Ana Moura Live: "Coliseu" Showcases the Fado Songbird

I am tempted to begin with the statement that vocalist Ana Moura is a Portuguese National Treasure. That would be a bit cliche but not untrue. Her voice exudes the warmth and beauty of a master-singer, and such she is. The musical art form of Fado goes back centuries. Her advent ensures that it will not be disappearing any time soon. It's a song form for voice and string instruments, with lyrics filled with an exquisite melancholy that can be savored like a fine port. In the hands of a singer like Ana Moura the feelings and expressiveness of the voice brings the meaning of the worlds even to those who do not know the language. She is one-in-a-generation in her vocal artistry.

Nowhere is this more clear than on her new live CD Coliseu (World Village 468103) Beautiful songs, beautiful singing, beautiful guitar accompaniment, and the immediacy of an intimate live engagement.

Highly recommended.

Ana Moura, Fado Goddess!

If you don't know about Portuguese Fado music, or even if you do, Ana Moura is someone you must not miss. Her voice has the full yet tender sound equal to some of the greatest Fado singers, which means that the singing is just unbelievably beautiful.

The Fado tradition goes back many centuries and has a quality that must be heard to appreciate. The minimal ensemble consists of an acoustic guitar, nylon or steel stringed, and the Portuguese guitarra, which has 12 strings tuned in a particular way. That's true of the music on Ana Moura's new album Leva-Me Aos Fados (World Village), though it sounds as if there are two guitarras in the ensemble, most of the time, plus a bass instrument, sounds like an upright at least part of the time.

The point however, is that the kind of exquisite melanchology that Fado portrays so poetically is ever present in Ana's vocal style that one does not have to understand Portuguese (I don't) to hear the passion in her voice. Like the blues, Fado should be expressive!! Well, Ana Moura is the best thing I've heard in a long time. What a voice!! Need I say more? Wow!