Cristina Branco
(Portugal, 1972) was singing jazz and Portuguese music when she became captivated by fado singer Amália Rodrigues at age 18. Since then she has become a major performer and innovator of this Portuguese folk tradition. With her voice, she is able to make even the melancholic fado sound cheerful. In 1996 she debuted as a fado singer in the Netherlands, the same year her first CD, Cristina Branco, was released here. She increased her Dutch fan base with the CD O Descobridor (2002), on which she sings translated poems by Dutch poet Slauerhoff. Later, she recorded the song Herinnering aan later (Memories of Later) with the Dutch group Bløf, and sang a version of their song Dansen aan zee (Dancing by the Sea). Branco also interpreted texts by Portuguese poets such as Camões, Pessoa, David Mourão-Ferreira, and José Afonso, as well as works by Paul Éluard, Léo Ferré, and Alfonsina Storni (among others). For the 2015 festival edition, Cristina Branco and pianist João Paulo have set the celebrated Dutch writer Remco Campert's Ode aan mijn jas (Ode to My Coat) to music.
Past events
The Text of My Life: Cristina Branco
Writers and musicians present their favourite literary texts and explain why a particular poem, novel excerpt, or song lyric influenced their life and work.
Ode to Remco's Coat
A programme celebrating Remco Campert. Fado singer Cristina Branco and pianist João Paulo have set the celebrated Dutch poet's Ode aan mijn jas (Ode to My Coat) to music. Mustafa Stitou, Hanneke van Eijken, and VSB Poetry Prize nominees Hester Knibbe, Alfred Schaffer, and Peter Verhelst each dedicate a poem to him. Concluding performance by the Blue Moon choir. A collaboration with Poetry International and the VSB Poetry Prize.
