MARCO RODRIGUES

Apostamos por este lisboeta como un valor sólido y no fallamos. En Clazz Lisboa, 1ª edición, interpretó un fado en “forma” de jazz, que luego inmortalizó en un álbum inolvidable: JazzinFado.

BIOGRAFÍA

Marco Rodrigues was born in Amarante in 1982 and, up until the age of fifteen, he knew little of fado beyond recognizing Amália Rodrigues' name. Fate would have it that fado would come into his life when he moved to Lisbon, down from the north of Portugal. Then his life changed completely...

Although he spent his childhood and adolescence with no connection to fado, other genres of music were always a part of his life. When he discovered "the music of Lisbon" he decided to run in the 1999 edition of the Grande Noite do Fado gala, at the Coliseu dos Recreios. Even though he was only 16 at the time, he would win in the senior category.

A few months later, Marco Rodrigues made his professional debut as a fado singer at Café Luso, in Lisbon – a venue where he stayed on until 2012 as a fado singer and guitar player, having also undertaken the role of musical director.

In 2006, the singer released his first album, “Fados da Tristeza Alegre”, which was awarded the Amália Rodrigues Prize, in the Revelation category, the following year.

2010 is the year when recognition for Marco Rodrigues's work begun in earnest, following his second release, “Tantas Lisboas” (on Universal Music Portugal). Carlos do Carmo and Mafalda Arnauth appeared as guests on the album, with songs penned by Boss AC, Tiago Torres da Silva and Inês Pedrosa, among others, as well as Tiago Machado, who also produced it. He performed in Portugal and abroad, alongside Carlos do Carmo and Ana Moura, and sung in a landmark show with Mariza at the Royal Festival Hall, in London. In 2011 he made a guest appearance in Fernando Alvim's release “Fados e Canções do Alvim" as well as in Brazilian singer Maria Gadú's "Mais uma página”, having recorded “A Valsa” as a duet with Gadu, who always has him perform with her whenever she plays in Portugal.

On December 2nd 2011, Marco Rodrigues was chosen as one of the fado singers to perform in the Fado, Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity Gala, to celebrate the distinction awarded by UNESCO earlier that year. He sang "A rima mais bonita", one of the songs the audience applauded the loudest at in the concert that, which was broadcast live by RTP1.

In June 2011 Marco Rodrigues became the artistic director of Adega Machado, one of the most renowned fado houses in Lisbon, where he's also a member of the cast of house performers.

In 2013 he released "Entre Tanto" and begun touring around it. The record is the result of a remarkable path rooted in traditional fado, nevertheless going beyond that matrix, towards different tones and ways of singing the fado. With the maturity of a third record, Marco revealed a more personal interpretation, finding new ways for the wills of fado. Critics and audiences alike acclaimed the record for its creative maturity.

"Entre Tanto" invites the listener to enjoy both the good and the bad side of life that seeps through the stories Marco Rodrigues sings. On stage he was joined by the standard trio of guitars (Portuguese guitar, nylon-string guitar and acoustic bass), to which he added his own, invoking the mood of a fado house with his own vision and unique, original and of the now interpretation.�That very year he was invited by one of the biggest and most important voices in the history of fado, Carlos do Carmo, to sing “Fado do 112” in the album "Fado É Amor”, which also had Ana Moura, Cristina Branco, Mariza and Camané as guests. Besides working together in the record, in 2014 Marco Rodrigues and Carlos do Carmo would share the stage of the Coliseu dos Recreios, in Lisbon, in a very special concert in which Carlos do Carmo had over his favourite singers performing songs out of “Fado É Amor”.

Producer Oscar Gomez was in the audience, and having particularly enjoyed Marco Rodrigues's performance, he invited him to work on a record that paid tribute to Trio Matamoros, pioneers of traditional Cuban music. In “El Alma del Son – Tributo a Matamoros” he joined Alain Perez in the duet "Ruego de Amor”. Zenet, Diana Navarro, La Santa Cecilia, Lolita, Café Quijano and Lucrecia were among the other guests in this tribute album, which was nominated for the Latin Grammys.

Latin American opened its doors for Marco Rodrigues then. Just this year, he performed to very enthusiastic audiences in Argentina, Chile and Colombia, mostly songs from 2015's "Fados do Fado”. In this last record, Marco Rodrigues paid homage some of the male fado singers who he looks up to and who have helped him grow as a performer. Carlos do Carmo, Tristão da Silva, Jorge Fernando and Tony de Matos were some of the singers he focused on, in an album produced by Diogo Clemente and that has been warmly received by critics and audiences alike.

"Fados do Fado” has enabled Marco Rodrigues to perform all over Europe, Latin America and, of course, Portugal, where he sells out shows and always wants to come back. In Portugal he has performed in several big festivals, from Caixa Alfama to NOS Alive, having also had a show at Centro Cultural de Belém.

And after having been part of Latin Grammy nominated album, in 2016 became the first male fado singer with a Latin Grammy nominated record of his own, with "Fados do Fado” running for Best Folk Album. A very important nomination in the artist's international career and which, in and of itself, is the apex of a unique career in fado and a decade's worth of recordings.

In 2017, Marco Rodrigues released a new record, "Copo Meio Cheio", acclaimed by the media and audiences alike. In this album, Rodrigues invited a host of new composers and songwriters of the Portuguese pop scene, like Diogo Piçarra, Guilherme Alface and João Direitinho, two members of the group ÁTOA, who wrote the first single “Fado do Cobarde”, Carlão, Luísa Sobral, Capicua, Agir, Pedro da Silva Martins (Deolinda), Tiago Pais Dias and Marisa Liz (Amor Electro), or Boss AC. “O Tempo” has proven to be a big favorite in the record, and its video has been seen over 2,5 million times.

Produced by Tiago Machado, "Copo Meio Cheio" is not a fado record, and it is not a pop music record: it's a Marco Rodrigues record, where his identity and his amazing skills as a singer and performer become evident than ever.

With this new album, Marco Rodrigues was able to tour internationally once again, singing in stages like the Caixa Fado Festival in Benguela and Luanda, in Angola, as well as in countries like Russia or Latvia.

RRSS