The world is a huge place and the sheer, staggering variety of cultures and arts on the planet can, at times, be daunting for the uninitiated. That is why it is so important to be open-minded, especially when approaching the most human of the musical arts, the one aimed right at the ear, singing. While it always helps to know the language being voiced, the rhythms, timbres, and melodic curves given to a singer’s material often surmount linguistic difficulties to impart what may be an even purer artistic experience, one that relies on the communication of emotion.
Fado is a traditional song styling from Portugal, rising out of Lisbon’s lower classes in much the same way that rembetica (urban Greece) and jazz (urban America) did. The genre’s name has usually been translated as "fate" but the real meaning is as untranslatable as "saudade", the phrase frequently used to describe fado’s emotional core, a mournful, fatalistic sound often crafted around lyrics radiating a resigned despair.
Amália Rodrigues, the finest fadista (fado singer) of the twentieth century, has proven to be an enduring influence on generations of young Portuguese vocalists, many of whom were born years after the diva’s most important recordings had woven their way into Portugal’s cultural fabric. She was not the first great female singer in the genre — the mid-ninteenth century vocalist Maria Severa took those historical honors — but she was the one female singer to surmount convention, transforming what generally had been deemed male territory and, by her superb vocal artistry and an emphasis on using contemporary poetry, swinging the performance (and popularity) standard over to the distaff side.
While fado still has room for male singers (Camané being perhaps the best current example) it seems as though most of the genre’s better known contemporary artists are female. Budding stars like Mísia, Mariza, and Dulce Pontes have all carved out specific niches, adapting the sturdy structure of fado to their own inclinations, hewing closer to the traditional model (Mísia), adding a dash of Europop (Pontes), or adopting a stage personality more outgoing and flamboyant than that espoused by traditionalists (Mariza).
Cristina Branco treads somewhere on the middle ground between that aforementioned triad, albeit shading towards the same approach espoused by Mísia. Her voice is a splendid instrument, floating luscious syllables above the time-honored instrumental trio of Portuguese guitar (basically a twelve-string lute similar in sound to a bouzouki), regular guitar, and a bass guitar that looks similar to a small bajo sexto. Branco, who is appearing at the Chicago World Music Festival on September 26 and 27, spoke to Conscious Choice from Portugal.
CC: Your official biography notes that you were originally more interested in jazz, blues, and bossa nova.
Branco: That’s true.
CC: Were there particular artists in those genres who may have influenced the way you sing today?
Branco: They influence everything, I think, because I always listened to that kind of music before I sang fado. Fado is just a coincidence because it was the song of my country and also a song sung in Portuguese. It was obvious to sing it but, of course, I was influenced by jazz and blues. I love old Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday.
CC: I understand that when you were eighteen years old (in 1990), your grandfather gave you an album of songs by Amália Rodrigues.
Branco: Exactly.
CC: What was it about her singing, her voice, that caused you to appreciate fado more than you may have before?
Branco: It was more than her voice. It was the way she was telling her story, it was the way she was interpreting new compositions with contemporary poetry. That was the big click, that was the point where I understood that fado was much more than just a traditional song, and not just because Amália sang that good. The way she was interpreting, she was telling a story, not just singing by singing. She was telling something else.
CC: How do you choose your material that you sing?
Branco: My material is chosen (from) the poetry I love to read, Portuguese poetry. Well, I’m not just (choosing) Portuguese because (on) our next album we are adding Shakespeare as well, the new translations of Shakespeare. I love poetry and that’s the way I choose my material to sing. Then Custódio (Castelo, her husband and musical director) does the rest. We discuss a lot. He tries to put a certain kind of music in a certain kind of poem and then we discuss if I like it or not.
CC: I understand that there is a new wave of fadistas, and many of them have been associated with a movement called "alma nova." What does the term "alma nova" mean to you?
Branco: "Alma nova" means "new soul". It’s a good term to describe it. It’s an entire new generation trying to do new things, trying to say that it’s good to be Portuguese, it’s good to speak Portuguese, it’s good to show our country, our culture, our language. It’s also a new way of singing our music, a new way of showing it.
CC: For someone unfamiliar with either "fado" or "alma nova", what differences are there between the newer style and the kind of thing Amália Rodrigues might have sung?
Branco: It’s not that traditional maybe. I’m speaking for myself. I don’t speak in the name of others. For me it’s trying to seek other influences. It’s not a kind of fusion or something like that. I’m trying to seek my own soul, my own way of singing music. I like other styles of music, I don’t listen exclusively to fado. I like to be influenced. Now it’s typical to talk about globalization. I don’t know if it’s correct to say that our fado is about globalization absolutely. But it’s a kind of music that includes a lot of other styles, a lot of other influences. I can be influenced by tango for instance, or by flamenco, or I don’t know....
CC: Morna....
Branco: And morna of course, always morna. Always, absolutely African music, always. (laughs)
CC: So, you’re familiar with Cesaria Evora and other morna singers?
Branco: Of course.
CC: She’s an awesome singer.
Branco: Very good!
