LINA_ and Marco Mezquida
What I want you to experience is the result of a very successful collaboration between Lina and the Spanish pianist Marco Mezquida. I did not know about the collaboration until their EP O Fado was released on March 14. That day a recorded video of the title song was shared on Lina’s and Marco’s Facebook pages. I was both surprised and overwhelmed by what I saw and heard.
Surprised, because I did not know that Lina planned a new record so soon after her album Fado Camões, released in January last year. Her earlier albums were released with longer intervals, and Lina is still touring extensively with the music of Fado Camões. O Fado was recorded in Barcelona in January this year and must have been planned and prepared much earlier. So yes, I was surprised that something so strong, solid and different as the new EP was released so soon after Lina’s previous album. And, as stated above, I did not know anything about the collaboration.
The songs, Lina’s voice and Marcos’s piano are all beautiful, but if I were to pinpoint one specific quality that I believe made me feel overwhelmed, I would put forward how the two musicians use the dynamics of voice and instrument to produce drama – most obvious in the title song composed by Lina herself. I do not remember when I last felt as touched by a song as I did when I experienced the video for the first time – and I can still feel that sensation when I watch and listen to it again.
In different ways, dynamics and drama are also important in the other songs of the EP. I believe an important key to the successful combination of Lina’s and Marco’s expression is the roles they play in their collaboration. Marco Mezquida of course accompanies Lina’s singing on his piano, but often in a way that makes you think of a duet of two soloists. Sometimes a strong voice and a powerful piano, sometimes more delicate expressions. Thereby the dynamics of the combined voice and piano create strong drama and beauty to the songs.
So, the EP with four songs is a very fruitful collaboration between Lina and Marco Mezquida, and I dare to say that it is a collaboration on equal terms. This shows in the music, and the record is released in the names of both artists.
I also feel a sense of paradox experiencing the fado music of Lina and Marco. On the one hand, the special combined expression of Lina’s voice and Marco’s piano is new to me. On the other hand, it is not an expression that is difficult to understand and learn to love. I feel very much at home in their music, and my enthusiastic appreciation came instantly when I experienced it for the first time – just as it would if the expression was well-known to me. Maybe I recognise dimensions of Marco’s piano expression from other genres, for instance classical music.
I felt that instant warm appreciation listening to all four songs of the EP. But it is not the case that Lina and Marco have the same expression to all four songs. They adapt the expression to each song in a way that makes all four the leading song of the album.
Read about the collaboration between Lina and Marco Mezquida at the sites of UGURU and Galileo Music, where both artists express deep respect for each other, and each note that they can reach further together than they could on their own. There you can also read that Lina and Marco plan an international tour together in 2025. I will be there.
O Fado
Audio on YouTube
Audio on Spotify
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Websites: Lina_ / Marco Mezquida
Instagram: Lina_ / Marco Mezquida
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