In Portugal, Fado stands for a way of life. You don't sing Fado, you are it. Fado singer Maria de Fátima, born and raised in Lisbon's working-class district of Boavista, has been on stage for almost 50 years. First as a child star in Portugal where, from the age of 12, she recorded records, toured the country and later Europe, singing side by side with legendary artists like Amália Rodrigues, Tony de Matos, Camané. She won Lisbon's premier singing competition 'A Grande Noite do Fado' in 1974 when she was 12, and was awarded the Ordem do Infante D. Henrique in 2016 for her contribution to Portuguese culture.

Maria de Fátima pays tribute to the not always easy life in her programme "Fado para sempre" (Fado forever).

In the Netherlands, she has built a steady fanbase with her repertoire of her own written fado songs, traditional fado classics in the "fado canção" style of Amália Rodrigues and Dulce Pontes but she also gives her own fado interpretation to songs by Jacques Brel, Diana Ross and Ramses Shaffy, among others. On the programme We Want More (SBS6) in 2020, she enchanted the judges with her rendition of 'Let me' .

Maria has lived in Amsterdam for more than 30 years but she returned to Portugal for the video of 'Te Amarei' (I love you).

On stage, Maria de Fátima is accompanied by Daniel Raposo on Portuguese guitar and Hans van Gelderen on classical guitar.

Domani: Podium voor Morgen in collaboration with Bel Arte.