Festival Santa Casa Alfama ’23, in this year’s edition, the biggest fado festival in the world celebrates Hermínia Silva.
The full schedule of the Church of São Miguel and Church de Santo Estevão: PEU MADUREIRA, JÚLIO RESENDE, LUÍS CAEIRO, ARTUR BATALHA, PEDRO GALVEIAS, MARIA AMÉLIA PROENÇA and PORTO FADISTS SING HERMÍNIA SILVA
On the 29th and 30th of September, Santa Casa Alfama is back for another great celebration of our music. The poster is diverse and the reasons for interest grow every day. As has been the case throughout all editions, the Santa Casa Alfama itinerary also passes through the neighborhood’s churches, places of worship that become perfect stages for art so often linked to feelings such as devotion, adoration, and faith. This year, the Church of São Miguel welcomes Peu Madureira, Júlio Resende, Luís Caeiro, and Artur Batalha; the Igreja de Santo Estêvão welcomes Pedro Galveias, Maria Amélia Proença, and even a fado night featuring a trio of fado singers from Porto, in yet another homage to Hermínia Silva.
PEU MADUREIRA
Peu Madureira was born in Lisbon, although his roots are in places as diverse as Tomar or Goa. Fado was always a faithful companion in his life, remembers listening to it at home, not only on multiple albums but also sung by his mother and grandmother. He is the last of four brothers and belongs to a music-loving family, having a composer brother, João Madureira, and a singer uncle, Luís Madureira. His passion for his country, its people, its traditions, and customs led him to study History at the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences at Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He debuted as an amateur in 2002, at a charity event in Sintra. Since then he has sporadically sung in different fado houses and represented Portugal in various international events. In 2018 he performed the theme “Só Por Ela” at the Festival da Canção, ranking third. Since then he began to build his first record work, which now sees the light of day. “Espera” promises to conquer the public, also in the performance scheduled for September 29 at the Church of São Miguel.
JÚLIO RESENDE
Júlio Resende is one of the most international Portuguese musicians, on a journey that begins with jazz, passes through fado and the word, and more recently arrives at pop-rock. After having recorded his first three projects in his own name in the format of a jazz trio and quartet, Resende decided to think about improvisation on other musical genres, such as fado, in which he crosses tradition with modernity and launches, from his piano, a new look at Portuguese song. Based on some of Amália Rodrigues’ most popular themes, Júlio Resende presents a new challenge: bringing fado to the piano, singing the melodies with the piano, and expressing everything that fado means. “Amália by Júlio Resende”, published in 2013 by Valentim de Carvalho, was unanimously acclaimed by all Portuguese music critics. Following his first solo project in which he combines fado and jazz, in 2015 Júlio Resende released his fifth album, “Fado & Further”, with the participation of Catalan singer Sílvia Pérez Cruz. Also on the album “Júlio Resende – Fado Jazz Ensemble” the Portuguese pianist once again brings his jazz closer to Fado, this time with a band and with the presence of the Portuguese guitar of Bruno Chaveiro. We have to feel grateful for being contemporaries of a musician like Júlio Resende and for having the opportunity to hear him live, this time again in a fado atmosphere, on the 29th of September, at the Igreja de São Miguel.
LUÍS CAEIRO
Alentejo has always proved to be a good Fado country. And Luís Caeiro is yet another young man who proves just that. Those who listen to him are not indifferent to his fado posture and his portentous voice. Throughout his career, he has already won the Grande Noite do Fado in 2007, TVI’s “Novos Talentos” program in 2008, and the gala “Nasci Para o Fado” by Filipe La Féria, in addition to being a finalist in the program “Uma Canção Para Ti” in 2008 and having joined the cast of the musical show “Fado – História de Um Povo”, also by Filipe La Féria. From an early age, his future in music was clear and with this curriculum even more so: Luís Caeiro could only be a fado singer. An admirer and connoisseur of all of Amália Rodrigues’ work, Luís idolizes the diva’s artistic past and has already dedicated an original fado to her memory: “Sonhei com Amália”. His album “Hoje Há Fado” includes classic fados as well as original songs, composed for him, all interpreted with soul and dedication to fado. And as a tribute to his roots, he invites the Trovadores de Redondo to perform a theme that has already marked his career: “Lírio Rouxo”. Luís Caeiro is now a certainty of fado and, for this reason, he would have to go to Santa Casa Alfama – he performs on September 30th at the Church of São Miguel.
