Staff Reporter

The Embassy of Portugal in Windhoek is inviting one and all to spend a night in Lisbon through a live concert of Fado with Rodrigo Costa Félix and Ana Margarida on 2 December at the National Theatre of Namibia.

The show starts at 19h00, and entrance is free. Fado has been acknowledged in 2011 by Unesco as part of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Fado is a performance genre incorporating music and poetry, widely practised by various communities in Lisbon, Portugal. It represents a Portuguese multicultural synthesis of Afro-Brazilian sung dances, local traditional genres of song and dance, musical traditions from rural areas of the country brought by successive waves of internal immigration, and the cosmopolitan urban song patterns of the early 19th century.

The dissemination of Fado, through emigration and the world music circuit, has reinforced its image as a symbol of Portuguese identity, leading to a process of cross-cultural exchange involving other musical traditions.

Rodrigo Costa Félix is one of the greatest Fado references of his generation. Professional for over 30 years, he has a presence on stage that is distinguished by elegance, sobriety and maturity. British Songlines, the most important world music magazine, just acknowledged his last CD ‘Tempo’ as a Top of the World album, describing it as ‘beautiful and inventive’ and “another outstanding disc for fado aficionados”.

Ana Margarida is one of the most exciting voices of the new generation of Fado singers. She has already performed in countries such as Spain, France, Switzerland, Netherlands, Russia, Germany, Luxembourg and Romania. She is currently preparing her first CD edited by Museu do Fado Discos.

This event is funded by Camões, IP and also received the generous sponsorship from Portuguese entrepreneurs residing in Namibia, which together made this event possible.

These include Auas City Hotel, Gecko Signs, Dunas Safari Tours, O Portuga Restaurant and Isabel’s Table.