Cristina Clara

Lua Adversa

On digital platforms and streaming

Lua Adversa

On digital platforms and streaming

Bio

Cristina Clara is a singer and songwriter from the Braga region in the north of Portugal.

She’s been living in Lisbon since 2005, when she was first invited to sing in a fado house. This led to encounters with musicians from Cape Verde and Brazil living in Lisbon and then travelling to Cape Verde and Brazil to explore the music there.

She is interested in promoting a dialogue between these different traditional identities and urban songs as they are expressions of the history and heritage of the people.

On her first album - Lua Adversa (Adverse Moon) - she explores the musical influences that have shaped her since arriving in the city, inspired by the constant intercultural dialogues she experiences. She was affected by the similarities between fado, morna and Brazilian choro.

“The opening track, 'Manjericos', accurately portrays the singer's cross- cultural essence when she sings a fado that narrates the popular festivity in Alfama where we can find Portuguese saint João side-by-side with the Brazilian orixá goddess lemanjá.” in Songlines

Since the release of her debut album, she has performed on various stages, both in Portugal and internationally. Notable performances include the NOS Alive Festival, Teatro da Trindade in Lisbon, the "Há Fado no Cais" series at the Centro Cultural de Belém, the Atlantic Music Expo in Cape Verde, the Casa de Portugal in São Paulo, Brazil, the Centre Culturel des Arts Pluriels in Luxembourg, and the Azores International Festival.

She was one of the invited authors for the RTP Festival da Canção 2024, where she was a finalist with the song Primavera, for which she wrote the lyrics, with music by Cape Verdean composer Jon Luz.

This year, Cristina Clara was selected for an official showcase at Womex 2024.

Versatile and intuitive, it is impossible to fit Cristina Clara into a single genre. Her interpretative skills are the result of a constant dialogue between her own inner world and her circumstance. The album "Lua Adversa" [Adverse Moon] is a musical portrait of this experience.

In addition to her career as a performer and songwriter, Cristina Clara has been deeply committed to promoting the value of traditional Portuguese music. She has been organizing and developing workshops—both solo and in collaboration—where traditional Portuguese songs and percussion serve as tools for study and experimentation.

Lua Adversa

Lua Adversa [Adverse Moon], an appropriate name for an album that mirrors the various phases-faces of Cristina Clara and her creative process! Handpicked words, songs that tell stories, and a brilliant team of musicians who, more than accompanying her, were true agents in her path, chosen for their role in the plot.

Liner Notes