When fado paves the way: 'O Fado', a premiere with soul and complicity

Premieres are special concerts. The first contact between artists and their work and the public. The first time the work is shared and the sensations of the listener are perceived. Attending is witnessing the first heartbeat, a story that begins to be written with music. And it means being part of that initial heartbeat.

An experience like this was what was lived on Friday at the Cloister of Sant Domingo de Pollença, where LINA_ and Marco Mezquida presented for the first time The Fado, their joint project.

A voice that vibrates between tradition and the avant-garde; a piano that doesn't accompany but rather engages in dialogue. What these two artists propose is a sonic journey in which Portugal and Spain join hands, with fado as the vehicle and jazz as the moving landscape. LINA_'s voice—an heir to Amalia, yet free and contemporary—melded with the versatility and light of Mezquida's piano, in a repertoire that oscillated between classic fados, her own compositions, and unexpected adaptations such as The Rosary of my Mother, by María Dolores Pradera, and a beautiful garment with lyrics from the poem Confidential, by the Portuguese poet Miguel Torga, among others.

The concert was simple, sensitive, flattering... and at the same time heartfelt and profound. The audience, very engaged, participated in an evening full of knowing glances, spontaneous laughter, and comments between pieces that turned the premiere into a close encounter. LINA_ and Mezquida, two artists in a state of grace, demonstrated that beauty is not only in what is heard, but in how it is shared.