Clara has been living listening to Fado. Classical, traditional Fado, great musicians, amazing voices... literally Fado.
Singers such as Ada de Castro, Deolinda Maria, Fernando Maurício, Francisco Martinho, Manuel de Almeida, Maria da Fé, Marina Mota or Tony de Matos have increased her interest in FADO and made her start singing rapidly.
Her style has been influenced by their voices; nevertheless she as created her own way. She first sang in public in 1985 and from then on and thanks to her great receptiveness she has been singing regularly.
In 1989 she is one of the final contestants at Grande Noite do Fado in Lisbon at the Coliseu dos Recreios.
In the next following years she as been dividing her performances for several private events, Casas de Fado (places where you listen to Fado) and typical restaurants.
In July 2005 she has participated in the "Noites de Fado de Vila Nova de Cerveira" (in the North of Portugal) whose program also included Mísia, Pedro Moutinho and Carlos do Carmo.
2006 is the year of her début in discography by editing in October her first work called “(En)Cantos de Fado” (Fado Charms), where she sings with the cooperation of renown musicians such as Luís Ribeiro playing the Portuguese Guitar, Lelo Nogueira classic guitar and Jaime Martins bass guitar.
She as also been awarded in the Oporto "Casa da Música" with the "Prémio de Revelação 2006" ("2006 Revelation Award") granted by Casa da Imprensa.
Since February 2007 she is part of the cast of the "O Forcado" that is a very well known place where Fado is sang, at Bairro Alto, in Lisbon.
Her performances have allowed her work to be presented to audiences from several nationalities always getting a great receptiveness.
On November 2007 she as received her Professional Card as she was recognized by the Musicians' Union.
During 2009 she has been working in pre-production and recording her second disk called “Encontros” ("Dates, Meetings, Findings").
"Encontros" such as the Portuguese name suggests are a reflection of the meetings and findings she has been having as long as her work as been developing:
Finding poems that have been written for her and to be sang by her, as “Onde Nem Entra a Saudade” ("No Saudade Allowed") and “Segredo Sagrado” ("Sacred Secret"), by Tiago Torres da Silva;
Finding the poetry of Fernando Pessoa and Vasco Graça Moura;
Finding new musical themes purposely chosen for this work;
Becoming aware of another feature of Fado that is Fado de Coimbra, which she dares to sing in a duet with Frederico Vinagre, and... meeting three great instrumentalists of Fado, the portuguese guitar player Luís Ribeiro – with whom she had already recorded her first disk – the classic guitar player Florêncio de Carvalho – who is also responsible for the musical production and final arrangements – and finally the very well known Prof. Joel Pina (bass guitar).
Let these “Encontros” ("Meetings") with the Fado remain as a mark of the “(En)Cantos” ("Charms") of her voice.
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