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Lisbon (AFP)
In a neighborhood bar located on a cobbled square in Lisbon's working clbad Alfama's historic Alfama district, an eclectic mix of punters set up small wooden stools around a dozen intimately lit tables.
Guitars are hanging on the walls and an old piano stands ready to accompany the music of the evening, whether it be Fado, Cape Verde morna, Brazilian bossa nova or any other kind of music. a delirious fusion of all this, and more.
In appearance, Tejo Bar is a rich melting pot musical, each day imbued with a different style and atmosphere depending on the musicians who pbad.
The American superstar Madonna has so many fans that the American superstar insisted that the small bar of his adopted city opened the way for his new album.
"The inspiration for my new album started at the Tejo Bar in Lisbon," the 60-year-old queen of pop, her album "Lady X", who is scheduled to release on June 14, told Instagram.
– & # 39; Inspired & # 39; –
Madonna moved to the Portuguese capital in 2017 so that her son David Banda, one of four adopted children in Malawi, can attend the Benfica Football Academy, where he remains enrolled.
It has not really started.
"I thought it would be very fun and adventurous, but I ended up going to school, picking up kids, going to football games and really being" Netty-No-Mates " ", And I became a little depressed," Madonna told the MTV music channel.
Things have changed a lot after starting to meet artists and musicians in Lisbon – the capital of a vast colonial empire including Brazil – before discovering the Tejo Bar.
"Lisbon is a melting pot of cultures … musically, from Angola to Guinea-Bissau, through Spain, Brazil, France and Cape Verde," said the singer, who has six children, at MTV.
"I had the pleasure and the honor to meet musicians from all these places, to let myself be inspired by their music and to let it influence.
"And so it is that all these songs have become" on the album "Madame X," she added.
– Play for Madonna –
Co-owner Mira Fragoso, a former Brazilian actress, is proud of the creative strength of Tejo Bar, in what used to be a traditional neighborhood and is increasingly popular among tourists and foreigners.
"Providing a space that inspires artists like Madonna fills me with joy," she told AFP.
Guests also include locals, writers, painters and students, while musicians describe improbable musical encounters such as a pianist performing a Jacques Brel song with an Austrian violinist or a Japanese guitarist accompanied by music. a Portuguese singer.
Madonna met Brazilian pianist Joao Ventura, 33, at the Tejo Bar.
"She was sitting in a corner that night," Ventura remembered.
At the request of a friend, he sat at the piano and played a piece of intertwined bossa nova varieties of Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata".
"The next day, she called me to tell me that he liked it and offered to play with me in New York," he said, explaining to AFP how, in the beginning, he could not believe that he was talking to Madonna.
He added that the two men had met three times at Madonna's in Lisbon before playing piano for her on three songs performed on stage at the Met Gala 2018.
– "Cultural diversity is everywhere" –
The Portuguese singer Dino D & # 39; Santiago, of Cape Verdean origin and who performs in Portuguese and Creole, guided Madonna in the narrow streets of Alfama.
"Cultural diversity is not just ghettos, it's pervasive," the 36-year-old told AFP.
He also introduced the superstar to his batucadeira orchestra of Cape Verdean singers and percussionists, some of whom will accompany Madonna on her tour that will begin in September and include a concert in Lisbon in January.
And D & Santiago brought together Madonna and Kimi Djabate, an Afrobeat musician from another former Portuguese colony, Guinea-Bissau.
He recorded a bonus song for his album entitled "Ciao Bella".
One night at the African club B.Leza in Lisbon, Madonna met singer-dancer Blaya.
The tattooed artist stated that she believed that Madonna's children had introduced the superstar to Blaya's hit song "Faz Gostoso" and that the pop diva herself has recorded a recovery. in duet with the Brazilian Anitta for his new album.
– The effect Madonna –
Fado singer Vania Duarte, 34, also benefited from the Madonna effect after singing for the star in her fado hall, Casa de Linhares. Madonna said on Instagram that she found her style inspiring.
Madonna's presence was not without controversy, especially when the city council was accused of granting special treatment by renting a 15-place car park in the crowded capital, angering the political spectrum. .
And in the western suburbs of Sintra, his production team was banned from staging a scene with a horse in a 19th century mansion.
"There are some things that money can not buy," said at the time the mayor of Sintra, Basilio Horta, quoted by the newspaper Expresso.
But the benefits for tourism and the image of the city are not lost for the socialist government of the country.
State Secretary for Tourism, Ana Mendes Godinho, told the public radio Antena 1 in 2017 that Madonna was a kind of "business card" that she was using to promote Portugal to the country. foreign.
And sources say that the American pop diva has obtained a special residence permit for foreigners whose presence is considered "of public interest".
? AFP 2019
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