Dulce Pontes
(born April 8, 1969) is a Portuguese musician, songwriter, and singer who writes and performs in many music styles, including pop, folk and classical music. She's usually defined as a world music artist. Her songs contributed to the 1990s revival of Portuguese urban folk music called fado. She is one of the most famous and respected Portuguese artists.
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Biography
Pontes was born in 1969 in
Montijo, a small city in the
District of Setúbal, surroundings of
Lisbon. Trained as a pianist, she became a singer after entering a competition in her home town at the age of 18. She soon became an
actress in Portuguese
television and
theater. In 1991 she won the national song festival with her song
"Lusitana Paixão"
(known in
English as
"Tell Me"
), which allowed her to represent
Portugal at the
Eurovision Song Contest (she was 8th, which has been up till now the 4th best position of a singer representing Portugal in this contest). "
Lusitana Paixão" litterally means Portuguese Passion.
Canção do Mar (Song of the Sea), one of her many international hits, was later recorded by
Sarah Brightman, under the name
Harem. Harem was later a #1 Dance & Crossover hit in the US for Sarah.
Over the years Pontes has evolved to become a renowned star of
world music. She easily blends traditional
fado with contemporary styles and eagerly searches out new forms of musical expression. She gave new life to outmoded musical traditions of the
Iberian Peninsula, rediscovered many long forgotten popular tunes and found use for allegedly obsolete musical instruments. Her artistic explorations know no geographical or cultural borders. Her work is inspired and influenced not only by
Iberian musical tradition, but also
Arabic,
African,
Brazilian and
Bulgarian. She sings mostly in her native
Portuguese, but also in
Spanish,
Galician,
Mirandese,
Italian,
English,
Arabic and
Greek.
Dulce Pontes has collaborated with
Cesária Évora,
Caetano Veloso,
Marisa Monte,
Carlos Núñez,
the Chieftains,
Kepa Junkera,
Eleftheria Arvanitaki,
George Dalaras,
Andrea Bocelli (
O Mar e Tu
, duet sung by Pontes in
Portuguese and Bocelli in
Neopolitan, an Italian dialect, for his 1999 album
Sogno), and others. Her song "
Canção do Mar
" appeared on the soundtrack of Hollywood film
Primal Fear
. A 30-second snippet of that same song serves as the theme to the NBC police drama
Southland
. Her album "
Focus
" is the fruit of a collaboration with
Italian composer
Ennio Morricone with whom she has also performed live in concert.
In June 2006, Pontes prepared her double LP.
O Coração Tem Três Portas
(
The Heart Has Three Doors
). It was recorded live without an audience in
Convent of the Order of Christ in
Tomar and St Mary Church in
Óbidos. According to the artist, it is "her most personal and intimate album. It includes Portuguese
folk music, mostly
fado." It was released in December 2006.
Discography
- Lusitana
(1992)
- Lágrimas
(1993) (Tears)
- Brisa do Coração
(1995) (Breeze of the heart) - album live recorded during a concert held May 6th, 1995 in Porto
- Caminhos
(1996) (Paths)
- O Primeiro Canto
(1999) (The first chant/song)
- Best Of
(2002)
- Focus
(2003)
- O Coração Tem Três Portas
(2006) (The heart has three doors) - including a DVD, recorded live in a convent and church
- Momentos
(2009) (Moments)