Fado singer Katia Guerreiro presents her latest album “Sempre”, on Friday night, in Carnaxide, on the outskirts of Lisbon, whose starting point was the traditional melodies of fado, she told Lusa.
Katia Guerreiro, in statements to Lusa, affirmed that “the vast traditional repertoire [of fado melodies] was the starting point for the construction of this CD”, which is produced by José Mário Branco, who has worked almost exclusively with the fado singer Camané since the album “Uma Noite de fados” (1995).
Referring to producer José Mário Branco – with whom Katia Guerreiro had only previously worked on the film “Alfama em Si”, by Diogo Varela, which is waiting for a release date -, the fadista described the experience as “exceptional” and added: “Besides the professional experience it was also personal because nothing would predict that José Mário [Branco], Manuela de Freitas, myself and the musicians, could achieve such a great personal empathy, I believe that we are linked to life with this work ”.
The process of the album construction began by a poetic exchange between fado singer José Mário Branco and the poetess and actress Manuela de Freitas, “a blind test, without knowing the authors”, adding to this team the guitarist Pedro de Castro, who has a collection in the memory of extraordinary traditional repertoire “.
From “30 plus selected poems” came the final alignment of 15 themes, which opens the CD, as a “prologue”, “My Life Is”, by Katia Guerreiro, which is then re-interpreted in the closing, like “epilogue”.
“It’s a long CD, which is not currently done”, acknowledged the fado singer, accompanied by musicians Pedro de Castro and Luís Guerreiro, on the Portuguese guitar, José Mário Veiga and André Ramos, on the classical guitar, and Francisco Gaspar, on the bass guitar. The same musicians who accompany her on the Auditorium Ruy de Carvalho stage, in Carnaxide, in the municipality of Oeiras, after 10:00 PM next Friday.
Among the chosen themes, Katia Guerreiro recorded “Tristeza Velha” by Maria Luísa Baptista (1947-2017), a poetess who she has been accompanying since the first album. Katia Guerreiro told Lusa that she will continue to sing her poems. “Tristeza Velha” is interpreted in the traditional melody of the Minor Fado.
The fado singer recorded other traditional melodies, namely the Fado Mouraria, for a poem by António Calém, “Deixar-te um Dia”, Fado Freira, by Miguel Ramos, in the interpretation of a poem by Manuela de Freitas, “Na Volta”, Fado Carriche, by Raul Ferrão, for a poem by Natália dos Anjos, “Rezando Pedi Por Ti,” a creation by its author.
For the fado singer, who was honored with the Amália Best Performer Award in 2010, working with José Mário Branco “was very reassuring”, and praised the merits of musician and producer, who have “a global and comprehensive view of music”, a man experienced in various musical domains of protest song to marches, rock, classical pieces, and fado.
“I was not worried about the effect that things had, in other words, the only thing I had to do was sing, without bothering to demonstrate my vocal qualities, that was what José Mário [Branco] looked for in me, that I would gain that maturity in knowing that it did not take any kind of histrionics or vocal exhibitionism for people to understand what we are capable of doing, and that is exactly what we have tried to achieve on this record: The serenity, ” she said.
José Mário Branco “ceded”, at the insistence of Manuela de Freitas, and shares the interpretation of “Quem Diria”, signed by José Rebola, of the Anaquim. “A theme that illustrates a bit what happened to us,” said the fadista adding that she wanted to invite the musician “a long time ago”, already at the time of the previous CD, “Até ao Fim”, released four years ago.
“I thought he was the right person, but I thought he would not accept it, and viewed from the outside, we even looked like antagonistic personalities,” she said.
