Cristina Branco is an indefatigable ambassador of Portuguese culture around the world. Over the last two decades, she has established herself as one of the most prolific singers today, producing a remarkable discography. Traditional Portuguese music is her main aesthetic root, but the influence of Jazz, literature and the musicians with whom she shares the stage, give her music a universal nature and a sublime charm.
She began her journey in Holland, where she recorded Cristina Branco in Holland (Live) (1997), an album that ended up becoming a real success in that country. In the following years, Cristina’s name resonated throughout Europe, with sold-out dates in countless cities and several albums released, including Murmúrios (1998) and Post-Scriptum (2000), which reinforce the success of her first work, and which lead Cristina to be awarded two Prix Choc, the prestigious awards from the French magazine Le Monde de La Musique.
Despite her success abroad, it was only at the turn of the millennium, with albums such as Sensus (2003) and Ulisses (2005), that Cristina Branco finally began to receive acclaim in Portugal. Comparisons between her and Amália Rodrigues are inevitable.
This is followed by Abril (2007), an album with versions of songs by José Afonso, Kronos (2009) and Não Há Só Tangos em Paris (2011), his tenth studio album, which features collaboration with authors and composers such as Mário Laginha, Carlos Tê and Pedro da Silva Martins. The album shows the first signs that Cristina’s music could have a different look and foreshadows the phase of artistic rejuvenation that would arrive a few years later with Menina.
Considered the Best Album of the Year by SPA, Menina (2016), is the first chapter of a trilogy that includes the youthful Branco (2018) and Eva (2020), albums in which Cristina Branco designs unusual collaborations, which cross styles, cultures and geographies and which result in innovative interpretations of the traditional musical expression of fado.
Eva, released in March 2020, is a rich album that reveals Cristina Branco’s depth in ten intimate and new songs. We find in the stories of Eva Haussman, the album’s protagonist, the motto for the singer’s most personal work. The album has been performed on Portuguese stages and around the world, accumulating sold-out dates in countries such as Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Holland and France.
In 2022 – the year in which she celebrates 25 years of career – Cristina Branco released Amoras uma Tarde de Outono, a new album in collaboration with pianist João Paulo Esteves da Silva, which seeks to record the work that the duo has been developing live over the last 20 years.
“Cristina Branco is a fundamental name in Portuguese popular music of this century” VISION
“One of the most beautiful voices in Portuguese music” TIME OUT
“Cristina Branco gives new life to Portuguese folklore and enriches fado with jazz and world music” FRANCE MUSIQUE
Source: https://www.cristinabranco.pt/
I loved this singer from the first songs