root salad f22 Claudia Aurora
Oh look, a European in the UK. Jamie Renton meets the noted Portuguese fado singer.
laudia Aurora’s album Mulher Do Norte (Red Orange) is the first bit of fado to blow me away since… well I can’t remember when. I often find the Portuguese blues a bit too overblown and melodramatic for my tastes. But this is altogether a classier affair, beautifully sung (Ms Aurora is blessed with serious vocal chops, but never over-eggs the pudding), lovely spare but imaginative arrangements, all put into ser- vice for a fine set of songs. One of those rare albums where every track makes you sit up and take notice. “All killer, no filler” is, I believe, the phrase.
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And it gets better. Although born in a small village on the outskirts of Porto in Northern Portugal (hence the album’s title), Claudia now lives in London and was more than happy to meet up at Bethnal Green’s Rich Mix arts centre for a drink and a chat one warm March Sunday afternoon.
Claudia’s dad and grandmother sang fado, although the family hi-fi featured more vintage rock than anything else when she was growing up. “Fado was every- where, it’s like it was so ‘ours’ that we didn’t need to buy it,” she recalls. “But when we
came out of 50 years of a fascist regime in 1974, there was a thirst for new things and fado was seen as something old-fashioned.” No surprise then that young Claudia gravi- tated to blues and rock, only later recognis- ing the emotional connection these styles share with the folk music of her homeland.
She only turned to fado when she moved to England in 2002, which she partly puts down to nostalgia for home (suddenly the music wasn’t all around her and she could appreciate its qualities), but also to maturity. Like many of the deeper musical traditions, fado is best appreciated by those with a bit of lived experience. The sense of longing that permeates the music makes it an ideal exile’s soundtrack, whether that’s exile from home or from love.
By then, Claudia had already done a
year’s training in classical/opera singing (you can hear the odd operatic flourish on the album). Settling in Bristol at the time, she opened herself up to the city’s myriad cross- cultural musical opportunities, whilst singing fado in the kitchen at home for friends who pushed her to perform it in public. It was only when she finally heeded their advice that she felt she’d really worked out who she was and where she was going.
range of moods and tempos (not always a given with roots music recordings). “If you gave this album to a purist, they would say ‘This is not pure fado. This sounds twisted and new!’ But obviously I want to do what I feel, without having any restrictions or trying to please anyone in particular.” Mul- her Do Norte is her second album, follow- ing on from her 2011 debut Silencio (World Village), but this is the one that she feels really expresses who she is, with its range of influences – flamenco, opera, blues and Gypsy sounds all augmenting the deep fado roots.
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Claudia was encouraged to write her own material by her husband, Spanish musi- cian Javier Moreno, who now collaborates with her as songwriter and plays acoustic guitar in her band (a line-up which also fea- tures Portuguese guitar, cello, accordeon, bouzouki and double bass). The material is a mix of her own compositions and Por- tuguese standards, with the focus on her native northern region of the country. “I love the north,” she tells me. “The moun- tains, the rural areas, I feel a real connection. Each region has its own particular music. Fado is from the south, from Lisbon, but I think nowadays it’s just spread everywhere.”
The title track which opens the album, talks about northern Portuguese culture. “We have our own ways. A passion for cooking and sharing food.” This is some- thing that Claudia has brought with her to London. When not making albums that reaffirm people’s faith in fado, she and her husband run Cafe Barcelona, an eatery and live music venue in Streatham (conveniently situated for South London’s Portuguese and Spanish communities) specialising in home cooking and global sounds.
“My husband said to me ‘Look Claudia, I think we need to get something parallel that can help us to keep investing in our music and also to have some sort of commu- nity involvement.’ Because I’m very sociable. I like meeting with all sorts of people.” Set- ting up the café delayed the album by a year but was worth it. Claudia gets to do something else she loves, while also bring- ing in a regular income. If you’re in South East London and want to get your hands on some of those famous Portuguese custard tarts, you know where to go.
www.claudia-aurora.com cafebarcelonalondon.co.uk
F
ado represents the rollercoast- er of life,” she reckons. And one of the things that drew me to the album was the
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