“Ten years ago,” says Dulce Pontes, “my daughter was seven and my son fourteen. They are the ‘measure’ of my time, the lens through which its passing becomes clearer, for them and through them, as my priority. The world has changed so much in ten years, even though, at my core, I remain the same. Life is a journey. Along the way, many transformations unfold: perspective, assimilation, the ability to sublimate, adaptation, maturity. I remember the majesty of Teatro La Fenice, a deeply attentive and engaged audience, and the terror of crossing the water toward the airport in a taxi that seemed to fly over the lagoon.” On April 23, the Malibran Theatre in Venice will host the only Italian date of Dulce Pontes’s “35 Anos Tour,” ten years after her memorable 2016 concert at the city’s Fenice Theatre. It is a particularly meaningful event for our Jazz& season: celebrating thirty five years of a career that has renewed tradition and carried fado across geographical and cultural borders is no small thing. A composer and performer of rare intensity, Pontes rose to international attention in the early 1990s after winning the Portuguese National Festival and taking part in Eurovision. But it was Lágrimas, and above all Canção do Mar, that made her voice a symbol of a new era of fado, earning her the reputation of heir to Amália Rodrigues.
Pontes turned that comparison into a starting point for a personal, label free artistic exploration. Her career spans many worlds: Portuguese folk, Mediterranean echoes, symphonic repertoire, and international collaborations. Central among these was her encounter with Ennio Morricone, culminating in the album Focus and tours in major theatres around the world. Morricone described her voice as an instrument able to embrace “every aspect of singing,” a testament to her versatility. In concert, joined by an exceptional quintet, Pontes will perform iconic pieces like O Primeiro Canto, selections from Morricone’s repertoire, and newer works from Perfil. Each performance is, for her, an act of truth: “I am more interested in feeling than in technique. The role of the artist is to serve music, not use it. To share genuine emotion and sensitivity. To remain humble and aware.” Perhaps this is the secret behind her immediate connection with audiences worldwide. Bringing this voice to Venice means offering to the public an experience where roots and modernity meet. In a time so often marked by division, Dulce Pontes reminds us that music is a universal language, one that makes us feel part of the same sea.
