Dona Rosa
(Lisboa/Portugal)
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In General
Even today fairy tales still happen - tales sounding as if they straightly arose from the Arabian Nights. This is the miraculous story of the blind Fado singer DONA ROSA of Lisbon:
In 1999 a Portuguese production company needed a Fado singer for an Austrian Television Company production to be recorded in Marrakesh. The programme’s musical director, the well-known Viennese artist and impresario André Heller, had a particular blind street singer in mind: many years ago he had heard a blind street singer, a woman whose voice had moved him so deeply that she haunted his memory ever since. The search for her required some difficult detective work but finally she was found - DONA ROSA.
Who is DONA ROSA?
DONAROSA was born into a poor family on the 1st of February in 1957. At the age of four she fell ill with a severe case of meningitis to which she lost her sight. Her family who had to go begging in the streets to make a living could not easily accept the child’s handicap but somehow managed to provide a basic education for her: she learned how to read and write and how to accomplish simple manual tasks...
...and she became acquainted with the traditional songs of Portugal.
Coming of age she realised that she had to leave her family for good: she decided to stay in Lisbon and joined other blind homeless people from whom she quickly learned how to earn a living in the streets. What DONA ROSA didn't earn by selling magazines or lottery tickets she earned by begging...
...until the day somebody suggested her to use her beautiful voice as a means of livelihood.
This is how a singer emerged in the middle of the streets of Lisbon - a singer who sensitively translated her bitter fate into music. Gradually, DONA ROSA became an inseparable element of Lisbon´s urban features.
Today, accompanied by a triangle once given to her by a friend, she sings her own special kind of Fado. More than traditional Fado singing, her song expresses all the misery suffered by the poorest of the poor and gives a voice to their profound longing for a better life they will probably never be able to call their own.
In fall and winter 1999/2000 DONA ROSA recorded her first songs in a church called "Igredja do Menino-Deus". In the course of the recordings it became obvious that the collaboration with guest musicians could turn this recording into a gem. On Four tracks DONA ROSA was accompanied by the accordionist Ricardo Dias (among other things arranger and composer for Misia). Their cooperation went so smoothly that they decided to do the following concerts as a duo.
During the CD production in Marrakesh DONA ROSA met the world-famous choir THE BULGARIAN VOICES ANGELITE. Thanks to JARO DONA ROSA received accompaniment for two of the tracks on this album.
At DONA ROSA´s desire one of the songs was recorded at the site of her former life - in the streets.
PORTUGUESE:
A descoberta
Ao sermos contactados para encontrarmos uma cantora de fado para integrar um programa da televis?o austr?aca que ia ser gravado em Marraqueche, n?o estavamos ? espera que o que o director musical procurava era uma voz de uma invisual, que ouvira na rua e que o tinha marcado profundamente.
Depois de uma pesquisa que se revelou quase policial, e em que foi fundamental a interven??o da assistente social da Acapo (Associa??o de Cegos e Ambl?opes de Portugal), surgiu-nos a Dona Rosa.
E quem ? a Dona Rosa?
Nascida no primeiro dia de Fevereiro de 1957, com vis?o, ? aos 4 anos atingida pela meningite , que a tranforma numa invisual.
Oriunda de uma fam?lia muito numerosa , mas vivendo da mendicidade, poucos s?o os da fam?lia que aceitam o facto de aquela menina ter ficado cega. N?o deixam no entanto de recorrer ?s institui??es existentes para lhe proporcionar uma certa educa??o e assim aprende a ler e a escrever em Braille , trabalhos manuais e ?algumas cantigas tradicionais.
Ao atingir a maioridade, sente necessidade de se desligar da fam?lia, e quando era suposto voltar a casa de seus pais em Ovar, ao chegar ? esta??o apanha de novo o comboio para Lisboa.
Apoiada pelos seus colegas invisuais da rua depressa aprende como subsistir a vender revistas e a pedir.
At? que algu?m sugere que , j? que gosta tanto de cantar, que o fa?a para conseguir mais algum dinheiro.
E assim surge nas ruas de Lisboa uma cantora , que transforma a sua viv?ncia dolorosa em melodia carregada de sentimento e que pouco a pouco fica a fazer parte da cidade.
Acompanhando-se de ferrinhos, presente de uma amiga, ela ? hoje express?o de um tipo de fado que mais ainda do que o fado tradicional , carrega todo o peso da desgra?a, da nostalgia de uma vida boa ? que est? vedado o acesso dos mais pobres.
? essa Dona Rosa que vos apresentamos e que esperamos fa?a vibrar o vosso cora??o como fez vibrar o de tantos que a levaram como recorda??o essencial de Lisboa para os seus pa?ses.
CD 2002:
SEGREDOS (JARO 4241-2 )
It was a track on Charlie Gilletts World 2004 compilation that first drew the attention of the english - speaking world to Dona Rosa. Having started as a lisbon street singer she now performs on stages in Taipei, from Moscow to Los Angeles and even on Womad stages in Spain and England.
ALMA LIVRE, DONA ROSA´s 3rd album (fall 2007), was a musical journey which let her face new musical challenges. In the end she displayed all her talents and created a great album.
