SOUNDS OF PORTUGAL: AN EVENING OF FADO WITH ANA LAÍNS AND PEDRO GALVEIAS

Venue: Durgin Hall, University of Lowell, Lowell, MA

Date and time: Friday, October 23, 2015 at 7 p.m.
Tickets: Concert only: $30; Concert and pre-show reception with the artists at the Atrium of the Health & Social Sciences Building: $100
Tickets can be purchased online or by calling: 978-934-5199
Parking: Wilder Lot, across from 61 Wilder Street and at the corner of Wilder and Broadway Streets.

Portuguese fado singer Ana Laíns will perform on Friday, October 23, 2015 at Durgin Hall at University of Massachusetts, where she will be joined by special guest Pedro Galveias. The concert, her first in Massachusetts and an early stop on her first US tour, follows a recently completed one-year international tour celebrating 800 years of the Portuguese language, for which she served as Portugal’s official ambassador.

AnaAna Laíns’ music spans the full depth and breadth of Portuguese fado music, an art form recently recognized by UNESCO for its profound importance to world culture. Ana’s music has achieved wide critical and artistic acclaim, as well as various prizes (including best young female singer in Lisbon’s Grande Noite de Fado, the country’s top fado competition). She has released two CDs (Sentidos and Quatro Caminhos) and performed extensively both within and outside Portugal.

Ana is joined on this tour by the singer Pedro Galveias, one of the most established and storied voices of Lisbon’s underground fado scene. Pedro has released two CDs and was twice a winner in the category of best male singer in Lisbon’s Grande Noite de Fado. Accompanying the singer are two master musicians, Sandro Costa and Tô Neto, both of whom have performed widely at all levels of the fado, from Lisbon’s hidden taverns to the worldwide stage. Together, the music of this group spans traditional and contemporary expressions of Portuguese fado, with stories of heartache, joy and longing conjuring images of Portugal’s centuries-old history and of our shared human condition.

fado“Sounds of Portugal: A Concert by Ana Laíns” is the major fundraiser of the year for the Saab-Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research, an academic and cultural entity within the College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (FAHSS). The core mission of the center is to bridge the gap between the campus and the surrounding area by promoting initiatives that enhance the presence and visibility of the Portuguese culture and community. The Center promotes the multidisciplinary study of the language, literatures and cultures of the vast and varied Portuguese speaking world comprised of over 230 million people in eight countries on four continents and its diaspora in the United States, particularly in the Commonwealth and, more specifically, in the Merrimack Valley.

This event is organized by UMass Lowell Saab-Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research, the College of Fine Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences, and University Advancement, in partnership with Portuguese/American Cultural Exchange (PACE). This event is part of the UMass Lowell Homecoming Activities for 2015.

Ana Laíns (pronounced “Lanes”) is available for phone interviews in English or Portuguese. Please contact David Mendonça at 201-407-0379 of PACE for all media inquiries. Please contact the Saab-Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research at 978-934-5199 or Natalia_Melo@uml.edu for venue-related questions.