Modern practitioners of the fado
by Ryan Tranquilla from Splendid E-zine Review.
After fifteen or twenty years of "alternative" music, indie-rock
reviews have their own highly codified language. Bands are post- this or
-core that; guitars are angular; bildungsroman is a dominant theme. A refreshing
change, then, comes from an album of melancholy music that was first sung
well over a century before "emo" began to make all the young boys
cry. Cristina Branco and her producer/guitarist, Custodio Castelo, are modern
practitioners of the fado, a Portuguese folk music distinguished by its
expression of passionate ennui. "Fado" translates as fate, but
the emotion of the fado reaches well beyond the literal to encompass a yearning,
palpable metaphysical ache. The 28-year-old Branco and her accompanists
aren't constrained by the stylized conventions of Portugal's national music,
incorporating elements of classical guitar, jazz and Latin rhythms into
a rich, beautiful fantasia.
 "Sem
Abrir Caminhos" begins with a waltz rhythm, and tells the story of
a woman who has "lost [her] illusions". "Black are my velvety
wings, seeking for new anxieties," sings Branco; "Having fled
from the country where I was born/I am what I never wanted to be:/A swallow,
overcome with nostalgia". The clunky English translations on the lyric
sheet (one complaint is that the song titles themselves aren't translated)
can't convey the melodious nature of the Portuguese language, but they do
get across the longing at the fado's core. "The night carried you away
and left me unfinished memories/Secrets merely hinted at/And silence instead
of some whispered words," laments the narrator of "Palavras Proibidas,"
before concluding, "And behind my voice/The silence of the barely said
words between us/Calls your name on every street corner."
The settling of quiet after speaking, thoughts communicated with only a
look, the shadow created by the light -- love in the fado is a fragile,
nocturnal creature, easily constrained by the intrusion of the "straitjacket
of life". Despite the often mournful subject matter, though, there's
something gentle, and ultimately comforting, about the fado's riveting outbursts
of emotion. You are not alone, the songs say, speaking to each of us in
times of sorrow. Our own suffering as we pass through life has been met
and matched by Cristina Branco, whose passionate, exquisite voice sparks
hope through the tears. |
| Reviews |
| Post Scriptum
(Interview with Cristina Branco, English, 05/2001) |
| Post Scriptum
(Ryan Tranquilla, Splendid E-zine Review, English, 05/2001). |
| Post Scriptum
(Norman Weinstein, The Christian Science Monitor, English, 04/2001) |
| Cristina Branco
canta Slauerhoff (Kester Freriks, NRC Handelsblad, Nederlands, 04/2000) |
| Corpo Iluminado
(Joćo Miguel Tavares, Portugues, 05/2001) |
| Corpo Iluminado
(Nederlands) |
| The New Fado
(Interview with Cristina Branco, Carol Amoruso, English, 04/2001) |
| All
reviews |
|