CC: Do you see yourself using electronics instead of the more traditional instruments when you come to perform in Chicago?
Branco: (laughs) When I’m speaking about an evolution, it’s in terms of interpretation, seeking for yourself. It’s not that traditional, like our ancestors did before. It’s more open to the world. I’m not trying to add any different kinds of instruments, like electric guitars and drums. It’s just our typical instruments. What we are trying to do is, in terms of composition, say three-chord instruments can do great things as well, besides having a violin or a piano or, I don’t know, something else.
CC: How did you connect with three of Amália’s former musicians, José Fontes Rocha (Portuguese guitar), Jorge Fernando (guitar), and Joel Pina (bass guitar)? What was it like to record "Tu Tens de me Acontecer" (from her new album, Corpo Illuminado) with them? [All three musicians recorded on Rodrigues’ 1990 release, Obsessão.]
Branco: It was a wonderful experience. It was my way, maybe, of saying goodbye to the diva (Rodrigues) or something like that, because I never had the opportunity to meet her. Being there with them... they were telling a few stories of her, when they were playing with her, and their common life with her and that felt very good. It feels good to think that Amália being a diva, even being a diva they’re human and they act like I do, like all of us do. It was great to feel that she was so powerful and so vulnerable at the same time.
CC: For someone who wishes to listen to fado and gain a better appreciation for the art, are there specific performers that you would recommend to them, like Argentina Santos or Herminia Silvia?
Branco: Those were two, well.... I don’t like it that much. I don’t like their style. It’s too traditional and too old-fashioned, too close to a certain style and to a certain time also. I prefer names like Mizia for instance, like Camané.
CC: I’ve noticed that there seems to be more of an emphasis on great female singers (as opposed to male vocalists) in the decades since the ascension of Amália Rodrigues. Why do you suppose that is?
Branco: Maybe fado is a more earthy stuff. It’s related with earth, with birth, with being a mother, you know. Fado is a very maternal song, a very female song, so it might be that. It has a certain magic.
Garaud MacTaggart is a freelance writer and music critic based in Buffalo. He is the editor of MusicHound Guide to Classical Music due to be released in October.
Cristina Branco’s Portuguese Stylings
Cristina Branco has had only three albums released in the United States but her total output numbers five. Cristina Branco Canta Slauerhoff and Cristina Branco in Holland are only available in the Netherlands or through her Web site, www.cristinabranco.com. The first of those discs finds Branco singing lyrics crafted by the early twentieth-century Dutch poet Jan Jacob Slauerhoff, a man who fell in love with Portugal during a series of visits, while the second offering includes excerpts from three days worth of concerts by Branco and Castelo in 1997.
Corpo Iluminado (Decca 440 014 151-2) is Branco’s most recent set and showcases her lovely voice over a fine program of new material and, in the case of "Tu Tens de Me Acontecer", classic fadista fare. The production allows instrumental detail to ring through Custódio Castelo’s consistently beguiling arrangements without overwhelming the singer’s well crafted vocals.
Before Corpo Iluminado however, there was Post-Scriptum (L’empreinte digitale ED 13131), Branco’s release from 2000 and what may very well be her finest all around effort to date. The sheer beauty of "Ai Vida", the drama of "Toada em Realejo", and "Palavras Proibidas", and the surprising dance-ability of "Não Oiças a Minha Voz", and "Manto de Açucenas" mark Branco as a definite contender to don the mantle left by Amália Rodrigues.
The earliest of Branco’s readily available albums is 1999’s Murmúrios (Music & Words/ L’empreinte digitale ED 13092), a classic in its own right and a good starting point for anyone interested in the artist. While not quite as strong overall as either Corpo Iluminado or Post-Scriptum, there are plenty of highlights available to the discerning ear including Sérgio Godinho’s delicate "As Certezas Do Meu Mais Brilhante Amor" and José Afonso’s haunting "Pombas Brancas".
Around the World in 9 Days!
World Music Festival: Chicago 2002
September 20 through September 29
Sample traditional and contemporary global music at Chicago’s fourth annual multi-venue world music festival. All ticket are $12 or less. In fact, many of the performances are free!
The fest is a joint production of the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and the Mayor’s Office of Special Events. They are partnering with some of the venues that are showcasing the performers: Old Town School of Folk Music, Museum of Contemporary Art, HotHouse and CIPEX (Center for International Performance and Exhibition) and The Field Museum.
A full Festival schedule can be accessed at www.cityofchicago.org/WorldMusic/ or you can be put on the mailing list by calling the Festival Hotline at 312-742-1938.
Cristina Branco’s Schedule
If you wish to get a taste of fado or feed your love of it, Cristina Branco will be appearing twice during Chicago’s World Music Festival:
Thursday, Sept 26 at 8:00 pm: Hot House, 31 E. Balbo, Chicago; 312-362-9707. Tickets $12; purchase at Hot House.
Friday, Sept 27 at 7:30 pm: The Old Town School of Folk Music, 4544 N. Lincoln Avenue, Chicago; 773-728-6000. Tickets $12; purchase at Old Town School of Folk Music.