“QWhen I told my classmates in junior high that I had started singing fado, they were horrified. I wasn’t cool, they excluded me from the group ». Ruthless (and reckless) children! Maria do Carmo de Carvalho Rebelo de Andrade, aka Carminhois today a star and an ambassador of Portuguese culturea source of inspiration for Ian Griffiths and his Max Mara collection Resort 2023. “A few years later, when I was strong enough to say” I don’t care what you think “, I invited the more” brave “to hear me and they were seduced: if you have faith in what you do, if you emanate confidence, others remain magnetized “.
Carminho in a total look Max Mara Resort 2023 (photo German Larkin).
Fado, the soul of Lisbon
For almost two hundred years the public has been “magnetized” by fado (from Latin fatumdestiny), that in 2011 it was recognized by Unesco “intangible heritage of humanity”. “He was born in Lisbon in the poor neighborhoods among sailors and prostitutes” explains Carminho, who also often collaborates with Brazilian artists (from Caetano Veloso to Chico Buarque) and who, at the beginning of 2023, will release his new album, the sixth. “At the beginning it was not an artistic expression, it was just a question of survival: singing with your heart was the way to throw emotions out. Gradually the people – especially the rich and the aristocrats who frequented the brothels – grasped the beauty of the compositions. The progenitor of the famous fadists is Severa (Maria Severa Onofrianadied at the age of 26 in 1846, ed), a prostitute who became the mistress of the count of Vimioso ».
Is it the difficult lives of the ancient interpreters that give that sad, melancholy touch?
Not only. The other Europeans are close to the Mediterranean, which is calm, peaceful; we are close to the great waves of the Atlantic, where women waited on the beach for their fishermen husbands who would never return. There are many theories, of course, but this one resonates with me. I feel our strength and, at the same time, our fragility, shyness. We’re not that Latin, we’re not the da fiesta like the Spanish and the Italians. We are introverts, we wear black. We have a deep sense of nostalgia.
The famous saudade. How to explain it?
Eh, complex … I have the saudade of things that I have not experienced, of places that I have not seen, but also of the family. It is a state of mind linked to both sadness and happiness.
Daughter of art
Carminho shows in Lisbon for the Max Mara Resort 2023 collection (photo German Larkin).
The first memory concerning fado?
At the age of four, sitting on my parents’ bed, I sang an entire tune, alternating words with imitating the sound of guitars. My father and mother were totally fascinated, as it happens to me today when I look at my son Jaime (had by the music producer João Gomes, ed), who is already strumming at the age of two.
And the first public performance?
At 12, at the Coliseu dos Recreios, the largest concert venue in Lisbon, 4000 spectators. My mother, who is a fadist, had a fundraising show for the zoo. She was asked if she wanted to perform with one of her four children. She would have gladly avoided: “Nobody wants to come with me, right?” she asked us. “I do!” (smiles).
From there, the path was drawn.
Not exactly. A couple of times a week I performed in fado houses, but I continued to study, graduating in Marketing and Advertising. I believed that in a profession you have to work hard, and instead singing was so easy for me … But when international record companies (I’m talking about Warner, Sony, Universal) asked me to record a record, I declined: “Honored, unfortunately I can’t: I’m sure I have the language of fado, but I don’t have the words, I have nothing to say ”. And everyone: “You are silly! The train of life does not pass once, but the second is full ”. (laughs)
“A gap year”
Carminho in concert with a Max Mara Resort 2023 total look (photo German Larkin).
Sadists.
No because? Instead of communicating anxiety to me, they strengthened my conviction! I bought a ticket with the money kept aside and took a gap year around the world with my backpack, alone: China, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Cambodia, Laos, Australia, New Zealand, East Timor. Latin America: Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil. And Easter Island. I did two months of volunteering in India, in Calcutta: the strongest experience.
From Mother Teresa?
Now there was his successor, Sister Nirmala. The service is a mirror that allows you to get to know yourself better and, for sure, gives you more than you give. At one point I had a crisis: I was taking care of the orphanage and it required too much energy. I was crying: “I’m a horrible person, I don’t like children”. And I prayed (I have a lot of faith). Until a kind of awareness came to me: enough with the rhetoric of sacrifice, you have to choose something that suits you, so you will be happy and offer with joy. Here, I applied this vision to the craft and, on the return flight, I decided: I will be a fado singer. I contacted the record companies and, at 25, I made an album.
Carminho and the secret of fado
Carminho in Lisbon in a total look Max Mara Resort 2023 (photo German Larkin).
Where do you get your inspiration from when you write the lyrics?
First of all I would like to point out that in fado there is a very interesting feature: we can adapt the words to old music, I even used some 70 years ago. You do not change the language, you change the speech, you adapt the “formal part” to what you intend to express. I’m interested in stories, feelings, even a sound gives me inspiration.
And the technique?
There is no technique in fado: ultimately it is not the voice that counts but the connection between what you feel and what you express. A reference for me was Beatriz da Conceição (1939-2015, ed). She was from Porto – women are strong there – and she was direct, sincere, honest: “The song must rise from the pelvis”, she suggested to me. Feel the energy of each word, forget yourself and put your voice in the service of poetry.
“A gift from the heart”
Carminho in Lisbon, in the garden of the Palace of the Marquises of Fronteira (photo German Larkin).
Other models?
My mother. And Amália Rodrigues, one of the divas: she brought about an incredible revolution of the genre by inaugurating the transposition into music of texts by the greatest Portuguese poets.
She has published a children’s book about the legendary Rodrigues: Amália – Já Sei Quem És (Amália – I know who you are). Did you find out his secret?
I think they were intuition and determination: he started in a poor neighborhood, Alcântara (my current neighborhood), he was selling wine. I met her in the fado house that my parents ran, she performed there often. She was an inspiration to me because it is the proof that it is not all in the song, but in the personality. She didn’t study much, it was a gift that came from her heart.
Maria Severa, Amália Rodrigues, now Mariza’s generation and hers… Fado seems to be particularly suited to women.
Yes, and I don’t know why: there are beautiful male voices and excellent composers, like Alfredo Marceneiro
Is there a difference between the themes of men and women?
The culture of fado is a bit macho, the imaginary is macho. “You can always knock on my door but not walk in my street with her!” (sings a famous song). Do you see the position in which the man puts the woman? Now things are changing. We are still not many to write, maybe three or four: it is important that the number increases.
Is the approach changing as well? Less melancholy, more joy?
The issue is empowerment: more respect for women, less psychological violence. But without taking up arms, it is not a war, it is a path. Like having a ruined garden: you don’t have to be frustrated, you plant a flower here, a flower there, in the end the result will be harmonious. I would like to add one thing.
You’re welcome.
In sadness, however, there is the most creative place you can find: sadness energizes you. You are pushed to create in order to get out of it.
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