Branco, Cuca Roseta, Duarte, Mariza, etc.—brought ample talent and innovation to keep fado fresh and  tradition to keep it grounded. With most of them well into mid-career, however, who represents the future? Teresinha Landeiro, for certain, has the roots and wings to nurture this heritage. Her second album, Agora (Now), is a crystalline prism of fado, refracting love through time, hope, confidence, loss, vengeance, experience and illusion. Here is a 24-year-old artist dedicated to the spirit of fado and also with a keen sense of where she can color outside the lines. In personal style this means forsaking the customary shawl and black clothing for a more contemporary stage presence; musically it means spicing the classic Portuguese strings with a samba circle here, a jazz piano there. She also carries authority, writing the lyrics for seven of the album’s 10 tracks and fully inhabiting the others. Landeiro often tilts toward the sunny side of fado, viewing failed love as a chapter in a longer story, sadness as a temporary stop on a ticking clock. She dazzles with self-deprecation in Amanhã (Tomorrow, video 1); turns the tables on a selfish beau with O Amor Não é Brincadeira (Love Is Not a Joke, video 2); and is full of cosmetic strategy in Batom (Lipstick, video 3). Aside from perfect balance surfing the waves of fado, Landeiro also penetrates its depths and sorrows with O Tempo (Time, video 4) and Desculpa (I’m Sorry, video 5). With Agora she keeps her second studio date with destiny—and leaves a promise of more. (SME Portugal/Justin Time)

Teresinha Landeiro: Agora
Teresinha Landeiro: Vocals
Pedro de Castro: Portuguese guitar
André Ramos: Fado guitar
Francisco Gaspar: Bass guitar
João Pedro Coelho: Piano
Viva o Samba: Drums, percussion, strings

Amanhã / Tomorrow
Lyrics: Teresinha Landeiro/Music: Pedro de Castro

(From the Portuguese lyrics)
I walk down the street disheartened, it’s routine/And on my wrist is a watch set against me
I’m in a hurry, my clothes don’t match/And my hair is as neat as the rest of the day

I write everything down on imaginary paper/Maybe one day I’ll get a notebook
None of my plans has ever survived/Even my friends are ready to put me up for sale

Tomorrow, that’s what I tell everyone/Because I live in a constant disappointment
I’ve sworn many times that I’ll try to do things different/But maybe it’s better to wait until next year

I don’t know if today’s plan is for lunch/Or a snack, a dinner, or if it’s both
Never mind, I already know it will never go right/What’s for today is always for later

The conversations you have about escaping/No room for regrets, not even for ah’s
Tell me in a hurry how wonderful your life is/Tomorrow we’ll have time for more

Tomorrow, that’s what I tell everyone/Because I live in a constant disappointment
I’ve sworn many times that I’ll try to do things different/But maybe it’s better to wait until next year

O Amor Não é Brincadeira / Love Is Not a Joke
Lyrics: Paulo da Fonseca/Music: Carlos Rocha

You wanted to toy with me/The joke blew up in your face
So now for your punishment/I’m playing to put you in your place
You left, planning to forget me/And now you’re back for more fun
But I’m laughing at your whining/And amusing myself over your jealousy

I don’t want to feel/What I felt before
I don’t want to hear you/Chattering only about yourself
Still waters don’t move mills/And I don’t need your affection
I don’t know your address/And I don’t even know you

You said to the four winds/That your game was better
Don’t waste your breath/Your arguments I know by heart
Now you cry an illusion/See if you learn the lesson
See what happens when you play with fire/And weigh your words before you speak

Batom / Lipstick
Lyrics: Teresinha Landeiro/Music: Pedro de Castro

I didn’t put on lipstick/Because I have the gift
Of knowing it’s today/That you’re going to kiss me
I make myself beautiful/But not too many frills
I heard you run/From women who shine

Just taking a smile/I’ll make my way to the floor
Starting the mischief/In your heart
I give a glance/But not too much chance
I don’t want a romance/In the middle of the crowd

Come, if it’s meant to be/Even if there’s danger
Come, if it’s meant to be/Come get lost with me

I’ll take the fire/I like this game
Of having what I don’t have/A controversial desire
With an irreverent air/I pretend indifference
I don’t tell anyone/That you are in my sights

With subtlety/And certainty
I’ll wipe the resolve/From your serious look
Sooner or later/You’ll fall into my plot
It’s our secret/It turns up the mystery

Come, if it’s meant to be/Even if there’s danger
Come, if it’s meant to be/Come get lost with me

It’s always like this/I stay until the end
In this go-don’t go/That’s so fashionable
But as it always happens/I lose what faith remains
My hope fails/My head turns

Fed up with this scheme/I live in a dilemma
Either leave the scene/Or choose to stay
I put on lipstick/Of any tone
Forget the “gift”/I’ve just come to dance

O Tempo / The time
Lyrics: Teresinha Landeiro/Music: Joaquim Campos

Time passes us by/With no time to hear ourselves
Time leaves us alone/Time passes without a voice
No one to see or hear it pass

Time holds passions/Time awakens memory
Accelerates emotions/Drives hearts crazy
Time releases hope

Time reckons yearning/Acclaims sadness and pain
Time alters desires/Write truths in the wind
About our follies of love

Time has no dimension/It has no space or reason
In one moment I have life/In another a lost soul
Time is illusion

Desculpa / I’m Sorry
Lyrics & music: Teresinha Landeiro

I’m sorry love, a thousand times sorry/For wanting to dance just this song
I don’t know which one of us is to blame/I just know you don’t have the heart anymore

I hear your voice caught in the wind/And I dance in harmony with your steps
The music without you is a lament/But I can finally release my weariness

And I stay here all alone, my soul empty/Dancing to the sound of life to come
Longing was all there was/I’m sorry, but it was time to leave