Tag: Música portuguesa

Cristina Branco: Branco

July 10, 2019

If social media represents the spotlight, what’s hidden in the shadow? Cristina Branco answers on her fifteenth album: Real life, a jumble of dream, sorrow, survival, despair, the passage and freezing of time, and every love story too ambiguous or messy to post about. A persistent question surrounding Branco’s career in recent years is whether she has left fado behind or simply created her own fado-piano genre of Portuguese chanson. But perhaps the … More Cristina Branco: Branco

Sopa de Pedra: Ao Longe Já Se Ouvia

March 26, 2019

In the folk tale, a hungry traveler stops in a village and asks for food. Rebuffed, he fills a pot with water from a stream, puts a stone in it and places it over a fire. Villagers intrigued by the idea of “Stone Soup”—delicious, the clever traveler insists—surround him and eventually offer ingredients (carrots, onions, seasoning) and share the meal. Like the story that inspired their name, the women of Sopa de … More Sopa de Pedra: Ao Longe Já Se Ouvia

Catarina dos Santos: Rádio Kriola

January 23, 2019

The subtitle of Catarina dos Santos’ second album is “Reflections on Portuguese Identity,” a subject as big as the ocean that touches Portugal, Africa and Brazil and as small as the working-class town where she grew up. Facing Lisbon across the Tagus, Barreiro is home to families from Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea, Mozambique and inland Portugal. From an early age, Dos Santos—whose father … More Catarina dos Santos: Rádio Kriola

Duarte: Só a Cantar

January 9, 2019

Duarte is a fado purist, making no concession to other genres, just Portuguese and acoustic guitars, bass and his sensitive, expressive voice. Literally and figuratively, he takes pains to be authentic as he explores the nuances of loss and makes Só a Cantar (Singing Alone), his fourth album, more hopeful than some of his earlier work. He laments warmed-over fado for tourists: “We’ve lost the dark side,” he said in an interview with Public Radio International—referring … More Duarte: Só a Cantar

Cuca Roseta: Luz

May 29, 2018

Rather than linger over beautiful sunsets, our ancestors ran home at dusk, so fraught with danger and superstition was the night. Advanced societies tend to take light for granted. On her fourth album, Cuca Roseta shows a preindustrial appreciation for light’s physical and spiritual dimensions—illumination and inspiration—and treats fado, Portugal’s signature music form, as a natural source of joy and introspection. Roseta is a singer and songwriter … More Cuca Roseta: Luz

Carminho: Canto

March 27, 2016

Fado means destiny. And for Carminho, destiny is fado, by nature and nurture. Her mother is a fado singer and her parents ran a popular Libson fado club; her sumptuous and nuanced voice soars without roaring and softens without descending to a whisper. Her third album, a collection of traditional and innovative songs, solidifies her status as one of the leading artists of the fado renaissance. Canto has elements of drama and saudade … More Carminho: Canto

Cuca Roseta: Riû

November 17, 2015

Cuca Roseta’s third album has touches of fado’s traditional melancholy, but from the pace of her arrangements to the bounce in her voice, most of what it has is joy. It’s an embracing joy— while some fado artists temper their music with jazz, pop or other genres, Roseta wraps outside influences in the mellow chords of Portuguese guitar, fado viola and double bass. She wrote the lyrics for eight of … More Cuca Roseta: Riû

António Zambujo: Rua da Emenda

September 8, 2015

Listening Post 11. Move over Judy Garland. The most captivating trolley song in 75 years has arrived on a 15-track album from Portugal’s leading male fado singer. Pica do 7 (7’s Conductor) tells of a shy woman who rides the Number 7 tram daily just to be near the conductor of her dreams (video). It’s romantic, poetic and authentic—the uniformed musicians on board are from the Lisbon Transport Authority’s band. … More António Zambujo: Rua da Emenda