Maria Guinot
Maria Guinot, with her real name Maria Adelaide Fernandes Guinot Moreno, was born in Lisbon on June 20, 1945 and moved to Almada. Maria Guinot will be related to the singer Maria Emília Guinot, but so far away that they didn’t even know each other.
She started learning piano at the age of 4. She finished her course at the Conservatory and joined the Gulbenkian Choir three years later.
In 1968, she participated in a radio show, which eventually led to the recording of her debut single. She also released a second single with the title “Criança Loura”.
Afterwards, she stayed away from music for several years, until the 1980s, when she took 3rd place at the 1981 RTP Song Festival, with the song “Um Adeus, Um Recomeço”. She participates in the Rádio Comercial Song Festival with the songs “Falar Só Por Falar”, “Vai Longe O Tempo” and “Um Viver Diferente”. The single “Falar Só Por Falar” is released.
In 1984 she won the Festival RTP da Canção with “Silêncio e Tanta Gente”. Despite the excellent reception, it did not go beyond 11th place out of 19 songs in the Eurovision Song Contest.
The theme “Homenagem à Mães da Praça de Maio” is included in the double album Cem Anos de Maio, published by the CGTP in 1986.
In the program “Deixem Passar a Música”, recorded for RTP, Maria Guinot was accompanied by the orchestra directed by José Mário Branco in the songs “Atlântida”, “Balada das Meias Palavras”, “Ai Quem Me Dera”, “O Baile das Segundas Feiras”, “Feiras das Existências” and “Sleeping Beauty”. In play-back she performed “As Mães da Praça de Maio” and “Saudação a José Afonso” (a song rejected by the jury of the 1986 RTP Festival da Canção, still with the name of “A Título Póstumo”).
In 1987, the album “Esta Palavra Mulher”, an author’s edition, was published. She participates in that year’s Festival da Canção by signing the lyrics for “Imaginem Só”, performed by Ana Alves.
He collaborates on the album “Correspondências”, by José Mário Branco, released in 1990.
In 1991, the album “Maria Guinot” was published by UPAV, produced by José Mário Branco. This album features José Marinho (piano, keyboards), Irene Lima (cello) Luís Oliveira (acoustic guitar) Tony Rato (electric bass) Carlos Bica (double bass) Ricardo Ramalho (flute) Edgar Caramelo (tenor saxophone) João Nuno Represas (percussions) Fernando Ribeiro (accordion) Maria Guinot (piano) and Artur Moreira (clarinet).
In 1999, the book “Histórias do Fado” by Maria Guinot, Ruben de Carvalho and José Manuel Osório was published by Ediclube, under the theme “A century of Fado”.
In 2004, Maria Guinot released the book “Memórias de um Spermatozoide Irrequieto”, which also includes a CD with 13 unpublished works, called “Tudo Passa”.
Maria Guinot provides a theme for the album “UM MAR DE SONS”, commemorating the 100th edition of the cultural itinerary of Oeiras, with nine songs sung or played by people from Oeiras, in a mixture of sounds and styles. Other names that participated in the album include the Coro de Santo Amaro de Oeiras, Fade Out, Pedro Osório, Cramol, Desso Blues Gang, Pedro Carneiro, Flushot and the Coro Infantil de Santo Amaro de Oeiras.
Since 2010, she had stopped playing the piano, after three strokes. She died of a respiratory infection in Parede, on November 3, 2018, at the age of 73. She was cremated at Barcarena Cemetery.