September 26, 2000 Summary Facts:
Fado is a genre of bittersweet and passionate songs of love and loss that has been heard in Portugal’s urban cafes, roadside taverns and clubs for more than 150 years. Misia is its leading contemporary interpreter. According to the Chicago Tribune, “she is one of the most remarkable singers in Europe today.” As part of a North American tour this fall that includes performances in Montreal, New York and Washington, D.C., Misia will make her Santa Barbara debut on Wednesday, November 1 at 8 p.m. in UCSB Campbell Hall. In conjunction with Misia’s concert, UCSB Arts & Lectures has arranged with The Faculty Club to offer a buffet supper of Portuguese food before the performance. Audience members may enjoy dinner at 6 p.m. and then stroll across campus to Campbell Hall. Reservations and payment for dinner are required by October 25 and may be made directly with The Faculty Club by calling 893-3096. Fado demands unique vocal artistry. The sound is delicately nuanced, with power achieved through dramatic softenings and hardenings of tone. It’s full of suspenseful pauses and impassioned crescendos. fado’s inspiration comes from a complex of emotions described in Portuguese as saudade, which denotes the yearning at the heart of the human condition. While Misia embraces all these traditions, her major contribution to the evolution of fado has been to capture the contemporary imagination with lyrics commissioned from contemporary Portuguese-language poets and novelists, including José Saramango who received a Nobel Prize for literature in 1998, Lidia Jorge, Agustina Bessa-Luis, Mario de SaCarneiro and Brazilian Carlos Drummond de Andrade. To communicate saudade, Misia and her arranger, accordionist and pianist Ricardo Dias, have added piano, accordion and violin to the traditional sweetly weeping, lute-shaped 12-string Portuguese guitarra and Spanish guitar or bass accompaniment. They sometimes introduce restrained hints of jazz and tango to the sound. As a result of its position on the edge of Europe and its history of expansion, immigration and cultural exchange, Portugal generated a native music that evokes styles from throughout the world. The New York Times describes fado singing as “the Arabic muezzin meets the European diva.” Although Misia’s vocals and accordion accompaniment call to mind European torch singers like Edith Piaf, the morna stylings of Cape Verde’s Cesoria Evora are also echoed in her work. Other strains from around the world are also present in fado: from minor-key notes that connote crying, like those heard in songs from throughout the Mediterranean, to rhythms that can be traced to Africa, especially through the influence of Africans in Brazil. Fado is often likened to American blues, flamenco and tango for having originated as an expression of perseverance in the face of loss and longing among the poor and oppressed, for its musical isolation among the other musical styles of its country and for the fact that its fundamental tunes are often recycled with new meaning, Fado was on the verge of a widespread popular breakthrough in the 1950s when legendary singer Amalia Rodrigues was signed by EMI. It was subsequently appropriated by the fascist government, ensuring that socialists denounced it after coming into power with the Revolution of the Carnations in 1974. Born in the Portuguese town of Oporto to a classical ballet dancer from Spain, and with a maternal grandmother who was a vaudeville star, Misia has performing in her blood. Although she moved to Barcelona for several years, she developed a deep sense of kinship with her homeland and undertook a career as a fado singer, embracing the most distinctively Portuguese music and using it as an expression of her innermost feelings. Her adopted name was inspired by a biography of Mísia Sert, a luminous figure in 1920s Paris and muse to Proust, Cocteau and Picasso. Misia won the prestigious Grand Prix de l’Academie Charles Cros in 1997 and the following year achieved a lifelong dream of performing at the Olympia in Paris. After building an audience with three self-produced recordings during the 1990s, Misia was signed by French Detour/ERATO Disques in 1998. Her two CDs with that label, Garras dos Sentidos (Claw of the Heart) from 1998 and the more recent release Paixoes Diagonais (Diagonal Passions), have far exceeded critical and sales expectations both at home and internationally. Though she has toured extensively in Europe and Asia, this is only her second tour of North America and her first visit to the West Coast. Misia’s performance is part of a tour that includes performances at UCLA’s Royce Hall on November 2 and the Irvine Barclay Theater on October 29. Presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures, this event is sponsored by Hotel Santa Barbara and is supported, in part, by the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and the California Arts Council, a state agency. For tickets or more information, Editor: For photos, please call |