Music
Press
"La cantante lisboeta tiene una de las tesituras vocales con más personalidad del rico panorama portugués. Su nuevo disco lo ha grabado en su ciudad y lo ha estructurado en siete actos fluyen de forma delicada, su voz oscura ilumina la estancia donde suena su magnética voz.” -Paco Valiente, LOS SONIDOS DEL PLANETA AZUL, october 2011- - LOS SONIDOS DEL PLANETA AZUL
"2010 proved to be another successful year for Portuguese fado and its derivatives. The fourth album by the brilliant young fadista Ana Moura received international distribution, while the second album by Deolinda was met with only marginally less acclaim than the group’s debut. But the real surprise came with the long-awaited follow-up to singer-guitarist Lula Pena’s classic 1998 album [phados]. Troubadour followed closely in its predecessor’s footsteps, offering up a stark, haunted take on fado that took in Portuguese folk music, French chanson, Latin American nueva canción and Anglo-American pop, all stripped down to the wood. Over seven longish “Acts”, Pena wove fragments from other writers into her own songs, using voice, guitar, and silence to mesmeric effect. Her take on the Amália Rodrigues classic “Fado de Cada Um” is startling, as is the closing number that mixes two distinctly non-fado songs, Eden Ahbez’s “Nature Boy” and Mirah’s “Pollen”." -Richard Elliott- - PopMatters Picks
Discography
"[Ph]ados", 1999.
"Troubadour", 2010.
New Release coming next 2014.
Photos
Bio
LULA PENA possesses one of the most disquieting voices of the contemporary scene, somewhere between Tom Waits and Leonard Cohen, but in feminine, admired by among others Caetano Veloso and Rodrigo Leão. In her project she takes deep songs apart on guitar, with staging as simple as it is striking. Twelve years of relative silence separate her début album, Phados from Troubadour, one of the most important musical deliveries of Portuguese origin in recent years. LULA PENAs exquisite fado goes beyond the fado; her transgression in sound is closer to the universal folk of single artists.
Links
