Ramana Vieira

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Ramana Vieira is a contemporary American singer of the traditional Portuguese Fado. She has been called "The New Voice of Portuguese World Music."

[edit] Early life

Vieira was born to Portuguese immigrants who settled in San Leandro, just east of San Francisco, California. She attended local San Leandro schools, then studied the performing arts at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. As a young performing artist, she immersed herself in the study of Portuguese language and culture, especially the music of her parents' native island of Madeira, Portugal. Vieira's interest in performing the Portuguese Fado developed during this period.

[edit] Career

Vieira is an accomplished Fado singer with a Latin Grammy-nominated second album, Despi a Alma (I Undressed My Soul), and a fan base in both the U.S. and Portugal. She has traveled to Portugal and performed in authentic Fado houses where audiences could not distinguish her from native singers. After her travels, Vieira knew she had found her calling. “I knew I was on my path because this was so natural to me,” explains Vieira.

Vieira is known for bringing intense emotion to her performances, and she completely embraces her Portuguese heritage. As newly arrived immigrants, her parents had focused on their adopted American heritage, leaving Vieira feeling temporarily disconnected from her ethnic identity.

"Fado songs put me in touch with the deep heritage of being Portuguese and wake up my soul."

The intensity of her voice brings to mind the most committed American blues artists, to which she adds the deeply emotive flavor of the Portuguese Fado. In Despi a Alma, Vieira demonstrates her powerful vocals and her songwriting skills, including a tribute to a friend’s daughter, Sophia. The lyrics of the title track are a poem written by Portuguese poet José Raposo, a friend of Vieira's. She looks forward to producing her next album, an endeavor she hopes will be “more organic sounding at the essence of traditional folk songs, but still adding a contemporary touch—a raw, vulnerable, naked sound.”

On February 8, 2006 Vieira performed her original song entitled Unido Para Amar (United in Love) at the Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. She regularly performs to packed houses in Larkspur, Berkeley and other San Francisco Bay Area listening rooms. [[1]]