An amazing night of fado, organized by The Holy Spirit Brotherhood Committee of Saint Anthony’s Church, took place on December 2nd at Saint Anthony’s Parish Center in Pawtucket, RI. The hall was full of a mixed crowd of young and old listeners who came to experience fado, the soul of Portugal.
One of the event organizers, José Xavier along with his wife, Maria Anastacio Xavier, are this year’s mordomos. Together they make up a committee of approximately 45 members who are responsible for coordinating this year’s events including next year’s large Holy Spirit Feast.
The evening started with a fabulous dinner by Guest Chef Antonio Costa from Antonio’s Cafe and consisted of caldo verde, salad, alcatra with roasted potato, seafood rice, passion fruit pudding, and coffee. It was then followed by the song of Portugal, fado.
There were three fado singers performing during the evening. Nathalie Pires from New Jersey, Tony Gouveia from Toronto, and Tania DaSilva from Massachusetts. The three singers took turns singing several songs, there was an intermission and then each singer sang another set of fados.
Accompanying the singers were Jose Silva on the Portuguese guitar, Beau Bledsoe on classical guitar, and Pedro Pimentel on bass.
The event was made possible by several sponsors. Included were: GS Audio, Portugalia Marketplace, MS Walker Castelo de Sulco Wines, Portuguese Channel, and Promedia.
José Xavier, the event organizer said: “This year we have a good amount of younger people that are trying to do different things including this Fado night” and he went on to say: “This was the first time we’ve done an event like this and seems like everyone was very pleased”
