葡萄牙歌者Dona Rosa，因著她特殊的嗓音與身世，成為里斯本fado民歌傳統的重要角色。1957年出生的Dona Rosa，四歲時罹患腦炎，因家貧無錢就醫，導致失明。幼年時，她全家人靠乞討為生，仍供她讀書、識字、學習葡萄牙民歌。成年後，Rosa毅然離家，隻身前往里斯本。初始在城市街頭與盲人、流浪者為伍，乞討為生。之後，在街頭賣唱、賣雜誌與彩券。她以朋友贈予的一把三角鐵伴奏，演唱她自小耳熟能詳的fado曲目，漸漸在里斯本街頭攢得名氣。雖然財富並未隨之而來，但Dona Rosa的歌聲與身影，已成為里斯本街頭無可取代的風景。

 

1999年，知名的維也納藝術家、製作人Andre Heller爲其影片尋找fado歌者。他心中有個理想的聲音，是那位他曾在里斯本街角偶遇的，讓他感動不已的聲影。於是Heller委託葡萄牙製作公司，尋找那位縈繞他記憶的街頭fado歌者--Dona Rosa，並邀請她加入製作。他同時期望這個音樂計劃能爲Dona Rosa展開不同的人生。

 

透過Andre Heller的作品《神之聲》，Dona Rosa的聲音與故事開始被世界聽見。2000年，她出版了第一張專輯，邀請手風琴家Ricardo Dias、Bulgarian Voices Angelite客串錄音。Rosa渾厚、繞樑三日的歌聲，立刻讓全世界的聽眾癡迷。2003年，出版第二張專輯Segredos。相隔四年，再出版第三張專輯Alma Livre，重新詮釋重要經典葡萄牙民歌，如Amalia Rodrigues、Carlos Goncalves 等fado名家的歌曲。

 

今日，Dona Rosa演唱的足跡遍及世界。2004年，她受邀至大大樹音樂圖像策劃的「女歌節」演出，讓現場觀眾癡醉，而她更對熱情的台灣觀眾與音樂節團隊留下深刻印象。這些年，Dona Rosa經常透過她的德國唱片公司JARO向音樂節策劃人鍾適芳表達，期望再次「回到」音樂節「聽見」台灣觀眾。

 

12年後，我們有幸再次迎接Dona Rosa，以里斯本的歌謠與故事敘舊。Dona Rosa與她的樂隊專程爲2016「小流浪」長途跋涉而來，亞洲只此一場，不容錯過！

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Dona Rosa

 

After more than a decade, Dona Rosa will be performing in Taiwan once again on Oct. 1 at mmf mini. The 59-year-old singer from Portugal received such an overwhelming response from her audience at the Women’s Voices Festival in Taipei in 2004 that she vowed to return. 

 

Born into a life of poverty and having lost her sight at the age of four, Dona Rosa survived on the streets of Lisbon by selling magazines and lottery tickets as a young adult. She soon realized that she could manage a living on the streets by singing Fado, a traditional Portuguese folk music style that dates back to the early 19th century and is on UNESCO’s intangible cultural heritage list. 

 

Dona Rosa's voice and presence were long an integral part of Lisbon’s street-scape, and her appearance in the Andre Heller film “Stimmen Gottes” (God’s Voices) helped her reach a wider audience in the late 1990s. Since then, she has performed at the WOMAD festivals in England and Spain, and major cities such as Moscow and Los Angeles.  

For her return concert to Taipei, Dona Rosa will be accompanied by her ensemble. Half of the concert will be performed in darkness, as an invitation for the audience to glimpse the world of a singer who has endured her fate with dignity and beauty.