Maria Teresa de Noronha

It looks like there are more than a few hits coming to this site because of Maria Teresa de Noronha. She happens to be one of my favorite fado singers. Here are a few points about her and her work.

Biographical details on her are scant on the web. The best writeups I've found are (not surprisingly) published by Vítor Marceneiro. One of my favorites is a piece by her long-time guitarist, Raul Nery, who is still alive:

http://lisboanoguiness.blogs.sapo.pt/218080.html

A straight ahead bio is here:

http://lisboanoguiness.blogs.sapo.pt/194064.html

where we learn that her full name was "Maria Teresa do Carmo de Noronha Guimarães Serôdio (Paraty)",  and that she was called Baté by her friends. She lived from 1918 to 1993. If you go to the Panteão Nacional in Lisbon, you'll find plenty of her relatives buried there. Dom Vicente de Câmara is a cousin of some sort.

There is a Wiki entry that is not ridiculous:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Teresa_de_Noronha

The part that blows my mind is this: "In 1938, at the age of 20, Maria Teresa de Noronha was invited by the Portuguese broadcasting company (Emissora Nacional) to perform at a regular biweekly fado program, which she did uninterruptly until 1961, with the exception of a 4-year pause following her marriage in December 1947 to the Count of Sabrosa" Let's say she sang three fados every other week for 20 years. So, RTP, where are those approximately 1500 recordings anyway???


Her records appear to be slowly being re-released. Fado Antigo and Saudades das Saudades are two, and they are both excellent. See here: http://www.playme.com/mariateresadenoronha/album/

There is a very good and representative collection of her music (in the Biografias do Fado series). It has 20 tracks, first is "Fado da Idanha", last is "Gosto de ti quando mentes". You can get it online pretty easily. Try also looking under the title "O Melhor de Maria Teresa de Noronha" (contents are exactly the same, down to the liner notes).

EMI released a four CD box set some years ago that is completely sold out. If you find it, get it.

If you're in Lisbon, visit the record store Discoteca Amália and ask for the CD Inéditos para a história do fado ("Unreleased tracks contributing to the history of fado"), which pulls together some unreleased work that does not appear on the EMI collection. I think there are not tons of copies of it left.


Finally, a few videos of her are starting to appear on YouTube. Here are three (all with Raul Nery and Joaquim de Vale). Many thanks to user Fado3Carabelas for posting these.

Fado Rio Maior: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukRlfw6ZbHU
Fado da Sina: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtD52dXZJAs
Fado da Idanha: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhKi4xbNpXg