Fado at the Castle

June 14th
Carlos do Carmo invites António Serrano

To speak of Carlos do Carmo is to speak of Lisbon, city of traders’ cries and seagulls. With an unmistakable voice, Carlos do Carmo sings about longing, unrequited love, loneliness, spring swallows, the “kids”, hope and the future. Um Homem na Cidade, O Cacilheiro, Fado do Campo Grande, O Amarelo da Carris and O Homem das Castanhas are just a few of the songs which form part of a wide repertoire. He was born in Lisbon, son of Lucília do Carmo (one of the greatest fadistas of the 19th century) and Alfredo de Almeida. In 2014 he received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award - Premio a la Excelencia Musical from the Latin Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, who describe him as “one of the most important singers of his time (...) one of the most iconic voices of Portuguese music”.

Born in Madrid in 1974, Antonio Serrano began his musical studies at the age of seven. After completing his musical training, he began to attract attention as a harmonica player. After his teacher Larry Adler challenged him to join him in a United Nations concert in Paris, alongside Barbara Hendricks and Plácido Domingo, his career as a classical harmonica player took off. Serrano’s relationship with jazz began after he discovered old recordings by Louis Armstrong and the Belgian harmonica player and guitarist Toots Thielemans. Throughout his career, he has alternated between collaborations with flamenco and pop artists and his solo career – he now has five albums to his name. He plays with the harmonica and moves easily between musical genres as diverse as jazz, flamenco, pop, and classical, a skill that few musicians can muster.

June 15th
Carminho invites Filipe Cunha Monteiro

Carminho made her public debut at the Coliseu de Lisboa at the age of 12. In 2009 she released her first album, Fado, which Time Out considered to be “the biggest fado discovery of the last decade”. It was released in the UK in 2011 and was nominated by the renowned British magazine Songlines as one of the ten best albums of that year. 2011 also saw her international career really take off. In 2012 she launched her second album, Alma (Soul), which went straight to number one in Portugal and also reached high positions in various international charts. In late 2012, having performed more than 90 concerts in Portugal and abroad, Carminho recorded music with Milton Nascimento, Chico Buarque and Nana Caymmi, resulting in a new version of Alma that featured her three new collaborators. In 2014 Carminho released Canto (Song), her third album. Two years later, she recorded Carminho Canta Tom Jobim along with the musicians that played live with António Carlos Jobim.

Filipe Monteiro is Tomara, the first solo project. He began with piano and guitar lessons, then Banda Filarmónica de Loures, garage bands and Atomic Bees, with whom he recorded Love Noises and Kisses. As a music and producer he worked with Rita Redshoes and Márcia and has several DVDs, documentaries and music videos for artists as Paulo Furtado, David Fonseca and António Zambujo.

June 16th
Camané invites Laurent Filipe

Camané is one of the most nationally and internationally acclaimed fadistas, recognised for songs like Sei de um rio, Complicadíssima teia, A Guerra das Rosas, Ela tinha Uma Amiga and Senhora do Livramento, amongst many other. In 2017, he received the Tenco Award (also awarded to the Italians Vinicio Capossela and Massimo Ranieri). This prize has been awarded since 1974 in honour of the Italian singer-songwriter Luigi Tenco (1939-1967) and has been received by names like Leo Ferré, Jacques Brel, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Patti Smith, Tom Waits, Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque and the Portuguese singers Sérgio Godinho, José Mário Branco and Dulces Pontes, amongst others.

Trumpeter, composer and producer, Laurent Filipe was born in São Paulo, Brazil. He started playing and recording in Portugal at the age of fifteen. Over the years he has been the figurehead of his own group and also performed as a sideman at various jazz clubs and festivals in the US and Europe. He has taken part in sessions with leading jazz figures such as Jimmy Mosher, Aldo Romano, Tete Montoliu, Maceo Parker and the legendary drummer Walter Perkins, amongst many others. He received the "Art Farmer Performance Award" (USA, 1985), the "Best Soloist 1990" award at the Guetxo International Jazz Festival (Spain) and the "Best Jazz Musician" award from the “Five Minutes of Jazz, RDP” programme in 1996. He collaborated as a composer and instrumentalist at the “Barcelona Cultural Olympiad '92", "Madrid Capital of Culture", "Lisbon Capital of Culture'94", "Expo'98" and "Porto 2001".