WOMAD

Dona Rosa

From Portugal

The pages of musical history are littered with the stories of singers and musicians overcoming extreme adversity to become artists of genuine depth and acclaim. Before he lost his sight, five-year-old Ray Charles witnessed his brother's drowning in the family bathtub, while Dolly Parton grew up in a rather crowded one-room cabin with her 11 siblings. Then there's the life story of Portuguese fado singer Dona Rosa. Born into poverty in 1950s Lisbon, she contracted meningitis at the age of four, resulting in complete blindness. She then spent her twenties living on the streets of the capital, selling magazines and lottery tickets, before a friend suggested that making music might be a fruitful way of keeping poverty at arms' reach. And it was as a street musician that she was discovered by an Austrian multimedia artist who helped to launch her on a steady ascent to professional status and international fame. Seven or so years later, Dona Rosa finds herself in the vanguard of fado, alongside much-celebrated names like Mariza and Misia. Accompanied by accordion, guitar and percussion, her voice cuts straight to the heart of the matter. Fado is Portugal's version of the blues, crammed with hurt, regret and longing. You should believe every word Dona Rosa sings.

http://www.myspace.com/rosadona