BAM FADO

Vibrant Portuguese culture and music come to life at BAM in Tudo Isto É Fado

Presented Dec 2 & 3 in its US premiere as part of the BAM 2011 Next Wave Festival

Featuring Lisboa Soul, Camané, Deolinda, and Amália Hoje

Produced by Tempest Entertainment and BAM

BAM celebrates 150th anniversary through Dec 2012

American Express is the BAM 2011 Next Wave Festival sponsor

Chase is the BAM 150th anniversary sponsor

BAM Howard Gilman Opera House (30 Lafayette Ave)
Dec 2 at 8pm: Lisboa Soul and Camané
Dec 3 at 8pm: Deolinda and Amália Hoje
Tickets start at $25

Artist Talk: Fado: History; Fado: Form with Lila Ellen Gray
Dec 3 at 6:30pm
BAM Hillman Attic Studio
Tickets: $10 ($5 for Friends of BAM)

BAMcafé Live
In conjunction with Tudo Isto É Fado, BAMcafé Live presents a continuing celebration of fado on Dec 2 and 3, following the Opera House performances:
Dec 2: Nathalie Pires
Dec 3: Tasca, featuring Ricardo Parreira, Marco Oliveira, Manuel D’Oliveira, Micaela Vaz, Vania Conde

BAMcinématek presents Uprise: New Portuguese Cinema
This series highlights the groundswell of new talent continuing Portugal’s tradition of Cinema Novo, featuring the work of young Portuguese directors, such as Miguel Gomes, Sandro Aguilar, and João Pedro Rodrigues, along with a special presentation of Raul Ruiz’s magisterial Mysteries of Lisbon.
Dec 1–6
BAM Rose Cinemas
Tickets: $12 ($7 for BAM Cinema Club members)

Brooklyn, NY/Nov 9, 2011—With smoldering intensity and a yearning heart, Tudo Isto É Fado (All This is Fado) peers into the poetry and seductive sounds of fado, Portugal’s soulful national song style, in a special two-night presentation.

Tudo Isto É Fado gives New Yorkers an overview of fado, moving from the genre’s early influences to contemporary takes on the deeply emotional music that is entwined with Portugal’s identity, history and culture. The program challenges the current stereotypes of fado and explores the ways in which this complex poetic tradition continues to inspire young singers and musicians today. Even for Americans who are familiar with fado, this festival will be a revelation. The artists appearing—many of whom have never before performed in the US—have taken the tradition of fado and found a uniquely personal way to honor its roots while refracting it through a modern lens.

Appearing on December 2 is Lisboa Soul, a one-time-only collective of virtuoso Portuguese guitarists and an ensemble of singers. Lead by musical director Ricardo Parreira and YAMI, the multigenerational group that includes fado legends Beatriz Da Conceição and Rodrigo, Lisboa Soul explores the roots of fado through the unique history of the port city of Lisbon, and exposes its influences, which range from Arabic guitar to Afro-Brazilian folk.

Also appearing December 2 is singer Camané, a musical adventurer considered one of the country’s preeminent performers of traditional fado—a keeper of the national soul. His voice has earned him plaudits from a wide spectrum of fado fans. Camané’s debut album, Uma Noite de Fado, was released in 1995 though he had already been singing professionally for two decades. Since then, he has released seven albums that have gone gold or platinum, and have earned critical accolades, most importantly from the elder generation of fadistas. His performance at BAM will feature selections from his acclaimed latest release, Do Amor e Dos Dias.

Opening the program on December 3 is acoustic quartet Deolinda. The group began as a playful experiment in which the four musicians created story-songs about a young girl named Deolinda who loves fado, lives alone with a goldfish, and sings about the street life she sees from her lace-curtained window in Lisbon. The group’s performances proved so popular that its debut release, Canção ao Lado (2008) went multiplatinum. Its second release, Dois Selos e Um Carimbo (2010) remains on the charts. The group’s singer, Ana Bacalhau, has a big theatrical voice reminiscent of classic fado singers, while the ensemble (featuring Ana’s cousins Pedro da Silva Martins and his brother Luis José Martins, and her husband, bassist José Pedro Leitão) delves into the modern, echoing the diversity and dynamism of Lisbon with humor and a wink of irony.

