Grammy-nominated Portuguese fado singer Carminho is currently touring the U.S. in support of her latest recording, “Eu Vou Morrer de Amor ou Resistir” (I will die from love or I’ll resist).
Carminho’s new album is already recognized as a landmark contribution to fado music. Like the best of this music, it is at once revolutionary and traditional.
On the one hard are the classic musics (such as Fado Súplica) upon which countless lyrics have been grafted; on the other are new compositions that fall strictly within this tradition.
Carminho, who also produced this record, explores the possibility of instruments such as the melotron within this music–opening new avenues of interpretation and expression to devastating effect.
The lyrics (in Portuguese) replace some of fado’s retrograde perspectives on women with realistic–and far more complex–portrayals. The signal is further amplified by the participation of one of the most iconic innovators of modern music, Laurie Anderson, on the song “Saber” (To know).
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Indeed, the album represents a journey from pain to forgiveness, heard through women’s voices and reflected by their identities. As Carminho states, fado “is about people and what people feel. And in this way there is always music available to continue. In the beginning, fado was not an artistic expression, but an expression of life.”
The album embraces and celebrates this immediacy and intimacy. It was recorded live, mirroring the experience of hearing this music in its native location–the small fado houses of Lisbon.
To Carminho, fado is not only an “instrument of communication” for exploring her own feelings, but also “a place of community where people share their own feelings and expressions, what they say but also what they hear.”
Nowhere is this perspective more present than in Carminho’s live performances and in the seven full-length recordings she has release since 2009. While she has spoken plainly about her own doubts and uncertainties, she has also released some of the bravest and most pathbreaking fado albums of the last fifteen years.
This tour represents an opportunity to hear her in close to her natural element, at a moment that likely means the start of the next major leap in her career.
Carminho is accompanied on this tour by André Dias (guitarra portugues, or Portuguese guitar), Flávio Cardoso (viola de fado, a type of classical guitar), Tiago Maia (viola baixo, or acoustic bass), Pedro Geraldes (electric guitar), and João Pimenta Gomes (mellotron and cristal baschet).
More @ https://citywinery.com/philadelphia/events/carminho-mu4763
After shows in San Francisco and Boston, the tour continues through the following dates:
- Oct. 21 – New York | Sony Hall
https://sonyhall.com/shows/?eid=13826504
- Oct. 22 – Chicago | Chicago City Winery
https://citywinery.com/chicago/events/carminho-mglvst
- Oct. 24 – Danbury, CT | Portuguese Cultural Center
o For ticket information, call +1 (203) 748 -1278
- Oct. 27 – Philadelphia | Philadelphia City Winery
***Carminho has performed on NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zdcG5rUY3o), Good Morning America (https://www.nonesuch.com/journal/watch-carminho-performs-good-morning-america-2024-06-20), and Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” series (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyq9iKoaYg), among many other appearances.
Submitted by David Mendonça, Contrinutor
