Portuguese Fado Singer Lula Pena is a Musical Wanderer

Fado, MUSIC, Portuguese Archive, Schimmel Center / March 31, 2018 by Editors

Lula Pena

Lula Pena is a Portuguese Fado singer who blends Fado traditions with other folk musics like Flamenco, American blues, French chanson, Cape Verdean morna, and Brazilian Bossa Nova.

Pena is from Lisbon (1974). As a child she was taught to listen deeply in an almost yogic manner.

Her musical explorations make a lot of sense actually. Portuguese explorers were the first Europeans to explore and conquer the world. They launched the process of Euro-centric globalization.

Everywhere we humans go, we mix and mingle. It is unavoidable. Knowledge cannot be taken away. There is nothing pure. Claims of purity are generally a con used to steal something from you.

Pena’s style is familiar in the tradition of American folk singers of the 1960s. Her guitar and vocals styling reminds a bit of Jewish – Uruguayan Academy Award-winner Jorge Drexler. Pena has a similar soft touch, but with the deep feeling of Fado.

There is also a little bit of the Moorish – Arab – Romany influence that so enriches Iberian culture.

Like her forefathers, Pena is a musical wanderer. She has said that “tradition must be kept alive, so it can become tradition.”

“Tradition must be kept alive so it can become tradition”

Lula Pena’s music is very alive.

Lula Pena Albums

Phados (1998)
Troubadour (2010)
Archivo Pittoresco (“Picturesque Archive,” Crammed, 2017)

Lula Pena in New York City

Lula Pena Portuguese Fado singer (Buddhy/ Schimmel Center)

Lula Pena brings her Archivo Pittoresco tour to Schimmel Center in Manhattan’s Financial District on Saturday, March 31, 2018 at 7:30 pm. Tickets from $29.

This show is curated by Isabel Soffer / Live Sounds as part of the NY Fado Festival.