By the time fado singer Carminho arrived in Chicago last October, she was knee-deep in a substantial international tour and a banner year that brought her traditional folk music further onto the global stage.
Already a Madonna-level talent in her home of Portugal, Carminho appeared onstage with Coldplay in Lisbon that May, filmed a travel segment for “Good Morning America” in June, performed for the pope and a crowd of 1.5 million for World Youth Day in August and received a Latin Grammy nomination for her latest album, “Portuguesa,” in September. Carminho was also about to appear on movie screens in the Oscar-winning movie “Poor Things” (that pivotal scene as Emma Stone’s Bella Baxter becomes transfixed by the artist, perched on a balcony, playing guitar and singing her original, “O Quarto”).
But, in Chicago, there was one goal she still had for the year, and one person she was intent on meeting — Steve Albini.
“When we were close to the U.S., I asked my agent, can you book a concert in Chicago. And I want a day off so I can try to book [Electrical Audio] and, with luck, Steve Albini will be there,” Carminho recalled in a recent Zoom call, ahead of returning to City Winery this month for a concert sponsored by the International Latino Cultural Center of Chicago.
Carminho, who grew up the daughter of famous fado singer Teresa Siqueira and made her public singing debut at the age of 12, has always had eclectic taste and was familiar with Albini’s work on seminal albums like Nirvana’s “In Utero,” Pixies’ “Surfer Rosa,” and PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me,” desiring to have the noted audio engineer and producer bring out her “punk side.”
“Steve was known for his way of capturing or recording the truth, without adding or taking anything out,” Carminho said, explaining that, to her, this is the spirit of fado. The traditional Portuguese folk music dates back to the 19th century and combines poetry with emotional, often forlorn arrangements, a style the singer compares to American blues, where authenticity and playing in the moment is paramount. “Fado is, first of all, a song of community, a place where we share, where we have a lot of improvisation … we start a song but don’t have everything right — you don’t read everything you’re going to sing or play.”
It’s that element she was seeking out in Albini, known for his contrarian opinions on commercialized music, putting his touch on an estimated 2,000-plus records before passing away in May this year. Still, Carminho said she had no expectations.
“I was just going to bring my songs or parts of songs to the studio and see what will happen.”
Yet, what did transpire was one of the more revolutionary sessions she’s been a part of, resulting in four songs in 12 hours.
“Even if he never recorded fado or Portuguese guitar before … it doesn’t matter if it’s fado or punk or indie, what matters is the instruments have these characteristics and how they play together. … We wanted to take a lot of risks and not care about the mistakes,” said Carminho. “He captured that essence.”
She was so taken with what happened on that day, the timestamp is part of the title of her evocative new EP, “Carminho at Electrical Audio, 2621 W. Belmont Avenue, Chicago, Illinois, 60618 — October 2023,” out now via Nonesuch Records. It was supposed to be just the start of working together until fate stepped in.
“Unfortunately I could not go further with my plan, but the idea was beautiful and I’m very proud of it,” she said.
When Carminho returned to Chicago this August to shoot photos for the EP, in keeping with the spirit of the time and place that created it all, another interesting thing happened. She found out that another local giant, Barack Obama, had added her song “O Quarto” to his summer 2024 playlist.
“My family wrote to me from Portugal to share the news, they already knew and I was sleeping,” she recalled, laughing. “In the beginning, I didn’t know what it meant exactly, and then I started to receive so many messages from so many people.”
More than the accolades, Carminho said, the ongoing exposure of her music (including Taylor Swift in the audience when she performed “O Quarto” at the “Poor Things” movie premiere) is significant in another way.
“What I think is, it helps to tell a story, which is very important. If you are in the spotlight, you can tell your story … and it becomes a bridge in the best way possible.”