Biography

Award-winning Portuguese singer Ricardo Ribeiro brings fado, the soul-stirring music of the streets of Lisbon.

 

Award-winning Portuguese singer Ricardo Ribeiro brings fado, the soul-stirring music of the streets of Lisbon. Ribeiro is touring in support of his latest CD, "Hoje é assim, amanhã não sei", the follow-up to "Largo da Memória"--a major hit for the artist in Portugal and abroad. With a powerful voice and an astounding emotional range, Ricardo Ribeiro is one of the luminaries of modern fado. He has performed in innumerable counties worldwide, and has garnered recognition from the press, his peers and audiences for his total commitment to fado, Portugal's most emblematic and mysterious music.

Ribeiro’s studio recordings reflect his pure joy at performing a music that at once demands adherence to tradition, but—paradoxically—values improvisation and individuality of expression just as highly. His four album-length fado releases—Ricardo Ribeiro (2004), Porta do Coração (2010), Largo da Memória (2013) and, most recently, Hoje é assim, amanhã não sei—reflect Ribeiro’s total commitment to fado’s past, present and future. All of three releases have been deeply influential among the fado community, as well as achieving immense acclaim in Portugal and abroad. His recorded output demonstrates his command of the full spectrum of fado’s expressive potential, from the unbridled passion of “Água louca da Ribeira”, to songs of love and loss such as “Não rias” and “De loucura em loucura”, to tales of hard-edged life in Lisbon’s darkest quarters (“Fama de Alfama”). Taken together, his work offers a glimpse into the meaning of that most enigmatic of Portuguese words, saudade: a feeling of happiness that brings sadness, and sadness that brings happiness.

In performance, Ribeiro is a protean talent. He continues to perform not only in high-profile venues throughout the world, but also in the taverns and fado houses that are fado’s strongest ties to its more than 200 year-old history. His praise from his peers, including stars such as Ana Moura, Mariza, Camané and Gisela João, is unqualified, paying tribute to his artistry, his devotion to the fado, to the joy he brings to life, and—above all—to his voice.

On april 26th 2019, Ribeiro released his latest work "Respeitosa Mente", a totally different and unseen project, unlike anything the artist has been delivering us. Ribeiro carefully chose the musicians to together create this new record. He joined Portuguese jazz pianist João Paulo Esteves da Silva, and percussionist Jarrod Cagwin, specialized in Oriental rythms, having done most of his studies on Asian percussions. The poetry of diverse authors, mostly Portuguese, is the foundation of this work, a poetry of great sensitivity that was embodied by the musicality of these three friends in an unusual way, and where we can enjoy the powerful and captivating voice of Ricardo Ribeiro.