Tania, Fado Inspirado, Alexcia Records

I notice more zippy fado tunes, like Alamares, Fadinho de Ti Maria Benta and Rapsodia Lisboeta (which reminds me of Brazil, the song not the country) on this disk than some others I own. Sometimes I think of it as being at "cantina" pace (Mexican or Star Wars ) and other times it brings to mind, say, Emmylou Harris' Rollin' and Ramblin' or Wheels of Love.

I may be thinking of Emmylou, too, because that's the kind of voice Tania has, higher than a Mariza or a Lizz Wright and somewhat thinner, which isn't to say they aren't fine voices. In baseball terms, they're breaking ball as opposed to power pitchers, relying on subtlety, not that they can't both throw heat in selected spots. Tania, a first generation Portuguese-American, tends to pound it more on slower, melancholy fados (and there are several, despite my earlier comment about this being noticeably zippy) like Abandono, Amor de Mel, Amor de Fel and Mar Portugues. The accompaniment is generally the traditional guitarras and bass with a drum and bowed strings slipping in at least once. Consistently captivating.