My music is my truth: Carminho

ISTANBUL

A new album by Carminho, the figurehead of fado and one of the leading Portuguese artists of recent times, is expected for 2023.

What will be Carminho’s fifth unreleased work had its start marked in an artistic residence in Lisbon, at Namouche studios.

After the success of “Maria,” released in 2018 with a world tour that continues in 2022, Carminho’s success was followed by the remarkable and exclusive collaboration with Caetano Veloso in the album of the Brazilian artist, in the music “Você Você,” and that Carminho’s presence was demarcated by being the only guest on the album, entitled “Meu Coco.”

Brazil is one of the territories in which Carminho has the most consolidated career, as is verifiable through tours as well as the number of streams on digital platforms that she reaches in Brazilian territory.

Now she is getting ready to meet audiences at a concert at Istanbul’s Cemal Reşit Rey Concert Hall on Dec. 2.

You started singing fado at the age of 12. What’s the difference between what you felt when you were singing then and now?

The difference is in the perception of what you are doing. When I was 12, my mother came home and asked who wanted to sing in a solidarity concert at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon, one of the most prestigious venues in Portugal, my brothers were all silent and I said right away that I wanted to go without any hesitation. I remember that day I wasn’t even nervous about the performance, due to unconsciousness of my age. Now everything has another weight of responsibility, of bringing a tradition and a culture to the world.

Your mother is also a fado singer. Can we say that your mother was your first teacher? What did you learn from her about fado?

Yes, my mother was an amazing teacher. We don’t have schools of fado, so we have to learn with our parents or our relatives and more experienced fadistas and musicians in fado houses. I started listening to fado while still in her belly, before I was born. I can say that I learned to sing at the same time that I learned to speak Portuguese, my mother language. My mother taught me the fados that had the most appropriate lyrics for my age, she also taught me to distinguish the importance of each word when singing. Later, when we returned to Lisbon, my parents opened a fado house, “O Embuçado,” which was also very important for my growth as a fado singer.

Your music style seems to be more than Fado. Sometimes It is like a fusion. How would you describe your music?

I think my music is a reflection of myself. Fado is an urgency to share feelings that you are living at that exact moment. So, I sing lyrics that I believe, and I have experienced. I would say my music is my truth.

What about your Istanbul concert repertoire?

The concert will be about my latest album “Maria.” I will have the trio of traditional fado and also another musician with a lap steel and electric guitar, he makes some ambience sounds and textures that I believe there are in fado houses, something to transport the audience to another place, the experience of listening to fado live in a fado house in Lisbon. Of course, I’m going to sing some fados from the other albums, I tried to build a repertoire around this theme “Maria,” the theme is a Portuguese woman who has different stories about her heart. I hope you enjoy.

What do you think about a Turkish audience?

I’ve been in Türkiye some years ago and I remember it was an incredible experience. It was very special to sing to the Turkish audience because they know a lot about fado, about Portugal and our culture. And even if they don’t know so much, they are very open to different sounds and different kinds of music. I think fado is very in to the Turkish audience.