Maputo hosted, on 17 and 18 June, the 12th edition of the International Fado Festival, welcoming in person two renowned Portuguese artists, Katia Guerreiro and Hélder Moutinho. Katia Guerreiro performed at the emblematic Cine-Scala, in the heart of the city of Maputo, and Hélder Moutinho at the Portuguese School of Mozambique. Under the motto “Fado and the Sea”, and as part of the celebrations of Portugal Day, Camões Day and Portuguese Communities Day, the festival was held this year in seventeen cities on four continents – Europe, Africa, (Latin) America and Asia.
Katia Guerreiro is today an established performer, recognised as a notable ambassador of Portuguese music. Her first album, “Fado Maior”, released in June 2001, went silver and was nominated for the José Afonso Prize in 2002. In 2010, the year she celebrated 10 years of her career, she received the important award for Best Fado Singer from the Amália Rodrigues Foundation. Among other distinctions she has earned, she was decorated by the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic with the Commander’s Insignia of the Order of Prince Henry, for her invaluable contribution to spreading Portuguese culture and to projecting Portugal in the world. She brought a very special concert to Maputo.
The Fado Festival brought to Maputo the notable ambassador of Portuguese music Katia Guerreiro
The connection of Hélder Moutinho (fado singer, composer and lyricist) with the city of Lisbon proves inevitable: it is the city of the sea and the Tagus, of passions, of fado houses, of the nostalgic and poetic nights that inspire him. Very well known in the fado gatherings and fado nights of the Portuguese capital, he has also taken his fado beyond its borders. Over the years he has performed in various parts of the world, namely the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, China, South Korea, Poland, Finland, Russia and Spain. In Maputo, he sang of love and heartbreak, joy and sadness, longing, the sea and Lisbon, his city.
We recall that in 2020 Mozambique hosted the International Fado Festival in hybrid format, with Fábia Rebordão, Cuca Roseta and Sara Correia taking part.
