Tribute to Celeste Rodrigues fado singer this month in Lisbon

Fado singer Celeste Rodrigues, who died last year, is honored on 21 September at the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB) in Lisbon, in a show with the participation of Camané, Mísia, and Ricardo Ribeiro, among others.

The show “Fado Celeste” is staged by his grandson, filmmaker Diogo Varela, author of a documentary about the fado singer who celebrated themes such as “Legends of Algae”, “Heard Saying You Forget Me” or “Look at the Mala”.

In addition to Camané, distinguished last year with the Manuel Simões Prize, Mísia and Ricardo Ribeiro, Ana Sofia Varela, Duarte, Pedro Moutinho, Katia Guerreiro, Hélder Moutinho, Teresa Landeiro, Sara Correia, Jorge Fernando and Fábia Rebordão.

The fadistas are accompanied, on the Portuguese guitar, by Pedro de Castro and Gaspar Varela, in the viola by André Ramos, and Francisco Gaspar in the bass guitar.

The show is part of the “Há Fado no Cais” program, which marks a partnership between the CCB and the Fado Museum, which states that “on stage, the friends of different generations will gather on a tribute to the great matriarch of fado”.

“Interpreting the beautiful repertoire of Celeste Rodrigues, everyone celebrates this rare and extraordinary joy of living a lifetime to do what you love,” according to the same source.

The Fado Museum refers to Celeste Rodrigues as a “consensual figure in the Portuguese musical universe” and “a reference for different generations of artists”.

“Majestic, her nonagenarian voice became accustomed to living for fado and made of fado her home. She always sang and sang to the end.” Fado was – is – her house, “says the museum, referring to the more than 70-year career of the creator of “Might Be Liar”.

Sister of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), Celeste was “one of the first fado singers to perform internationally, in stages such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Carnegie Hall in New York, or in the Cité de la Musique in Paris.”

Celeste Rodrigues died in Lisbon on August 1, 2018, at the age of 95, celebrated fados like “Noche de Inverno” and “Saudade vai-te pies”, having, over a 73-year career, stepped on the different stages, from the fado houses in Lisbon to the old Urca Casino, in Rio de Janeiro, next to the sister, or the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

The fado singer Celeste Rodrigues was a “living legend”, recalled Madonna at the time, but it was Argentina Santos who recognized the secret, “a little music box in the throat.”