Ana Laíns in Katowice - a wonderful concert at the Silesian Philharmonic to open the cycle Fado in Katowice (9.11.2018)

9 November 2018 will go down in history as the day of the first concert of Ana Laíns in Poland. At the same time, the concert initiated a series of concerts called Fado in Katowice planned by our Association. It was an amazing evening ending our hard work of the last few months. New challenges and experiences, but it was worth it!

We have written a lot about Ana on our blog – we have presented her biography and albums. Having waited for her concert for so long, having listened to her music and her wonderful voice, having read the reviews of her performances in Europe, we expected something very special… and we got it! I am not afraid to write that we participated in an exceptional event. 

Before Ana came on stage, Regina Gowarzewska in a few words introduced the artist, our Association and

Regina Gowarzewska

“Fado in Katowice”. Later, the time came for the star of the evening. Although Ana Laíns does not consider herself a star, she fully deserves this title, which she showed during the concert in Katowice. At the begining, only the musicians appeared on stage – Paulo Loureiro (piano), Carlos Lopes (accordion), Bruno Chaveiro (Portuguese guitar) and João Coelho (drums). The concert started with Portucalis in an instrumental version. Immediately, the evening became magical. Similarly to the way Portucalis introduces the listeners to the mood of Ana’s album, thanks to the song we immediately learnt what to expect that evening. 

Expectations raised immediately, but they were fully satisfied. Ana’s voice appeared in the first sounds of amazing Fado do Tempo Morto. The audience reacted enthusiastically as they heard it live for the first time. The next song was fado from Mouraria entitled Zanguei-me com o Meu Amor being Mouraria Estilizado which you probably know in other versions. Ana’s interpretation is stunning. Her diamond voice adds additional value to this beautiful song. It seems that it was after this song that Ana greeted the audience and received a big round of applause for her quite successful attempts to speak Polish. Next, she performed a song from Quatro Caminhos album entitled Não Sou Nascida do Fado. Apart from being an incredible song, it is also Ana’s debut as a writer of lyrics. Music was composed by Reynaldo Varela. Next song, this time from Portucalis, is also an exceptional piece – the music for this poem by Fernando Pessoa was written by Luiz Caracol (who might be familiar to you because he cooperated with Sara Tavares). On her album Ana sings Não Sei o quê Desgosta with Luís Reperesas. The solo version from Katowice was as brilliant as on the album. The singer showed us that her duets are incredible and amazing, but she does not need anybody to create magic and a true vocal masterpiece. 

Não Sei Quantas Almas Tenho is another wonderful piece from Portucalis. This time the music to Fernando Pessoa’s poem was composed by Paulo Loureiro who played the piano. Paulo is also Ana’s husband. The next two songs are also from Portucalis. These are wonderful compositions Ana told the audience about. The reason why they were included on the album and sang in concerts is Ana’s exceptional passion for Portugal and the Portuguese language, as well as its culture, tradition and the whole musical heritage of this wonderful country which she holds so dear. I am writing about Ai Flores do Verde Pino and totally enchanting Mi Morena – a song from Trás-os-Montes region sang in Mirandés language. Ana said it is the second official language of Portugal, which, unfortunately, is not taught at schools anymore and the use of it slowly disappears. Emotions were running high as these interpretations were really beautiful and it was not even half of the concert! Next, time came for a piece by Sebastião Antunes and Paulo Loureiro A Verdade da Mentira, which was the first single from Portucalis and had a very creative music video.

After this excellent song, Ana politely invited the musicians for coffee and stayed on stage only with Paulo. Incredible Fado das Horas followed. The piece was made famous by Ana’s favourite Teresa de Noronha. The version only accompanied by Paulo Loureiro’s sensual piano amazed the audience. Even the ones who had not  listened to fado before were touched (I have learned it from the messages you sent me). Quatro Caminhos is a title track of Ana’s second album. It was written by Amélia Muge and Diogo Clemente. You may be familiar with it as it appeared on some fado compilations in Poland. This time the song was performed live and we could see how exceptional it is. Roseiral is an exciting piece written by Jorge Fernando from debut Sentidos album. An interesting moment came when Ana sang Charanga do Tempo, which on the album is performed with Mafalda Arnauth. It was composed by Carlos Lopes and has lyrics written by Ana. Ana tried to teach the audience to sing parts of it, but it was not an easy task. The lyrics are a tongue twister. The audience liked it a lot and welcomed it with a huge round of applause. Two traditional songs followed reflecting Ana’s inspiration with her country and its traditions. A very exceptional instrument appeared in this part – the Portuguese adufe, which is linked to the Moors who used to inhabit the Portuguese land. Incredible interpretation of Senorha do Almortão and Cantiga Bailada took us to regions of Portugal, culturally and musically rich and less known by tourists. This part of the concert moved the audience the most. People were delighted and enchanted by the energetic and dynamic sounds, as the majority of them had not heard about adufe or the songs from Beira Baixa. 

