Cristina Branco (born 28 December 1972 in

Almeirim Almeirim () is a city and a municipality in Santarém District, Portugal. The population in 2011 was 23,376, in an area of 222.12 km2. The city proper had a population of 10,520 in 2001. History There are vestiges of mid-Paleolithic to Mesol ...

Ribatejo The Ribatejo () is the most central of the traditional provinces of Portugal, with no coastline or border with Spain. The region is crossed by the Tagus river (''Ribatejo'' translates to "upper Tagus", or more precisely, "up the Tagus" relative ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

) is a Portuguese musician. She was drawn to

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and styles of Portuguese music before settling on

fado Fado (; "destiny, fate") is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Lisbon, Portugal, but probably has much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar Rui Vieira Nery states that "the only reliable information on the history of fado ...

, a choice made after being introduced to the music of

Amália Rodrigues Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues (23 July 1920 – 6 October 1999), known as simply Amália Rodrigues () or popularly as Amália, was a Portuguese fado singer (''fadista''). Dubbed ''Rainha do Fado'' ("Queen of Fado"), she was instrumen ...

by her grandfather. Branco then studied the poems from which the major fado lyrics are taken. Branco performs accompanied by composer Custódio Castelo on guitar.

Personal life

Cristina Branco was married to Tiago Salazar with whom she has two daughters. Cristina Branco became an expat in the Netherlands while she was building a career as a

singer. The couple endured a complex litigation process with the Portuguese tax office and moved their tax address to the Netherlands in order to take advantage of the favorable tax environment there. The couple got divorced in 2018. She has been linked to the

Portuguese Communist Party The Portuguese Communist Party (, , PCP) is a Communism, communist and Marxism–Leninism, Marxist–Leninist List of political parties in Portugal, political party in Portugal. It is one of the strongest List of communist parties, communist par ...

since an early age and performed in the party's festival Festa do Avante. On 5 December 2020, Branco was involved and injured on a car accident that was extensively covered by the Portuguese media. This accident occurred on A1 highway, near

Cartaxo Cartaxo () is a concelho, municipality in the district of Santarém (district), Santarém in continental Portugal. The population in 2011 was 24,462, in an area of 158.17 km2. The urbanized centre of Cartaxo had a population of 9,507 in 2001. ...

, which ultimately killed singer Sara Carreira, daughter of

Tony Carreira António Manuel Mateus Antunes (born 30 December, 1963), known professionally as Tony Carreira, is a Portuguese singer and musician. Born in the small rural locality of Armadouro, Pampilhosa da Serra, he moved to Paris at age 10 with his emigrant ...

, and also injured singer and actor Ivo Lucas.

Discography

* ''Cristina Branco in Holland'' (1998) * ''Murmúrios'' (1998) * ''Post-Scriptum'' (2000) * ''O Descobridor: Cristina Branco canta Slauerhoff'' (2000) * ''Corpo Iluminado'' (2001) * ''Sensus'' (2003) * ''Ulisses'' (2005) * ''Live'' (2006) * ''Abril'' (2007) * ''Kronos'' (2009) * ''Não há só tangos em Paris'' (2011) * ''Alegria'' (2013) * ''Menina'' (2016) * ''Branco'' (2018) * ''Eva'' (2020)

External links

Cristina Branco web page

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Branco, Cristina 1972 births Living people People from Almeirim Portuguese fado singers 21st-century Portuguese women singers EmArcy Records artists Decca Records artists