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Madredeus

Madredeus is a Portuguese band. Their music combines fado influences with modern folk music.

The band's founding members were Pedro Ayres Magalhães (Classical guitar), Rodrigo Leão (keyboard synthesizer), Francisco Ribeiro (cello) and Teresa Salgueiro (vocals). Magalhães and Leão formed the band in 1985, Ribeiro joined in 1986. They'd been searching for a female singer, and found Teresa Salgueiro in one of Lisbon's night clubs. Teresa liked their music and agreed to join, so in 1987 Madredeus (named that because they started playing in an abbey Madre de Deus) recorded their first album, Os dias da Madredeus.

In 1993, Pedro Ayres Magalhães left the band temporarily and was replaced in live concerts by José Peixoto (Classical guitar). Magalhães rejoined the group later, making it a sextet with two guitarists.

They released several albums and became very popular in Portugal, but remained relatively unknown outside the country. This changed in 1994 when Wim Wenders, impressed by their music, asked Madredeus to perform in his movie Lisbon Story - the soundtrack gave the band international fame.

In 1994 Rodrigo Leão left the band to start a solo career, being replaced by Carlos Maria Trindade (keyboard synthesizer).

In 1997 Francisco Ribeiro and Gabriel Gomes left the band as Madredeus' style started abandoning its fado roots with the release of O Paraíso. At this time Fernando Júdice (Acoustic bass guitar) was invited to join them, to form the current lineup, again a quintet. Madredeus had sold over 3 million albums worldwide.

IN: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madredeus

Discography

Os Dias da MadreDeus (1987); Existir (1990); Lisboa (1992, live in Lisbon); O Espirito da Paz (1994); Ainda (1995, soundtrack from Lisbon Story); O Paraíso (1997); O Porto (1998, live at Porto); Antologia (2000, a compilation of 'best of' material); Movimento (2001); Euforia (2002); Electronico (2002); Um Amor Infinito (2004); Faluas do Tejo (2005);

Links:

Go to Madredeus: http://go.to/madredeus

Madredeus MP3 Downloads: http://www.mp3.com/madredeus/artists/117820/summary.html

Madredeus - Free Music Downloads: http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/music/artist/card/0,,513887,00.html

Next concerts: http://www.syntorama.com/eng/artists/madredeus/