A visibly moved João Braga entered the stage, starting the show commemorating the 55th anniversary of his career with the themes ‘Saudades da Tua Voz’, and ‘Tive um barco’.
In the introduction of his show, the fado singer thanks everyone for coming and the singer tells us that ’55 years of career is a lot of career and that from a certain point on I realized the need to bring a younger audience to fado, others older because they know more about fado’ and it is with this introduction that the fado singer gives voice to several fadistas, Ana Margarida, Francisco Salvação Barreto, Ana Beatriz, Rodrigo Costa Félix, Nani Medeiros, Katia Guerreiro, Maria Ana Bobone and Miguel Sanches, to sing with him, several songs from his repertoire, ‘Quadras ao Gosto Popular’, ‘Adeus Mouraria’, ‘Rua dos Correeiros’, ‘A Minha Cor’, ‘Samba em Prelúdio’, ‘Amália’, ‘A História de Simão’ and ‘É tão bom Cantar o Fado’.
Between each theme, he tells the story of each one, paying his own tribute to each lyricist, each musician, each fado singer who lived with him these 55 years of Fado, Manuel Alegre, João Fezas Vital, Manuel Andrade, Fernando Pessoa, João Ferreira Rosa, António Caldeira, Artur Ribeiro, Júlio Proença, Artur Ribeiro, Maria Manuel Cid, João Villaret, Armando Rodrigues, Pedro Rodrigues, Vinicius de Moraes, Baden Powell, José Fontes Rocha, António Tavares Teles, Carlos Conde, Alexandre O’ Neill, Joel Pina, among many others.
These eight guest fadistas, in addition to receiving the invitation to sing with João Braga, also received the gift of performing solo, having been made by the fado singer a single request, that they sing themes from his repertoire, the ones they liked best, easy or difficult, but from their repertoire, and so throughout the night we hear these extraordinary fado singers sing, solo, songs such as ‘Olhos da Cor do Mar’, ‘Velhinho Fado Menor’, ‘Recado a Lisboa’, ‘Prece’, ‘ D. Sebastião’, ‘Arraial’, ‘Nome de Mar’ and ‘Ausência’.
The fado singer offers us the songs ‘Bem Sei’, ‘Fado de Lisboa’, ‘Um Carnaval’, Voz’ and ‘Fado Fado’.
João Braga reveals that ‘he has guided his career with two things, the first being poetry and the second with those who accompany him, saying that one of the best things that fado has is being well played, thus introducing the musicians who accompany him, Pedro de Castro and Eurico Machado on Portuguese guitar, Jaime Santos Jr. on the Fado viola and Francisco Gaspar on the bass guitar’ and these four musicians play ‘Variações em Mi menor’, which was simply fabulous.
But João Braga is not just a fado singer and throughout the night we discovered a comedian João Braga, offering his audience several funny stories, even about his Football Club.
Regarding João Braga, the guest artists congratulated the fado singer on his 55-year career, telling him that he has gifted them with the most beautiful Portuguese poetry, which has one of the most beautiful fado repertoires and for the beautiful legacy he leaves. Which is an excellent reference for younger fadistas, to whom it offers many opportunities to reveal themselves.
Closing a fantastic night, João Braga invites all the artists to take the stage to sing ‘O Fado do Estudante’ with him.
It was a night of sharing, lived as a family, with a wonderful audience that also paid their homage to him, always interacting with him, drawing laughter from both sides.
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