About the new CD - ALMA LIVRE - JARO 4282-2:
It was a track on Charlie Gilletts World 2004 compilation that first drew many peoples attention to the English speaking world to Dona Rosa. Rosa was born in 1957 in Oporto /Portugal in a very poor family living in one room. Meningitis raged through that room when Rosa was still an infant and since the age of 4 years she is blind. Her luck began to change when Austrian music producer André Heller discovered here and invited Rosa for an Austrian TV show produced in Marrakech, Morocco. In the year 2000 she appeared with a showcase at Womex worldmusic fair in Berlin and since that time she developed a repertoire of traditional protuguese music sung in the fado style. Starting from singing in Lisbon streets she ended up with a new quartet performing on stages from Taipei, Moscow to Los Angeles since the past years and as well to Womad stages in Spain and England.
Dona Rosa embodies the true longing of the soul for authenticity, rooted in a tradition where Fado is its most relevant and famous symbol. Her voice becomes the ideal instrument for the expression of this longing, and as she sings we feel that is indeed possible to stretch ourselves beyond the boundaries of our narrow, logical minds. We are easily moved, recognizing those places within ourselves that are moved and nurtured by her soulful voice. Dona Rosa, in her simple and genuine way, creates the mood so that the "Green Emerald" of our hearts can truly be seen.
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ALMA LIVRE releases our souls from the daily routine, allowing a subtle tuning to take place, and is an invitation to welcome new soundscapes for us to enjoy in songs such as "Cavalos" (wild horses thirsty for sun), "Mulher da Beira" (instrumental), "Canta, canta ?amigo canta" (sing my friend sing, alone you are nothing, together we have the world in our hands), "Nos Trilhos" (instrumental), and "Livre", the song that best portrays the true and non-conventional spirit of Dona Rosa, reminding us that there is no axe capable of cutting off the roots of free thinking.
In ALMA LIVRE, Dona Rosa faced new challenges as the creative process unfolded. This was a musical journey where the rhythm of the language made the difference. In the studio, Dona Rosa displayed all her musical talents; in almost all the songs she followed the beat of the metronome instead of her usual triangle and sang and inspired the group of musicians who joined her for this project, from the more traditional of them such as Carlos Gonçalves and Amália Rodrigues, Portugal’s most famous guitar player, to the new musical languages of Ciro Bertini, Sofia Borges, Raul Abreu, Celina Piedade, Tiago Oliveira, Ricardo Parreira ,Luis Cunha and José Afonso.
About DONA ROSA:
Even today fairy tales still happen - tales that read as if they were straight out of the Arabian Nights. This is the miraculous story of the blind Fado singer DONA ROSA of Lisbon:
In 1999 a Portuguese production company was asked to find a Fado singer for an Austrian Television Company production to be recorded in Marrakesh. The programme..s musical director, the well-known Viennese artist and impresario Andr.. Heller, had a particular blind street singer in mind, a woman he had heard many years ago, whose voice had moved him deeply and haunted his memory ever since. The search proved to require quite some detective work but finally she was found - DONA ROSA.
Who is DONA ROSA?
She was born on February 1, 1957 in poverty. At the age of four she fell ill with a severe case of meningitis to which she lost her eyesight. Her family, whose only means of livelihood was begging, could not easily accept the child..s handicap but managed to provide a basic education for her. She learned to read and write and carry out simple manual tasks ...and she became acquainted with the traditional songs of Portugal.
She was born on February 1, 1957 in poverty. At the age of four she fell ill with a severe case of meningitis to which she lost her eyesight. Her family, whose only means of livelihood was begging, could not easily accept the child..s handicap but managed to provide a basic education for her. She learned to read and write and carry out simple manual tasks ...and she became acquainted with the traditional songs of Portugal.
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When she came of age she realised that she must leave her family for good: The day she arrived home in North Portugal she turned around and took the next train back to Lisbon.
There, with the help of other blind homeless persons, she quickly learned to master the art of survival in the street. What she didn't earn by selling magazines and lottery tickets she earned by begging, until the day somebody suggested her to use her beautiful voice as a means of livelihood.
And so there emerged on the streets of Lisbon a singer who sensitively translated her bitter fate into music. Gradually, Dona Rosa became an inseparable element of the urban features.
Today, accompanied by a triangle once given to her by a friend, she sings her own special brand of Fado. More so than traditional Fado, her song gives expression to all of the misery suffered by the poorest of the poor, and to their profound longing for the good life they will never call their own.
In fall and winter of 1999/2000 DONA ROSA recorded the first songs in the church "Igredja do Menino-Deus". In the course of the recordings it became apparent that the addition of guest musicians could make this recording a gem. On four tracks DONA ROSA was accompanied by the accordionist Ricardo Dias (among other things arranger and composer for Misia). Their cooperation went so smoothly that they decided to do the concerts as a duo. During the production in Marrakesh DONA ROSA had met the world-famous choir THE BULGARIAN VOICES ANGELITE. JARO was able to arrange for DONA ROSA to be accompanied by the choir on two of the tracks on this album. Furthermore, in accordance with a wish for documentation expressed by DONA ROSA herself, one of the songs was recorded where a large part of her life has taken place - in the street.
