VIOLA FADO

At the age of three she had her first contact with Fado. At 11, she started taking guitar lessons with Gracindo Costa. The study of the instrument was reconciled with regular schooling and, at 22, Joana started dedicating herself entirely to music. Nowadays, she is a frequent presence in several houses of Fado, while also taking the music course at the Valentim de Carvalho Academy.


BIOGRAPHY

Joana Almeida, born in Labruge in 1993, showed interest for music when she received her first keyboard, where she sketched melodies of popular Portuguese songs she heard at family parties.

At the age of three she had her first contact with Fado, through the Fado program of “Rádio Festival”, that she regularly listened to with her father.

Her fondness for Fado’s accompaniment guitar came when she first witnessed an afternoon of Fado. At the age of 11 she started taking lessons with Gracindo Costa and taking part, as a second viola, in Fado afternoons at the Funtão bar.

The study of the instrument was reconciled with regular schooling and, at 22, Joana Almeida decided to dedicate herself entirely to music. Since then, she has attended the music course at the Valentim de Carvalho Academy.

She is currently a resident and frequent presence in different Oporto restaurants and houses of Fado, where she has the privilege of playing alongside different guitar players, such as Mário Henriques, Eduardo Jorge, Amável Carneiro and Marco Quaresma.