Search - Margarida Bessa :: Fado

Delicious from beginning to end.

M. Kessler | Lakewood, NJ United States | 08/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This album is what Fado is about. Sra. Bessa has a lovely voice, a warm, gentle heart and a lot of soul, and you get all three in this teriffic album. I can't recommend it highly enough."

Fado at its most crystalline

Antonio Goncalves | 07/01/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Here and there reminiscent of Maria Teresa de Noronha, a great fadista who retired in 1961, Margarida Bessa is nonetheless unique. Her voice is extraordinarily powerful, bursting with honest emotion, limpid and crystalline. It transports you, with no gimmicks anywhere. It sinks and soars and lilts in all the right places. With the exception of young Maria Ana Bobone today, I know of no other fado singer ever matching Margarida Bessa's voice for purity of tone. Maria Teresa de Noronha came close.



I own over three dozen fado CDs, including some that are quite remarkable, but this one is hands down my favorite. It came out in 1997 and as far as I know is the only one by Margarida Bessa, who apparently decided not to give up her day job as a high school teacher. Every track is outstanding. To find out what lilting is all about, listen to the first track (Fado da Mulher Sozinha), which is my favorite."