Katia Guerreiro

Guerreiro was born Katia Duarte d'Almeida d'Oliveira Rosado Guerreiro[2] in Vanderbijlpark, Transvaal, South Africa.[2][3] to Portuguese parents.[4] Soon after her birth, her family returned to São Miguel Island in the Azores, where she grew up.[3]

At age 15, she learned to play a local type of instrument called violin da terra, traditional in the Azores, and began playing with a band called Rancho Folclórico de Santa Cecília.[3][5] After high school, she was accepted into medical school in Lisbon, where she graduated in 2000. During this time, she sang with the group Tuna Médica and with the Miguel Torga theater group at her school,[6] along with a rock band called Os Charruas.[6]

Her fado career began in 2000, but she still works part-time as a doctor at a hospital near Lisbon.[7] She has campaigned against abortion in Portugal, considering it against her medical ethics.[5]

Guerreiro married poet Rui Ochôa in 2004, but the couple divorced in 2010.[2] She had her first child, a daughter named Mafalda, in 2012 in Lisbon with Jorge Faustino.[2][8] The album she recorded after this event contains a lullaby dedicated to this child.[8]

Her professional career began in the fall of 2000, when she went on stage at an event to honor fado singer Amália Rodrigues in Lisbon. There, she was discovered by fado musicians Paulo Parreira and Mário José Veiga, who were in the audience.[6][9][10]

Her first album was Fado Maior (2001) which won the José Afonso Award and was a hit in South Korea.[3] This was followed by Nas maos do fado (2003), with tracks by Luis de Camões, Florbela Espanca, Ary dos Santos and António Lobo Antunes. This work received a nomination for the Jose Afonso Award. In 2005, she recorded a duet with Brazilian artist Martinho da Vila on the album Brasilatinidade, and released a third album, Tudo ou nada, with lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes, Sophia de Mello Breyner and Antonio Lobo Antunes and others. Pianist Bernardo Sassetti also collaborated on the song Minha Senhora das Dores. The album was reissued in 2006, adding two duets with Nay Matogrosso. Fados do Fado (2008/2009) is mostly traditional fado, with covers of songs by Tony de Matos, Max, Tristão da Silva, Hermínia Silva, Teresa Silva Carvalho, João Ferreira-Rosa, and Amália Rodrigues. In 2010, she released a greatest hits album called 10 anos-nas asas do fado, followed by a live album, Katia-Live at the Olympia (CD/DVD) was recorded in 2012 at the Olympia in Paris.[3]

About ninety percent of Guerreiro’s performances are outside of Portugal.[11] In 2005 she participated in the Rencontres pour l’Europe de la Culture at the Comédie-Française in Paris, after with she was nominated to be a member of the European Cultural Parliament.[3][12] In 2009, she was invited to perform with L' Ensemble Baja Normandía, and toured ten cities in France, then did some concerts in Portugal.[12] She has performed at the Olympia Theater in Paris and the La Pedrera Theater in Barcelona,[13] and festivals such as the Festival Internacional Cervantino in 2014[14][13] and the Feria Internacional del Libro de Bogotá in 2015.[4]

The singer has appeared on documentaries and television shows in both Portugal and abroad.[3] She appeared several times as herself on the television series Só Visto! (2013, 2014, 2015), Há Tarde (2014), Herman 2010 (2010, 2013), Você na TV! (2013), Nico à Noite (2011), Companhia das Manhãs (2011), 5 Para a Meia Noite (2010), Uma Canção Para Ti (2009), Há Conversa (2009), Sexta à Noite (2008), Fados de Portugal (2000), along with the documentary Heaven's Mirror: A Portuguese Voyage (2011) and the televisión movie Natal dos Hospitais 1996.[2]

She is not as well known as other new fado singers such as Mariza, because of the lack of promotion and major label backing, but her work has received important awards.[7] In 2006, at the commemoration of the Carnation Revolution, she was designated one the thirty most important people of her generation.[5] In 2010 she received the Best Performer of Fado award from the Amália Rodrigues Foundation.[3][4] In 2012, she received the Order of Arts and Letters, Chevalier rank from the French government.[3][12] In 2015, she received the Comenda da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique from the Portuguese president, along with Ana Moura, Carminho, Ricardo Ribeiro and Mario Pacheco.[6][9]

Guerreiro says that "fado sings life" and not just tragedy,[15] and that it can cure the souls of the people.[4] Her take on fado is very traditional, and uses only the three traditional instruments: 12-stringed Portuguese guitar, Spanish guitar and double bass. New songs are composed by her Portuguese guitarists Paulo Valentim and João Viega, as well as the singer occasionally. However, the new works are very similar in sound to the traditional ones.[7] She does update traditional fados by using the words of Portuguese poets. One example of this is Ancorado en Mim, which takes the melody of Santa Lucia and matches it with a poem by Ana Vidal.[7][14]

Like all current female fado singers, she is compared to 20th century fado singer Amália Rodrigues. In Guerreiro's her tone and range are similar to Rodrigues.[7] On stage, she is almost static, usually singing with eyes closed and her hands clenched behind her back, the position she is shown on her second album.[7]

• Official website