New Queens of Fado

There are plenty of fado compilations out there, and this one doesn’t do much to distinguish itself. The title naturally generates a few expectations, but also imposes a couple of limitations. Firstly, there’s the stereotype of fado as a female-dominated genre, an ongoing legacy of the Amalia Rodrigues phenomenon. It also makes for a rather ageist criterion for choosing contenders for the crown: the fact is, there are plenty of fine female fadistas who aren’t new, but have been plugging away at their art for decades All the names you might expect to be here (Mariza, Katia Guerreiro, Ana Moura, Carminho) are included and there may even be one or two surprises.

I was pleased to discover Cristina Navarro and Maria Ana Bobone for the first time, but found that the songs chosen to represent Guerreiro don’t really do her justice. On the other hand Ana Moura is well served by the lovely ‘Leva-me Aos Fados’, the title-track from her 2010 album. Although not free of cliché or exaggeration, the liner notes do a reasonable job of telling us about the artists.