Ramana Vieira: Portuguese Fado Music With a Contemporary Sensibility

Ramana Vieira and her group performs traditional, ballad-style fados that pay homage to the “Queen of Fado,” Amália Rodrigues, along with up-tempo compositions from their new album, Fado Da Vida. Her new work captures both the language and cultural heritage of Portuguese-speaking countries in a musical tapestry that ranges from whispering, haunting ballads to collaborations featuring the works of famous Portuguese-Canadian poet, Euclides Cavaco. Two of the tracks on the album were internationally nominated with the International Portuguese Music Awards in 2015.

Fado, the most widely recognized music of Portugal, is a passionate, soul-stirring genre with soaring vocals and dramatic tales of love, loss and redemption. Legendary fadista, Amália Rodrigues, popularized fado in the 20th century, and today, platinum-selling Portuguese singers Ana Moura and Mariza are selling out concert halls in the U.S. The New York Times has recognized Ramana Vieira as an American at the forefront of the fado resurgence.

Featuring:
Ramana Vieira – vocals
Patrick Fahey – mandolin
Steve Nelson – percussion
Alberto Ramirez – acoustic bass
Ela Polak – violin

More About Ramana Vieira:
Ramana’s personal relationship to fado music lies deep in her family history. She was born in San Leandro, California to Portuguese immigrants and was exposed to the voices of Portugal’s past at a young age. Furthermore, her grandfather was a well-known musician and composer from Madeira Island, Portugal. Ramana has headlined the world’s largest Portuguese festival, the New Bedford Portuguese Feast in Massachusetts, and performed at the 2010 Encontro Festival in Macau. One of her original songs, Unido Para Amar, was played for the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, and she was chosen to sing for the 50th Grammy Awards special MusiCares benefit honoring Aretha Franklin. Ramana was recently honored to be exclusively invited by United States Congressman Jim Costa to perform for the president of the Azores alongside the internationally acclaimed guitarist and artist, Chico Avila.

“Conservatory-trained singer Ramana Vieira adds a New Age sensibility and instrumentation to the [Fado] music with cello and drums.” – New York Times

Follow Ramana on Facebook and SoundCloud.

Admission: $15-20. Doors at 7:00pm. Show at 7:30pm. All ages welcome.

Tickets will not be sold in advance for this event. Please arrive at the Red Poppy when doors open to purchase tickets.

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