The Rancho de Cantadores de Aldeia Nova de São Bento was in Porto for a concert and then came to Lisbon for three sold-out concerts, in one of the best moments we had the opportunity to see and hear at the CCB.
The Alentejo cante since 2014 Cultural and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, was king, at the Belém Cultural Center, 3 days of full rooms, in the presence perhaps of the greatest exponent of cante, the Rancho de Cantadores de Aldeia Nova de São Bento, integrates generations, with singers aged between 16 and 93, which allow us to remain hopeful that this magnificent Alentejo folk tradition will not be lost.
António Zambujo, Pedro Mestre (viola campaniça), Mafalda Vasques, Carolina Pinto, Rita Sanches, winners of “The Voice“, Válter Rolo were the guests that further enhanced an unforgettable night at the CCB without forgetting the actors Dinarte Branco and Domingos Galamba who gave context to the concert, with poems, quotes and jokes.
The Rancho de Cantadores de Aldeia Nova de São Bento, founded in 1986, has never stopped and has shown the Alentejo cante, not only in Portugal, with concerts in some of the most important venues, such as Coliseus, Culturgest, Teatro Nacional de São Carlos and now Casa da Música and CCB, but he has performed all over the world, with concerts in Brazil, USA, Macau, Germany, Spain, France and Belgium.
In 2016, Rancho recorded an album of the same name, produced by Ricardo Cruz, which received the Golden Award, where the excellence of its interpreters, heirs of a tradition, which emerged, in difficult agricultural work, when groups of men and women, sang to alleviate the harshness of fieldwork, with fashions from the Alentejo songbook.
Cante ended up changing and adapting, with the mechanization of extensive agriculture, it became on stages, in the streets and squares and also in Alentejo taverns, that we started to hear the Alentejo songs, and it was in the Rapa o Tacho tavern, in the stage of theCCB, where we can also hear the cante, but also puns, jokes and sarcasm, something very Alentejo.
Rancho toasted the public by returning to the stage, but still offered another surprise, already on the street, waited for the public and returned to singing, marching, ending a concert that was unforgettable.
