Fado Tales

Fado singer Kirsi Poutanen and pianist-composer Esa Helasvuo perform Portuguese fado’s, as well as unique, new fado songs in Portugues, Finnish and Karelian. Interwoven, they chime powerfully and archaically. Two soulful and skilled musicians spark musical energy, that is comforting, touching and surprising.

Known especially for her fado songs, Kirsi Poutanen is also a poet and an actor. She released her fado record AmáliaTribute in Finnish in 2013. The next year the record was nominated for the Finnish Etno-Emma and Portugues Prémio do Amália awards. In addition to music Poutanen is a published poet and has worked in musical drama productions both as a performer and play write.

The diverse and significant career of pianist-composer Esa Helasvuo include theatre, film and jazz music. His production includes orchestra, song and choir pieces. Helasvuo has worked and given concerts with numerous established artists, such as Vesa-Matti Loiri, Ritva Oksanen, Susanna Haavisto and Eija Ahvo. Parallel with his pianist-composer career, Helasvuo has been a prestigious musical pedagogue at the Theatre Academy in Helsinki and the Sibelius Academy.

Kirsi Poutanen, singer

Esa Helasvuo, piano

Photograph: Antero Kahila/ Keijo Sundvall