7:00 $40
Portuguese Fado Superstar
“I am quite capable of listening to a voice and recognizing genuine passion when I hear it, no matter what language it is singing in… beautiful and haunting music that won’t fail to touch your heart. If you’ve forgotten what true passion feels like, this will serve as a timely reminder.” -Richard Marcus, blogcritics.com
Akin to the blues in its heroically stoic response to suffering, loss, longing and the vicissitudes of fate, the Portuguese style known as fado is in the midst of a glorious renaissance, and the music’s brightest young star is Ana Moura. Her luxuriant voice and passionate stage presence have won her an international following, a rapidly expanding fanbase drawn by her ability to cross over into other styles while retaining fado’s deep emotional commitment. Her ascendance to global stardom has made fans and collaborators of The Rolling Stones and Prince, who traveled to Lisbon to work with Moura and made a surprise backstage appearance during her 2010 SFJAZZ performance. Her fourth album, Leva-me aos Fados, was a world music sensation — a delectably sensual journey featuring traditional fado instrumentation.
2012 saw a new recording from Ana Moura, Desfado. Produced by Larry Klein (Joni Mitchell, Herbie Hancock), Desfado again honors the fado tradition while bringing it into modern times. Moura performs songs written by the vanguard of the new Portuguese fado school, and welcomes guest vocalists Madeleine Peyroux, Tracy Chapman and Melody Gardot into the mix.
Ana Moura is pouring her heart and soul into an ancient style, earning fado a well-deserved seat at the world’s bountiful musical feast.
“She [makes] each song a series of small dramatic surges: glimmers of hope, hints of sensuality, passages of melancholy, glints of determination.” -The New York Times
“Moura honors the tradition of fado even as she peers into its future.” -Global Rhythm
