“Move over, Rosalía – fado is the new flamenco”, wrote The Guardian when the extraordinary duo of Lina and Raül Refree released their duo album on Glitterbeat in the beginning of 2020. This was fado rewired and recast, doing very much with the genre what Rosalía has done with the treasured Spanish flamenco.

Shedding the skin. A fresh beginning. That’s what renowned fado singer Lina and producer/multi-instrumentalist Raül Refree (Rosalía, Lee Ranaldo, Josh Rouse etc.) have given Portuguese fado on “Lina_Raül Refree”. They’ve sloughed off the old trappings and exacting traditions of the country’s national music and given it into a perfect fit for the 21st century. Gone are the chiming guitars that were the music’s instrumental trademark and in their place comes piano and analogue synths. Together, they’ve reinvented the music that holds a nation’s soul, and done it while keeping the rich beauty of the melodies and the aching poetry of the words that are such a vital part of the tradition.

Lina has stated: “We’ve updated fado. But we only tried to make music that moves people.” Without doubt, this is also what they will do when they perform in Copenhagen in November.