This October, Portuguese fado singers Ana Laíns and Pedro Galveias will be
touring the northeast US, with concert
dates, workshops and other appearances scheduled in New York, Massachusetts and
Rhode Island.
Ana Laíns’ music
spans the full depth and breadth of Portuguese fado music, an art form recently recognized by UNESCO for its profound importance to world culture. Ana’s music
has achieved wide critical and artistic acclaim, as well as various prizes
(including best young female singer in Lisbon’s Grande Noite de Fado (Grand
Night of the Fado), the country’s top fado competition). She has released two
CDs (Sentidos and Quatro Caminhos) and performed extensively
both within and outside Portugal. 
Pedro Galveias is one of the most
established and storied voices of Lisbon’s traditional fado scene. Pedro has
released two CDs (Assim se Canta and Loucuras de um Fado) and was twice a winner in the category of best male singer in
Lisbon’s Grande Noite de Fado. He was profiled on Fado-Today after the release of his second album.
Accompanying the singer are two master
musicians, Sandro Costa (on the
Portuguese guitar) and Tô Neto (on
the viola do fado), both of whom have performed widely at all levels of the
fado, from Lisbon’s hidden taverns to the worldwide stage.
Together, the music of this group embraces traditional and
contemporary expressions of Portuguese fado, with stories of heartache, joy and
longing conjuring images of Portugal’s centuries-old history and of our shared
human condition.
The tour kicks off with a concert at Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY on 16 October, and includes shows at University of Massachusetts Lowell on 23 October and at the Lusitano Restaurant and Gardens in Fall River, Massachusetts on 24 October. Further information on tickets and concert dates is here.
As part of the tour, the group will be holding university
workshops, school visits, and other activities to introduce a wide range of
people to fado music in particular and to Portuguese culture in general. The
tour is organized by Portuguese/American Cultural Exchange, Inc. (PACE) a Massachusetts not-for-profit whose mission
is to bridge US and Portuguese cultures through the fado. The tour follows
previous highly successful PACE programs, including tours by Ricardo Ribeiro,
Rodrigo Costa Félix and Duarte Coxo, with extensive participation from US-based
fado performers.
