* En anglais uniquement
Assembled in homage to poet José Carlos Ary dos Santos, Portuguese supergroup
Rua da Saudade made their smash hit debut with
Canções de Ary dos Santos in 2009.
Susana Félix,
Viviane, Luanda Cozetti, and
Mafalda Arnauth, four of Portugal's most renowned female vocalists, comprise the group. They take turns singing on
Canções de Ary dos Santos, an homage to the revolutionary Portuguese poet produced by Renato Jr. that includes jazz-pop compositions by
Fernando Tordo, Nuno Nazareth Fernandes, and
Tózé Brito. Released a quarter century after Ary dos Santos' death in 1984, the smash hit album peaked at number two on the Portuguese charts and spent ten weeks in the Top Ten.
Canções de Ary dos Santos was the latest in a series of smash hit albums in Portugal on which a supergroup paid homage to a national legend. Predecessors include the chart-topping albums
Humanos (2004) and
Amália Hoje (2009), which pay homage to
António Variações and
Amália Rodrigues, respectively. ~ Jason Birchmeier