Tribute to fado queen Rodrigues

Of all the various musical styles that have emerged on the fashionable world music circuit in recent years, one of the more popular has been Portugal’s fado, a pensive form of musical expression that is often likened to the blues, tango, and rebetika for all the sorrow that it carries. Fado performers, as a result of the form’s recent global popularity, have regularly performed beyond Portuguese frontiers. The latest fado production set for Greek shores, titled «Gala Fado,» will pay homage to the form’s most legendary exponent, the late Amalia Rodrigues, over two nights, September 15 and 16, at the Lycabettus Theater. The show will feature two of fado’s more gifted younger representatives, Cristina Branco and Joana Amendoeira, 32 and 22 years old respectively; a more seasoned exponent, Maria Amelia Proenca, who has delved into the world of fado for half a century; and the sister of Rodrigues, Celeste Rodrigues. Branco, one of the younger acts, attributes her fascination with fado to an Amalia Rodrigues album given to her as a gift. Her capabilities have often been likened to those of her mentor. Amendoeira, the youngest of the lot, began singing fados as a 12-year-old when she took part in Portugal’s best-known competition for amateur fado performers, the Grande Noite do Fado Amador. Her appearance was well received by critics and eventually led to the emergence of a new fadista, as fado singers are locally known. Despite her young age, Amendoeira has already performed in various parts of Europe, as well as Brazil and the USA. She released her debut album in 1998 and, last year, put out her career’s third album, «Fado Antologia.»