Fado singer Alison Dasilva (Courtesy photo).
Lowell – UMass Lowell will welcome homegrown fado singer Alison Dasilva along with Pedro Botas for the university’s annual “Sounds of Portugal” concert on Saturday, May 2.
As a musical genre, fado was born from Afro-Brazilian music and dance in the early 19th century. Today, the art form is synonymous with Portuguese culture, as its songs capture longing and loss, travels to far-off destinations and the beauty of the sea.
A Lowell native, Dasilva is a fast-rising star of the fado scene. She was recognized by the International Portuguese Music Association Awards as the Best New Talent of 2024.
Botas, a native of Portugal, has been performing professionally in the U.S. for more than 15 years and has released three albums of fado music.
The duo’s featured accompanists, Ricardo Parreira and Nelson Aleixo, have performed worldwide with some of contemporary fado’s top artists. Parreira, a master of the 12-string Portuguese guitar, has been a featured player in concert halls in New York, Chicago and London. He is joined by longtime collaborator Aleixo on the classical guitar.
“Fado music is recognized by the United Nations as an essential element of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. The performance promises to be a transatlantic celebration of the genre and an opportunity to celebrate the depth and diversity of Portuguese culture,” said UMass Lowell’s Frank Sousa, professor of world languages and cultures, who directs the center.
The concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. in the Comley-Lane Theatre inside Mahoney Hall at 870 Broadway St., Lowell, on UMass Lowell’s South Campus.
Fado singer Pedro Botas (Courtesy photo)
Tickets are $30 per person, while admission for UMass Lowell students is free. Free parking is available in the Wilder Faculty Lot on Wilder Street, near the venue.
Concert proceeds will benefit the Mark and Elisia Saab Center for Portuguese Studies at UMass Lowell.
Housed within UMass Lowell’s College of Fine Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, the center promotes initiatives that enhance the visibility of Portuguese culture and community, as well as the study of the language, literature and cultures of the vast and varied Portuguese-speaking world, comprised of more than 260 million people in eight countries on four continents.
