Leva-me aos fados

On her fourth album, Leva-me aos fados (Take Me to a Fado House), youthful Portuguese fadista Ana Moura reaches new heights of vocal mastery while, as is typical of this gracefully mournful, all-acoustic tradition, plunging to the depths of romantic disillusionment and unfulfilled sexual longing. Interpreting songs by longtime collaborator Jorge Fernando,
who produced and sat in on guitar, plus other noted composers, Moura s rich, exquisitely bittersweet alto is breathtaking in its womanly, aching vulnerability. She negotiates sinuous, Moorish-inflected wails and breathes poignancy into every melody, wringing every possible tear-drop from lyrics where even the occasional faint silver lining can cut to the bone. Whether facing down a triumphant rival ( Caso Arrumado A Settled Affair), dodging doom-inflected omens ( Como uma nuvem no céu Like A Cloud In The Sky), or weeping in solitude at day s end ( A Penumbra Dusk), Moura communicates world-weary, indomitable courage spiced with a risqué tang of dark passion that hurts so good.