Casa Guilhermina

Rosalía totally changed the flamenco game, redefining the genre for the 21st century. Of course, she promptly crossed the border to become a full-on pop artist with her broad Latin roots spread for everyone to see. Ana Moura has also been ready for a fado revolution. Her last two albums have pushed boundaries as she invited a string of pop artists to pen originals, which she would then give a magical fado refurbish.

What mainly changes with Casa Guilhermina is that Moura started looking elsewhere. Instead of finding her voice through a new generation of acoustic pop songwriters, she wanted to acknowledge her Angolan ancestry by crossing her fado path with African genres such as semba, kizomba and morna. And that meant, in a big way, going for an electronic musical backdrop, helped by kuduro producer Pedro da Linha and new pop Portuguese sensations Pedro Mafama and Conan Osíris. So we find Ana Moura courageously defying her solid role as a fado goddess and entering uncharted territory. And while the risk pays off when fado is still at bay in alluring songs such as ‘Andorinhas’, ‘Janela Escancarada’, ‘Corridinha’ or even the trip-hoppy ‘Arraial Triste’, or when she ventures into Cape Verde in ‘Birim Birim’ and Angola in ‘Mázia’, this is still an identity in the making and does not always possess the songs to match the grandiose ambition. Still, there is no reason to believe Moura will not get there.