Santa Casa Alfama reveals first confirmations for this year’s edition
Santa Casa Alfama is back for a very special edition. In a year that has presented us with so many challenges, it is even more important to bring together the Portuguese public around what can best unite their people: culture and, in this case, our music, our Fado.
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the 2 and 3 of October, the streets of one of its most mythical and traditional neighborhoods in Lisbon, Alfama, once again receive what is the great Fado festival in the country. The most local architecture continues to be the ideal setting for the celebration of the best fadista tradition, and in the centenary year of the greatest Fado diva of all time, Amália Rodrigues, a poster to match this celebration and tribute is presented, absolutely a must, as seen in the first confirmations.
Mariza and Gisela João are the first two voices confirmed for this year’s edition of Santa Casa Alfama. The two need no introduction, and they too, each in their own way, are heirs of Amália and continuants of her legacy.
In addition to the concerts of Mariza and Gisela João at the Santa Casa Stage, another highlight of the Festival will be the show exclusively designed for the 2020 edition of Santa Casa Alfama “Celebrate Amália 100 Anos Later”, with the musical direction of Jorge Fernando, he is also a musician from Amália over several years, and who will bring together voices from Fado and beyond, to interpret the most iconic themes of the greatest Fado diva of all time: Rui Veloso, Katia Guerreiro, Diogo Piçarra, Marco Rodrigues, Sara Correia, André Amaro, and of course, Jorge Fernando.
But the tribute and celebration of the life of Amália Rodrigues does not end here. The exhibition “Bem-Vinda Sejas Amália”, conceived and organized by the Amália Rodrigues Foundation, which has been touring the country, will have one of its highlights at Santa Casa Alfama, where you can learn more about Amália through its objects some of them exposed to the public for the first time at the Festival.
Santa Casa Alfama will also present the video mapping show “Amália” about the life of the fado singer, projected on the facade of the Lisbon Cruise Terminal, which promises to be one of the moments of great emotion in this year’s edition of the Festival.
Finally, as it must be, all the fadistas will contribute to this edition of great celebration, playing at least one Fado de Amália in the repertoire that they will present at the Festival.
In a different year, this unforgettable experience will also be a safe experience for everyone. Public health is a priority that, in these times, requires increased care, and this is a guarantee left by the Festival organization.
This edition of Santa Casa Alfama is being designed in strict compliance with the rules established by the Directorate-General for Health, namely with seating in all rooms and complying with the physical distance rules that are required today, the mandatory use of a mask and the availability of gel alcohol at various points of the Festival.
In this sense, the various stages, prepared to respect the recommendations of the DGS, will continue to be one of the greatest contributions to the atmosphere of Santa Casa Alfama, which lives so much on the energy and atmosphere felt in Alfama, in which each concert is a perfect marriage between the timbres of the fadistas, the trilling of the guitars and the ‘bairrista’ landscape.
In addition to the Santa Casa Stage, next to the Lisbon Cruise Terminal, the concerts will take place on the Ermelinda Freitas Stage (Rooftop of the Lisbon Cruise Terminal), on the Esplanada do Restaurante do Museu do Fado, at the Centro Cultural Dr. Magalhães Lima, on the Stage Santa Maria Maior (Largo do Chafariz de Dentro), on the Amália Stage (Abreu Advogados Auditorium), on the Santa Casa Futuro Stage (Sociedade Boa União), in the usual Fado à Janela, and on a new stage, installed in the Military Museum of Lisbon, novelty of this edition of the Festival.
Santa Casa Alfama reveals first confirmations for this year’s edition
