The Portuguese fado singer Carminho, in a conversation with Lusa, expressed that the title of her new album is ambiguous and “addresses various issues, the ambiguity a person may have in their certainties, which do not exist, but also this harmony with the themes of fado”.
“People in fado often die from love, there is much dying from love in fado, but being able to resist is something that interests me, and I am interested in singing about it”, she added.
For this album, Carminho set to music “Balada do País que Dói” and “Saber”, two poems by Ana Hatherly (1919-2015), whom the artist described as “a fabulous, very complete artist, in terms of the multidisciplinarity she worked in and the experimentation she carried out”.
Reflecting on “Balada do País que Dói”, Carminho stated: “This poem already contained a lot of music, with that cadence […] and it brought me, musically, these ideas of repetition and mantra”.
Carminho has been recognized as an author since her debut album, “Fado” (2011), but she acknowledges that this aspect, as well as her role as a composer, “is now more noted”.
In this album, she signed seven compositions, including “Sofrendo da Alma” by Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), and “Canção à Ausente” by Pedro Homem de Mello (1904-1984).
Carminho expressed to Lusa that she “enjoys composing for traditional fado” and also “writing for traditional fados”, citing “O Quarto”, which she wrote for the Fado Pajem by Alfredo Marceneiro, from her album “Portuguesa” (2023).
She emphasized the “need” to work extensively on fados in search of solutions: “For instance, there might be a need for a decasyllabic verse, in a major key, more quickly. There are sometimes these necessities that fado singers have, and I find it very interesting to have that freedom for composing traditional fados”.
For the creator of “Trazes-me Tanta Saudade”, “fado is an instrument, a means to well translate the sentiment of a fado singer, what their discourses and thoughts are, it has always been so”.
Carminho reviewed the contributions of past fado artists like Amália Rodrigues, “who brought new poets to fado”, Alfredo Marceneiro, who composed for himself, and Maria Teresa de Noronha, who began “styling melodies from [Fado] Menor, Corrido, and Mouraria, creating melodies that became fixed with new names, that is, original melodies”.
“I believe fado has always been very plastic and a living language”, she claimed, stating she “does not quite understand the simplism in analyses about fado”.
“Fado can be simple, it can be complex, it has to do with how the fado singer wishes to work it, and thus the themes are developed, and new themes can also be introduced into fado. One of the most brilliant characteristics of fado is using its material and renewing it, making these connections with elements of the canons of fado and combining them, even the instruments”.
Carminho advocated for the freedom of a fado singer to work with fado but emphasized that it “draws nourishment from the classics, from the history of fado to express itself”.
For Carminho, “Eu Vou Morrer de Amor ou Resistir” arises “in continuity with the two previous albums”, “Portuguesa” (2023) and “Maria” (2019), in which “various questions arose, and there was a need to explore and experiment in the studio, some sound regions that fado, or at least previous albums, did not have”.
This album features the ‘cristal Bachet’, an instrument developed in 1952 by the French Bernard and François Bachet, and the ‘ondes Martenot’, created in 1928 by Maurice Martenot.
These choices are justified by her desire to “explore new things” that she sets out to do with each album.
A habitual choice in her albums is the inclusion of a popular march, and in this album, she performs the Grande Marcha de Lisboa from 1935, “Lá Vai Lisboa” (Norberto Araújo/Raul Ferrão), a creation by Beatriz Costa.
“I love singing marches, I think it is a major genre of Portuguese music, not only for all the culture latent in the creation of marches, which has to do with this idea of generations coming together, young and old, outside their professional scope, being able to vibrate for their own neighborhood, and a sense of belonging, and also the way new compositions arise each year and the themes”, she stated.
“I am quite passionate about marching and love singing them. It’s a great celebration”, she emphasized.
Another collaboration is with pianist Mário Laginha on the song “Dia Cinzento”, which is “a song distant from the form of fado, it does not have the structure of traditional fado”, which immediately led her to imagine Mário Laginha’s piano playing, and “it was an honor” for the fado artist to be able to work with “a superior artist” like the pianist.
Regarding the participation of American Laurie Anderson, Carminho referred to the singer and filmmaker as “one of the best artists in the world, who is unavoidable”, with whom Carminho shares the performance of “Saber”, “a poem that was written at the same time Laurie Anderson began her work of exploration and experimentation”.
