Marta Pereira da Costa, the first woman to play fado professionally on the Portuguese guitar performed on Saturday March 16 at Dom Pedro V Theatre, as part of The Script Road – Macau Literary Festival. Marta began her musical journey early, learning to play the piano at the age of four and classical guitar at eight. When she was 18 she began learning to play the Portuguese guitar. In 2012 she began her solo career and two years later she was awarded the “Instrumentalist Award” by the Amália Rodrigues Foundation. In 2016 she released her first album and she plans unveil her second album later this year.
How did you first become interested in Portuguese guitar?
My father is passionate about fado and the Portuguese guitar and always said he’d like me to learn. I’d been playing the piano since I was four and started playing the guitar at my father’s suggestion. I wouldn’t have taken the initiative myself. I loved my first lesson with Carlos Gonçalves. He lent me a guitar and from then on I asked to have more lessons, to go with my father to the fado houses, to meet the fado singers and guitarists. He was happy to to do this and I became more and more eager to learn and play better.
How difficult was it to master?
I think having played classical guitar before helped a lot. I already had an idea of what it was like to play a stringed instrument. That’s why I found it easy with my left hand. The right hand is totally different though. You just play with two fingernails, whereas on classical guitar you use all four fingers. But I think it helped that I already had a trained ear because what we learn is by oral tradition, we imitate our teacher. And also that my left hand was more developed. Having taken classical guitar lessons helped me in the beginning. It’s a difficult instrument. The early days are a bit of a struggle, it’s true, because to get a good sound you need calluses on your fingers. As time went by I wanted to learn everything quickly, but eventually I got severe tendonitis because I couldn’t stop playing and I was playing so hard, so then I had to take it easy.
You are the first woman to play Portuguese guitar professionally. Was it difficult at the start of your career? Did men look down on you? Or did it help in any way?
There weren’t really any women playing in the fado houses. But before me, Luísa Amado, Carlos Paredes’ wife, played the Coimbra guitar.
There are two sides to it. When I was new and wanted to learn, everyone thought it was very funny and I always felt very comfortable in the various fado houses I visited. In 2012, I began to take it on professionally. I left my work in civil engineering and really wanted to risk a career as a guitarist. Then I heard some prejudicial comments saying that I only had concerts because I was a woman or because I was pretty. On one hand that made me sad, but on the other, it also made me want to work harder and show them that what I was doing wasn’t a joke and that I really wanted to do well and play good gigs. Yes, there was some discrimination, but I stayed true to what I believed in. I began by accompanying a lot of fado singers. I spent several years in fado houses playing to the maximum to learn and gain experience. Then I began to follow the path I’d always wanted from the start, which was the instrumental path. I liked to accompany as much as I liked to play guitar, but then I thought I could create performances where the guitar had a more prominent role. The guitar, when accompanying fado, has a certain role and it has to fulfill it very well – it can’t overpower the voice, it has to serve the voice. In a different performance, the guitar can be the voice, it has a different emphasis, it can stand out in a different way. I started following that path because I wanted to give the guitar a voice.
The male dominance of Portuguese guitar is a matter of tradition and history. Sometimes, in order to change traditions, you have to break down certain prejudices and, from there, everything flows more easily. Nowadays there are lots of women playing and learning. I’ve already shared a stage with one of them, Mariana Martins, who has a degree in Portuguese guitar. Fernanda Maciel plays regularly in fado houses, Luísa Amaro… I think the traditions of Portuguese guitar is already changing.
Fado has been associated with other genres of music such as African music and jazz, for example. Do these genres complement fado well?
They are related. Fado has also evolved and drunk from where it’s been. During the Discoveries, we carried guitars. We went to Africa and brought back cultural wealth from there, and when we went to Brazil it was the same. Fado evolved and became richer over time, through the places the Portuguese passed through. It makes sense to build bridges again and take the guitar to the world. What I advocate is taking the Portuguese guitar to the world and bringing the world to fado, creating cultural bridges.
Can you tell us about your latest album “Sem Palavras”?
It will be released in May in Portugal, but I’m already starting to unveil some of the songs. The album “Sem Palavras” was recorded with piano and guitar, as a duo. It is an album that I made very calmly. It has four of my own compositions and other songs that I had really wanted to record, like “Aranjuez” by Joaquín Rodrigo, “Spain” by Chick Corea, “Verdes Anos” and Gershwin’s “Summertime”. It also goes through the world of piano, which I transposed to the Portuguese guitar, two languages I know very well. I thought that this second album had to be very familiar to me, with languages that are natural to me and through which I could assert myself more as a composer and instrumentalist. My first album was a showcase album, where I wanted to play everything, lots of instruments. This one is more intimate, but more upfront. It also features a Cuban pianist who has won a Latin Grammy, Iván Melon Lewis. He took the record to a level that I didn’t expect it to reach at first. I’m very happy with the result.
Throughout your career you’ve performed all over the world. How have international audiences reacted to your music?
It’s been incredible. Surprising everywhere. I played in Australia for the first time earlier this year and there was a sea of people and the reaction was incredible. I felt a lot of support from the audience. I sold all my records and there was a huge queue to sign them and the feedback from the people I spoke to was very good. It’s been like that in the US too.
How was your experience visiting Macau and performing at the Macau Literary Festival?
In first place it was a great fortune to visit and perform in Macau, my mother’s birthland, for the first time. It was the fulfilment of a long-time wish. Being able to bring a little bit of Portugal to the other side of the world, talk about Fado, about this special instrument I play, presenting Portugal to the audience and inviting them on a journey to Portugal during my concert was an immense honor, and a challenge that I proudly accept every time I go on stage. I can say my visit was very very nice, I got to try min-chi and compare it to my mother’s, I went to Taipa and Coloane, but time went fast, so I felt it was very short. I want to come back again soon.
How was the experience of playing that the Dom Pedro V theatre and what was the audience reaction?
Dom Pedro V Theatre is a beautiful venue! And the audience was amazing, very supportive and I felt all their enthusiasm and love. On the day before the concert, I had a chance to visit the Portuguese school and present the Portuguese guitar to the senior high school students, and it was really nice to see them at the concert with their parents the next day. After concert, I talked with every person waiting in the line, I took pictures with them, sold out all my CDs, and even started signing the concert tickets. I’m sorry for those who weren’t able to buy my CD after waiting so long in the line. One more reason for me to come back.
You have some family connections to Macau. Can you tell us about that and were you able to meet up with any family while you were here? What was that experience like?
My mother was born in Macau, my aunt also, and my grandfather’s family is from Macau but he was born in Shanghai, and my great-grand father was born in Hong Kong. My grandfather was Administrator of the Municipality of the Islands and Administrator of the Municipality of Macau, serving as President of the Public Assistance Commission and Member of the Press and Entertainment Censorship Commission; subsequently, he headed the Public Office of Civil Administration, accumulating functions in the Councils of Education Services, Civil Registration, Medical Records, Libraries, Scholarships and “ Uses and Customs of the Chinese in Macau – 1950’s”, published by the Macau Cultural Institute in 1997.
I was able to meet my cousin José Gonçalo Basto da Silva, and he kindly showed me around Macau. I was also able to visit the house where my mother grew up, Fortaleza do Bom Parto. That was very special. I felt emotionally connected to Macau. I also met several family friends that came to the concert. I tried new Macanese dishes. And I was sharing every moment with my mum in Portugal, revisiting her memories.