At the end, we came back to a Fado tavern to listen to two unforgettable songs of Amália Rodrigues: Barco Negro and Vou Dar de Beber a Dor. Ana’s interpretations add new value to these compositions and make the listeners feel as if being in Lisbon, which almost every night is full of fadistas’ voices. The concert unexpectedly came to an end. After being in the land of magic and Portucalis created by Ana Laíns for 90 minutes, the time to say goodbye came. The artist thanked the organisers and the Silesian Philharmonic, the company responsible for the sound, and first and foremost, the audience. The listeners did not want to let their new favourite artist leave, so they asked for an encore. We listened to Amor por Portugal a song by Dulce Pontes with music by Ennio Morricone (lyrics by Dulce Pontes). It is an extremely emotional and moving piece about love for Portugal. The artist was very moved too and she received standing ovation. Here is the Magic of Fado.

“Fado in Katowice” came true and its first chapter went down in history. It was a challenge for our Association, but it was successful – don’t you think? We are honoured that Ana Laíns accepted our invitation. We are also grateful for her assistance and valuable organisational tips. We are proud that we gained new wonderful friends with whom we spent a few days. We showed them Katowice (luckily without much smog), our cuisine (Silesian żur was a hit!) and told stories about the region. I hope our guests will have very nice memories. We will keep ours for long!

Now there is also time to say thank you. We would like to thank RMF Classic radio for very satisfying cooperation. Our thanks go also to “Dziennik Zachodni” and especially to Anna Ładniuk and Krystyna Augustyniak for publishing extensive information about the singer. We would also like to thank the Polish-Portuguese Chamber of Commerce for promoting the concert and the media patrons of the event: “Wybieram Kulturę” portal, “Ultramaryna”, “Co Jest Grane24” and “Gazeta Wyborcza Katowice”. We also thank Legal Culture Foundation – a partner of the event which promoted the concert. Our thanks also go to Radio Wrocław Kultura (Ula Andruszko), Radio Opole (Mariusz Majeran), Radio Katowice and Television Katowice. Thanks to Marcin Kydryński for interesting announcements of the concert in Siesta.

We would like to thank all web portals and various institutions for spreading the news about our event, and also for the possibility to distribute our leaflets and posters. We give many thanks to the Instituteof Romance Languages and Translation Studies at the University of Silesia (Sylwia Klos), as well as the Institute of Romance Philology at Adam MickiewiczUniversity in Poznań (Grażyna Jadwiszczak). We would also like to thank the CamõesInstitute for informing about the concert. Our sincere thanks go also to the Q Hotel in Katowice for a warm welcome the staff had given to the artists, and also to the taxi driver from Echo Taxi for professional transport service. For promoting the concert, we would also like to thanks fantastic people from Claroscuro publishing house and other publishing houses participating in the Silesian Book Fair. We also thank the Silesian Philharmonic for valuable organisational tips. Special thanks go to Ms Elżbieta Huzior for her commitment and professional assistance on the day of the concert, as well as to Mr Roman Huzior for his beautiful photographs. Finally , we would like to thank Mr Krzysztof Resenberger for another series of wonderful photographs and financial assistance without which the concert would not take place. We thank Justyna Kłaczany for engagement, Ola Tarnawa for designing our posters and Fado inKatowice logo. We give many thanks to Anna Kłaczany for accounting advice. We would especially to thank all members of the Association engaged in the project. We count on you all in the next events.

We regret that we had not received financial assistance from sponsors or the patronage of the Embassy of Portugal in Warsaw.

We thank everybody for taking part in the concert. Please spread the positive energy Ana Laíns has given us with her Portucalis and recommend her music!  

Translated by Justyna Kłaczany

Photos by Roman Huzior, Krzysztof Rosenberger

Paulo Loureiro & Ana Laíns

Bruno Chaveiro

Carlos Lopes & Ana Laíns

Paulo Loureiro & Ana Laíns

Bruno Chaveiro & João Coelho

Sound check - Ana Laíns & musicians

Sound check - Carlos Lopes i Bruno Chaveiro

A moment before the start