Completing the trajectory of traditional to contemporary, the December 3 lineup closes with Amália Hoje (Amália Today), a group of Portuguese rock musicians who remake classic songs made famous by fado icon Amália Rodrigues. Drawing from the archives of one of Portugal’s oldest record labels, members Valetim de Carvalho, Nuno Gonçalves (of The Gift), Sonia Tavares (also of The Gift), Paulo Praça (Plaza), and Fernando Ribeiro (Moonspell) launched a sensational album, Amália Hoje, in 2009. Mixing orchestral rock and minimalist electronica, the recording has become one of the most successful releases in recent Portuguese history. The US release of Amália Hoje on the Four Quarters label is slated to coincide with the group’s US debut at BAM.

Following the performances in the Howard Gilman Opera House, BAMcafé Live presents additional fado performances in an intimate setting. New Jersey-based Portuguese-American singer Nathalie Pirés performs on December 2 and on December 3, BAMcafé Live will be transformed into a Lisbon tavern, or tasca, where musicians from Lisboa Soul will take turns singing as they might in a small “casa de fado.”

The question of where fado originated—Brazil, Africa, the Moors, or the troubadours—is a subject of heated debate. But there is little argument that it comes from the Portuguese soul. Rising in the early 19th century, fado fermented in tascas, picking up influences from within Portugal and from the far-flung empire of this small, seafaring nation. It soon became a manifestation of the country’s sense of identity, encapsulated in an inescapable saudade, or longing, whether it was for a lost love, a home left behind, or nostalgia attenuated by the surrounding sea.

In the 20th century, fado was dominated by Amália Rodrigues, who was the face and voice of the genre for decades until her death in the 1990s. In the mid-20th century the genre was seen by many Portuguese as inextricably tied up with the heavy-handed nationalism of the country’s dictatorship. Even after the nonviolent Carnation Revolution of 1974, the music was shunned by many Portuguese because of its association with the former regime.

However, the bitter aftertaste of the regime dissipated with time, and in the 1990s younger singers began to resurrect fado, moving away from the ubiquitous black shawl and high drama of the tempestuous Rodrigues. Musicians and listeners rediscovered the soulfulness and dark beauty of the music, which—like its Iberian cousin, flamenco—prized a musician’s ability to connect with audiences by bringing forth the deepest of emotions.

Singers such as Misia, Mariza, Dulce Pontes, Ana Mourna, and Christina Branco re-popularized the music at home to a new generation of Portuguese and began reaching international audiences.

In Portugal today, fado has become a popular multifaceted genre, with the capital port city of Lisbon as the passionate heart of its creative renaissance. For the first time in the US, the BAM Next Wave Festival brings a look at the new fado scene rippling out from Lisbon—music that is captivating audiences at concert halls and intimate tascas that traditionally served as incubators of innovation. Tudo Isto É Fado presents a much-needed panoramic view of the history and the future of fado, a genre that has defined Portugal for generations.

Credits
American Express is the BAM 2011 Next Wave Festival sponsor.
Leadership support for the Next Wave Festival is provided by the Ford Foundation.
Tudo Isto É Fado is part of Diverse Voices at BAM sponsored by Time Warner Inc.
Programming in the BAM Howard Gilman Opera House is supported and endowed by The Howard Gilman Foundation.

BAM 2011 Next Wave Festival supporters include: brigitte nyc; Estate of Richard B. Fisher; The Howard Gilman Foundation; The Leona M. & Harry B.Helmsley Charitable Trust; The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation; The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; The Barbro Osher Pro Suecia Foundation; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; The SHS Foundation; The Shubert Foundation, Inc.; The Skirball Foundation; The Starr Foundation; The Winston Foundation, Inc.; Target; Time Warner Foundation and Friends of BAM and BAM Cinema Club. Sovereign Bank is the BAM Marquee sponsor. Yamaha is the official piano for BAM. R/GA is the BAM.org sponsor. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for BAM.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM kiosks. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue (2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater)
D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue

Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal

Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM

Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.