Like listening to a CD of vintage Bessie Smith recordings. Her voice isn't stunning in the mold of Amalia Rodrigues then or Mariza now, but she owns the material no less than Bessie Smith owned, say, St. Louis Blues. Or Balanca Balanca and Meu Filho in the case of Marie de Lourdes Machado. It's about the affinity, in the chemical sense of an attraction that bonds substances, between the singer's life and the material. Wonderful instrumental backing on this, too. Part of a discontinued old-timey fado series I've been able to find a few discs of used or surplus. I would happily buy more.
I can't find a lot of biography for her on the Web, but I did find this: "In 1937, the Portuguese guitarist Armando Machado and his wife fado singer Maria de Lourdes Machado opened Adega Machado, which is considered to be one of the oldest fado houses in Lisbon." Must go there.
I also found this YouTube video, slide show (embedding was disabled, although I don't see why). Pretty scenery. Boffo soundtrack. Limited time investment for the payoff.
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