Oliveiras

One should always try to forget any preconceptions when approaching a fado singer from abroad, with no real reputation or known experience in Portugal. It sometimes means that they couldn’t cut it among Lisbon-based singers; but every once in a while there's a pleasant surprise just around the corner. Magda Mendes is such a case. Mendes has been living for more than a decade in the Netherlands, though she was born in Lisbon; Holland is where she built her whole musical career, and she's virtually unknown in her homeland. Mendes had her go at fado in Rotterdam and Amsterdam, but Oliveiras is really something else. There are obvious hints of fado in her music but in much the same innovative way we can find them in Madredeus, Amélia Muge or A Naifa, for instance. Oliveiras is actually a sort of tribute to the Portuguese countryside, one explored with a tasteful woodwind section that enhances the songs’ delicate nature.

It's fair to say that Magda Mendes’ tracks are closer to a singer-songwriter tradition, echoing Fausto or José Afonso, although with a personal and contemporary twist. Oliveiras is not quite remarkable; but it has enough breathtakingly beautiful moments (such as ‘Colheita’ or ‘Albino’) to keep Mendes on our radar.