From brass to fado
Music at the Manoel
We are used to seeing orchestras and classical solo musicians gracing the stage of the Manoel Theatre, but the first concert of the 2007 - 2008 season breaks away from this routine.
The curtain-raiser concert for next season will be held on September 28 at 8 p.m. It will be given by the Armed Forces of Malta Military Band, under the baton of their Director of Music, Lieutenant John Ivan Borg. This will be a very different concert to the usual orchestral event, but none the worse for that. All of the AFM's bandsmen are very accomplished musicians and many people feel that a headlining concert from them at our national theatre is long overdue.
Fado is a form of folk music peculiar to Portugal. It has been described thus: "Suffering, melancholy and impotence in the face of fate are the tragic emotions that people expect when listening to traditional fado music. The long tradition of the fado has brought forth several fixed formulas to express these feelings." Fado is thought to trace its roots to the 1820s, but many believe it goes back long before that time. Perhaps the most famous exponent of fado was the late Amalia Rodriguez, who is still today eight years after her death, regarded as the prima diva of the genre.
Cristina Branco, who will perform at the Manoel Theatre, Valletta on September 30 at 8 p.m, is one of a new breed of fado singers. Born in 1972 she showed no inclination to perform or even listen to fado until receiving a gift from her grandfather of one of Amalia Rodriguez's albums on reaching her 18th birthday. Ms Branco discovered all the emotions that fado could offer in the close connections that arose among voice, poetry and music. The amateur singer - then studying communication sciences and still full of her ambition to become a journalist - began to develop her vocal technique and to take her new vocation seriously. Her appearance at our national theatre will mark one of the high points of the Manoel Theatre's music season.
Accompanying Ms Branco will be four of Portugal's foremost fado musicians. Forty-one-year-old Custódio Castelo, who trained as a classical guitarist, became fascinated with the unique sound of the Portuguese guitar and has become one of the most accomplished fado accompanists. His work with the great Amalia Rodriguez is of particular note. National and international critics have recognised his abilities as an accompanist and as a composer, particularly when accompanying Ms Branco, as the crucial impulse for the evolution and spread of the fado in recent years. Other musicians providing accompaniment will be Alexandre Silva on acoustic Spanish guitar, classical guitarist Miguel Carvalhinho and finally veteran acoustic bass guitarist Fernando Maia.
The curtain-raiser concert for next season will be held on September 28 at 8 p.m. It will be given by the Armed Forces of Malta Military Band, under the baton of their Director of Music, Lieutenant John Ivan Borg. This will be a very different concert to the usual orchestral event, but none the worse for that. All of the AFM's bandsmen are very accomplished musicians and many people feel that a headlining concert from them at our national theatre is long overdue.
Fado is a form of folk music peculiar to Portugal. It has been described thus: "Suffering, melancholy and impotence in the face of fate are the tragic emotions that people expect when listening to traditional fado music. The long tradition of the fado has brought forth several fixed formulas to express these feelings." Fado is thought to trace its roots to the 1820s, but many believe it goes back long before that time. Perhaps the most famous exponent of fado was the late Amalia Rodriguez, who is still today eight years after her death, regarded as the prima diva of the genre.
Cristina Branco, who will perform at the Manoel Theatre, Valletta on September 30 at 8 p.m, is one of a new breed of fado singers. Born in 1972 she showed no inclination to perform or even listen to fado until receiving a gift from her grandfather of one of Amalia Rodriguez's albums on reaching her 18th birthday. Ms Branco discovered all the emotions that fado could offer in the close connections that arose among voice, poetry and music. The amateur singer - then studying communication sciences and still full of her ambition to become a journalist - began to develop her vocal technique and to take her new vocation seriously. Her appearance at our national theatre will mark one of the high points of the Manoel Theatre's music season.
Accompanying Ms Branco will be four of Portugal's foremost fado musicians. Forty-one-year-old Custódio Castelo, who trained as a classical guitarist, became fascinated with the unique sound of the Portuguese guitar and has become one of the most accomplished fado accompanists. His work with the great Amalia Rodriguez is of particular note. National and international critics have recognised his abilities as an accompanist and as a composer, particularly when accompanying Ms Branco, as the crucial impulse for the evolution and spread of the fado in recent years. Other musicians providing accompaniment will be Alexandre Silva on acoustic Spanish guitar, classical guitarist Miguel Carvalhinho and finally veteran acoustic bass guitarist Fernando Maia.