LINA_: Fado Camões

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Chancelled of Manifest Cultural Interest by the Ministry of Culture.

The multi-award-winning fado singer LINA_ is back with an extraordinary new album, released worldwide by the German label Galileo Music in January 2024. The title of this work is LINA_ Fado Camões and it has been acclaimed by national and international critics, having reached #1 in the prestigious European World Music charts – World Music Charts Europe (March), Transglobal World Music Charts Worldwide (April) and also ‘top of the world tracks’ in the British Songlines Magazine.

An unmistakable expressive voice. Spacious music based on fado. A unique composition based on the poetry of Camões. This is ‘Fado Camões’, the new album by LINA_ released worldwide on 19 January on the German label Galileo Music, after having surprised the world three years ago with the Spanish producer and musician Raül Refree, on an album with a view to Amália, celebrated on stages around the world.

LINA_ now returns in the company of British producer and musician Justin Adams, in what turns out to be a more personal album, based on the lyrics of Camões, the composition of traditional fados and also written by the singer herself. According to her, the idea began to take shape after looking into Amália’s life and realising that the poet she liked best was Camões. ‘I became curious, I wanted to know more, beyond the “Lusíadas” or the “Sonetos”, and I discovered that Camões’ subjects – changing, childhood, love, falling out of love or the description of nature – could be adapted to fado and its metrics.’

A meeting between singer and poet that another poet and essayist, Nuno Júdice, describes like this: ‘Only a perfect voice can sing a perfect poem. The way they work together makes us hear, beyond time, instruments and words, the song of poetry itself. It is this miracle that we have in LINA_’s voice and in the musical recreation that we find in these songs. More than fado, more than a Portuguese identity, it is the return to that Iberian spirit that characterised Portugal until the 17th century that we are now seeing reborn, with the unprejudiced purity of an interpretation in which Portuguese and Galician come together in total harmony, as in the Galician-Portuguese origin of the two languages, which are now autonomous.’

There are justified expectations for this new work, after the recognition of the previous record – album of the year for the 2020 World Music Chart or the 2021 Carlos do Carmo Prize, among many others – a new chapter is now opening alongside Justin Adams, musician, composer and producer, known for productions for Robert Plant, Rachid Taha, Tinariwen, Jah Wooble or Souad Massi, or for collaborations with distinguished names such as Brian Eno or Sinead O’ Connor. In a nutshell: someone who has always been committed to the idea of mixing the traditional with contemporary elements. Growing up in Egypt, he promoted the meeting of the blues with the traditional dynamics of Maghreb music, and now these influences have been carried over into his work with LINA_.

It’s no surprise that the voice and chords of the Portuguese guitar, which take us back to fado, coexist with a certain swing and Africanised atmosphere, as in ‘Quando vos veria’, or ‘In labirinto’, with the subtle presence of percussion between the voice, or in the loose side of ‘Desencontro’, while in ‘O que temo e o que desejo’, a duet with Asturian folkloric agitator Rodrigo Cuevas, it’s an insinuating Latin rhythm that meets the fado chords.

It’s both a new and a familiar LINA_ that we glimpse in the new work. The stripped-down elegance of the recent past is still there, but now there is a new spatiality, where her voice stands out amidst the piano, guitar and almost silence, creating other scenarios, with pain, fairness and dignity going hand in hand, as in ‘Desamor’ or ‘Senhora minha’. In ‘Amor é um fogo que se arde sem se ver’ (Love is a fire that burns without being seen), LINA_‘s voice is suspended in an atmosphere almost akin to silence, with just a few guitar chords and a digital mist as support, while in “Pois meus olhos não cansam de chorar” (For my eyes never tire of crying), concrete noises are integrated between piano notes, with Camões’ poetry revealing itself in scenes of melancholy, but also of celebration.

In the studio were Pedro Viana on Portuguese guitar, Englishman John Bagott, who has worked with Massive Attack, Portishead and Robert Plant, on piano and keys, and Ianina Khmelik on violin for two songs.

‘Raul and Justin have this curiosity about discovering links between the traditional and the contemporary, but this time the process was different,’ says Lina. ‘In this case I made the ‘demos’ at home and idealised the moods of each song, then came up with the arrangements and production processes. It was hard work. That’s why it’s a disc signed only by me. Compared to the previous one, this one focuses more on language, writing, poetry and the structure of Camões’ poems that can be combined with fado. The other was more about the music, the sound, the textures.’

A more personalised work, which obviously doesn’t mean a less important range of collaborations, as happened with Amélia Muge, who as well as being the author of the music and lyrics for the song ‘Senhora minha’, was an important voice in adapting the lyrics. ‘Nothing is done alone,’ says LINA_. ‘Amélia was very special. My shoulder along the way. Her opinions were fundamental. I learnt a lot from her.’

On the tour that will start in January, LINA_ will be on vocals, synthesisers and percussion, Pedro Viana on Portuguese guitar, Ianina Khmelik on violin, acoustic piano and synthesisers, and John Baggott is also expected to be present on some dates. This doesn’t stop LINA_ from continuing to perform assiduously at the Fado Club in Lisbon, where she is a resident: ‘It’s vocal and emotional training’, as she puts it, to achieve results like those of ‘Fado Camões’, where her vocal expression and the music renew fado and the soul of those who listen to her.

 

Tour Details

Live:
LINA_ (voice, synthesisers and percussion) is joined by Pedro Viana (Portuguese guitar) and Ianina Khmelik (violin, acoustic piano and synthesisers).

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Video

 

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Audio

 

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Press

“We are captivated by the beauty of her voice, the strength of her presence”

Patrick Labesse (who considered LINA one of the European artists to watch out for in 2024), Le Monde (FR)

“Lina brings to the future ‘what was born so simple’, clinging to the timelessness of Camões and unafraid of the distrust of orthodoxy. Fado takes on a new breath”

João Lisboa, Expresso ***** (PT)

“Basically, Lina’s fado is all in her voice. The instruments (…) are only there to support her and confirm her steps”

Gonçalo Frota, Público **** (PT)

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