Silêncio

It’s not very clear what Claudia Aurora’s trying to do here. But whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to work. Silêncio is her debut album and was recorded in England. Maybe it’s the distance from Portugal, but the truth is it doesn’t pan out. She sounds at times as if she’s aiming at adopting a Chavela Vargas’ style of fado – which, of course, would not be a problem if she sounded half as mesmerising as that Mexican/Costa Rican jaw-dropping voice. But then Aurora doesn’t seem to be able to make up her mind about the path she should follow. One minute she resembles a pale Mísia, or calls to mind Cristina Branco’s more chamber-like sound, and the next she’s trying to go pop.

It’s praiseworthy that Aurora is brave enough to record mainly her own songs, but it wouldn’t harm her if she invested a bit of time in learning the expression in the fado tradition first of all. When she chooses to address Amalia’s repertoire, it doesn’t really help her case. It’s not that we should keep Amalia on a pedestal at all times, but you need to have solid foundations when walking into her territory.