Indistinguishable voices

Noted 13 April 2011, written

João Chora

I know about fado singer João Chora quite some time now. Years ago I bought the CD entitled simply “João Chora” or I had it sent to me. That was after I heard one song, probably “Fado Ribatejo”, on the radio. I can’t remember which station, nor do I know when that was.

Later on, last year or the year before, when playing that CD during car journeys, I also particularly liked the track “A rosa que te dei” (‘The rose I gave you’).

Same voice, not the same singer

Years later I regularly heard João Chora on the Lisbon and Setúbal radio station Rádio Amália, a station exclusively dedicated to fado music. (I wasn't in Portugal, but listened over the internet, from the Netherlands.)

Or rather, I thought I heard him. But it wasn’t him. On 13 April 2011, the program Estrela da Tarde (‘Evening Star’) featured a singer with that voice. So I looked up the name.

It wasn’t João Chora. It was Miguel Brito Rebelo. Their voiced are really quite similar, so similar that to me they are indistinguishable. Miguel Brito Rebelo is played on the radio much more often than João Chora these days. So if I have to mention a name, the former is the safest bet. But in fact, I really don’t know who it is, when I hear either of them sing.

Carlos Zel

Carlos Zel’s voice is also a bit similar, but different enough to be recognizable.