words yvonne teh

It may be ancestral music, but cristina branco brings the portuguese jazz/blues to vibrant life in the 21st century.

Cristina Branco is one of a new generation of singers who have rediscovered the traditional Portuguese music form known as fado and has played an important part in what she herself has termed “fado renewing”. Growing up far away from the fado as well as national capital of Lisbon, the now 35-year-old fadista (female fado singer) was not introduced to this soulful musical style until her 18th birthday when her grandfather presented her with an album by the then reigning queen of fado, Amália Rodrigues. Suddenly a genre she had previously dismissed as an anachronism for another, older generation came to life for her – and became her life.

Before that birthday, Branco sang only for the joy of it and to please her family. And even in the first few years after her fado revelation, while studying communication sciences at university, she only sang semi-professionally. These days, however, she is considered to be her country’s hottest new fado star; one whose expressive mezzo voice can soothe, heal and mesmerize. A former aspiring journalist, the now full-time fado devotee has lately said, “I’ll never make a record that isn’t fado,” and believes that “I’m definitely a better person doing what I do than doing something else. I assume it as my gift and it is no sacrifice to the ones who love me and believe in me!”

This October, Branco will headline two concerts being held as part of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department’s Mediterranean Arts Festival. She says that international experiences have been important for her development as a singer – in fact, she started her professional career outside her home country and has spent time living abroad. “The contact with other cultures, the mingling, their music, the understanding of culture; it really transforms me and teaches me,” is how she sees it – and delving into others’ traditions is easy for she speaks Spanish, French and English besides her native Portuguese.

The fado diva’s international outlook and experiences also influence both her music and her view of fado itself. While some commentators are more likely to emphasise fado’s historical roots in Lisbon, Branco has a geographically broader and historically deeper understanding. “It is a music coming from ancient colonies that arrived with the slaves at Lisbon port at the end of the 18th century and beginning of the 19th,” she explains.

Yet, she suggests, her generation of singers has been attracted to fado in part because it provides them with a traditional medium for contemporary opportunities to “affirm that we’re proud of being Portuguese and, above all, proud of our culture and language”. Accordingly, the programme of around 20 fado classics, including works like Ai Maria made famous by Amália Rodrigues, that Branco will sing on her Hong Kong debut will be largely in her native language.

Some might see the inability of a non-Portuguese-comprehending audience to understand her as an insurmountable communication obstacle but Branco brushes the concern aside. “I believe they will understand the whole meaning when you give all of yourself through music, when you expose your feelings and tell the story at the same moment.” Additionally, many of the lyrics of fado songs are poems in their own right but she doesn’t believe even that will deter audiences from being moved by her songs. “Poems and music are married and together they form a whole that can’t be dissociated,” she says. “This is my belief. It is the energy, the power of this music that crosses the hall and affects everybody who is there to receive something good and share the evening!”

Cristina Branco will perform on both nights of the weekend of October 20 and 21 at the HK Cultural Centre’s Concert Hall. Showtime is at 8pm. Tickets are priced at $380 to $120 and available from URBTIX, 2734 9009.