ARTUR BATALHA
Artur Henriques dos Santos Batalha, or simply Artur Batalha, as he is known in fado circles, was born in Alfama on April 14, 1951. He began his career at just 14 years old at Taverna do Embuçado, although he had been singing since he was 9 years old. In 1971, he won the Grande Noite do Fado prize, at the Coliseu dos Recreios, and was hired to sing in several countries around the world. He is a reference figure in the most “casual” fado and also in the city of Lisbon itself, along with names like Argentina Santos, Alfredo Marceneiro, or Fernando Maurício… And in September of this year, the “Principe of Fado” will perform in his usual neighborhood, the place where he truly feels at home – Alfama, of course. This time Artur Batalha performs on September 30th, at the Church of São Miguel.
PEDRO GALVEIAS
Pedro Galveias made his debut at Grupo Recreativo Mariapiense, aged just 8. Since then he has never stopped singing. At the age of 14, he began to perform regularly at the “Painel do Fado”, where fadistas such as Maria José Valério, João Casanova, Odete Jorge, and José Manuel also sang. He participated and emerged victorious in several contests for young Fado singers. He received first prize at the Grande Noite de Fado twice: in the children’s category, in 1986, and as a senior, in 1995. He sang for 12 years at the restaurant “Os Ferreiras”, where he had the privilege of living with the “master” Fernando Mauritius. Over thirty years of fado, he performed concerts in Portugal and abroad. In 2017 he released the album “Ruas do meu fado”, in a record where he showed his talent and maturity as a fado singer. And these are qualities that the public at Santa Casa Alfama will be able to witness on September 29th, at the Church of Santo Estêvão.
MARIA AMÉLIA PROENÇA
Maria Amélia Proença was born in Lisbon, in the Campo de Ourique neighborhood. As a child, she listened to many programs on the radio and learned all the fados that were played, especially those by Amália Rodrigues, and later hummed these same songs at home and on the street. It didn’t take long before she started to stand out and her career took off very early, always with successes to this day. It has always been closely linked to the more traditional spaces of fado houses, having passed through the casts of the most important houses in the city, such as “O Luso”, “O Faia”, “A Taverna do Embuçado”, “Senhor Vinho” or, more recently, “Parreirinha de Alfama” and “Fado Menor”. Despite this, the fado singer also embarked on tours, passing through Singapore, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, Holland, and France, among other destinations. With her career spanning 72 years, Maria Amélia Proença now promises an unforgettable concert at the Church of Santo Estêvão, on the 29th of September.
Fado singers from Porto sing Hermínia Silva
Ana Pinhal, Cátia de Oliveira, and Adriana Paquete are three young fado singers from the city of Porto who have already stepped onto the country’s main stages and taken their fado art across borders. This is a project that travels through the main themes of Hermínia Silva, both in fado and in song. Trio goes through songs like “Tendinha”, “Marinheiro Americano”, “Fado Pirim-Pirim” or “Fado das Iscas”. At this year’s edition of Santa Casa Alfama, an hour and a half is expected to remember the great actress and fado singer with relaxed and well-chopped themes, as she liked to say. This show takes place on the 30th of September, at the Church of Santo Estêvão.
Santa Casa Alfama, more than 40 concerts on various stages in Alfama
FIRST CONFIRMATIONS:
September 29th
Caixa stage (Centro Cultural Dr. Magalhães de Lima)
Pedro Moutinho
Teresinha Landeiro
São Miguel Church
Peu Madureira
Júlio Resende
Santo Estevão Church
Pedro Galveias
Maria Amélia Proença
September 30th
Santa Casa stage (Lisbon Cruise Terminal)
Camané
Homage to Hermínia Silva by Anabela, FF, Filipa Cardoso e Lenita Gentil, Beatriz Felício & Geadas
Caixa stage (Centro Cultural Dr. Magalhães de Lima)
Edu Miranda “Fado no Chorinho”
Pedro Moutinho
São Miguel Church
Luís Caeiro
Artur Batalha
Santo Estevão Church
Fado singers from Porto sing Hermínia Silva
Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the conditions of access, confirmation of the date or time, tickets place of sale, price, and availability.
