Fado, the Portuguese music containing the soaring singing of opera and the mournful tone and tales of woe found in the blues, is the terrain of Ramana Vieira. The locally based vocalist comes from a family of music-loving Portuguese immigrants, and, during her youth while visiting Portugal, she performed with fado musicians and found her calling. Classically trained, Vieira remains plugged into the essence of fado, which experts have traced to early 19th-century Lisbon. She also brings textures of her own to the music, by adding percussion and additional stringed instruments to the traditional guitar and viola. Described by the Mundo Portugues newspaper as the “new voice of Portuguese world music,” Vieira will perform in San Francisco this weekend, joined by two East Coast notables. Fatima Santos is one of the few female performers of Coimbra fado, which contains a sunnier vibe and more elevated use of guitars than Lisbon fado. Jose Luis Iglesias will be performing on guitarra, the Portuguese 12-string guitar.
Ramana Vieira, joined by Fatima Santos and Jose Luis Iglesias, performs at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 2, at Red Poppy Art House, 2698 Folsom St., S.F. $15-$20; 415-826-2402 or
redpoppyarthouse.org.
— Anita Katz
415-826-2402
