I'm going to try and do a regular(ish) post on Sundays about music, or at least the music I like to listen to.
Many years ago, while still at school I think, so perhaps 50 years, I heard a wonderful voice, that turned out to be that of Amalia Rodrigues, probably the best exponent of the musical form know as fado.
Fado has been called the Portuguese blues, and it has much of the same sense of desperation and loss as the traditional blues. In the hands of a singer like Amalia Rodrigues, with an astonishing timbre and resonance, it probably reached its peak.
I have no idea what songs I saw her singing, but here are a couple of examples from Youtube, including one of my favourites 'Coimbra'. The first though is 'Fado Português'
'Coimbra'
I don't really know many other singers in the genre because it was the voice that drew me to the genre, not the other way around. Here however is Mariza, who whenever I've seen her seems to be wearing a black wedding dress!
Here is Mariza with another great Portuguese singer, Cesaria Evora from Cape Verde
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Love this music, thanks Ian. Tragic that Evora died recently, but Mariza is her rightful, young heir.