Ana Vinagre is the first participant in the Fitzpatrick Luso-American Performance Residency at UMass Dartmouth
A tradition dating back hundreds of years, fado singing is "the soul of the Portuguese people", as described by Ana Vinagre of New Bedford, MA. The UMass Dartmouth community welcomes Ana Vinagre for a lecture-performance on Portuguese Fado tomorrow, Tuesday, April 21, 2015, 12:30-2:00 p.m., at UMass Dartmouth's College of Visual & Performing Arts Building Room 153.
Ana Vinagre is the first participant in the Fitzpatrick Luso-American Performance Residency at UMass Dartmouth. The goal of this program is to highlight the music and culture of Luso-America through performances and master classes. Fado music, one of the oldest urban folk music genres in the world, is considered as the heart of the Portuguese soul. In New England, Ana Vinagre is without question one of the most respected fadistas. Having participated in numerous national music festivals as well as private events, Ana Vinagre has commanded a loyal audience since her initial public appearance in 1978.
The emotional core of the fado is saudade, an indefinable yearning or nostalgia for love, times past, or a lost home. Accompanied by a twelve string Portuguese guitar and a bass guitar, the voice of a true fadista embodies and expresses the soulfulness of this music tradition. The traditional fadista dresses in black and uses a shawl as a prop to accentuate the passion of her voice and words.
Ana Vinagre was born in the fishing village of Buarcos, Portugal. Following in the footsteps of her sister, mother, and grandmother, she began singing fado professionally at the age of 13 as a member of her local folk dance group, Cantarinhas de Buarcos. For several years, Vinagre toured extensively with this group throughout Europe, until immigrating to the United States in 1972. Today, she is one of the area's best known and most respected fadistas. Vinagre performs regularly in the Portuguese community for various community and private events, as well as at festivals and other events for a wider audience. She has made appearances at the 2002 National Folk Festival, the Northwest Folklife Festival in 2003 and 2004, and the Lowell Folk Festival in 2006.
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