Malmesbury Abbey in Wiltshire is the spectacular venue for this special evening. Four years after releasing the "Burn" album with Lisa Gerrard from Dead Can Dance, Jules Maxwell has joined forces with multi award winning fado singer Lina_ for a new record which will have its UK launch at this concert.
The album is called “Terra Mãe” and contains 9 original songs exploring poetic connections between Ireland and Portugal. It reunites the artistic team which brought “Burn” to fruition; designer Giovanni Rodriguez and film maker David Daniels.
As on “Burn”, “Terra Mãe” was produced by the English recording artist, James Chapman (aka MAPS). Using multi-layered electronica, Mercury Prize nominee MAPS’ is in high demand with official remixes in use by The Killers, Depeche Mode, Moby, 83 and the Bombay Bicycle Club et al.
Fado is a Portuguese folk song typically of doleful or fatalistic character.
Fadó (pronounced f'doe) is Gaelic for “long ago” and is commonly used to start a story, similar to “once upon a time.”
Ireland and Portugal both stand at the edge of Europe, looking west to the Atlantic Ocean and all that lies beyond. The songs of these two countries are dominated by a sense of love, longing and leaving which has in turn bound Rodrigues and Maxwell together in this collaboration.
Jules Maxwell explains
“When I first heard Lina singing fado, I was instantly reminded of the Sean Nós singing tradition of my native Ireland and I was eager to work with her.”
“I wrote a bunch of new songs which were my attempt to honour the melancholy and longing which I recognised in the fado songs Lina was singing. Thereafter the songs went through two transformative filters. Firstly they were adapted into Portuguese. Secondly James Chapman created the electronic world of sound in which they could be recorded”
Portuguese for “Motherland”, “Terra Mãe” features two adaptations by Portuguese composer, poet and singer, Amélia Muge: “A flor da romã” and “Entre o ser e o estar”. Highly regarded as a curator of eclectic music, Amélia’s poetic lyrics provide a perfect complement on “Terra Mãe”.
LINA_ welcomed this opportunity to write lyrics and vocal melodies for five of the tracks on “Terra Mãe” as she describes,
““Terra Mãe” unites two distinct musical genres that, despite their differences, share a deep sense of identity and emotion. Adapting lyrics and composing melodies based on the foundations laid by Jules Maxwell was a challenging yet rewarding experience that significantly boosted my confidence as a songwriter. For me, the album embodies a profound spiritual and ethereal connection, intertwining themes of the immaterial, nature, and religion.”
The emotive melisma of Portuguese fado and traditional Irish folk music seemed to be a natural point of connectivity between the two cultures as Jules explains,
“Terra Mãe” has been a joy to create. The songs are original compositions born of Ireland, beautifully adapted by LINA_ and Amélia Muge into Portuguese, with a sound forged in the fire of English electronic producer James Chapman, who I previously worked with on the “Burn” album with Lisa Gerrard.”
LINA_ is a leading Portuguese fado singer whose international recognition is growing fast. LINA_‘s groundbreaking 2024 album, “Fado Camões” (Galileo MC) gave new life to the poetry of historically celebrated Portuguese poet, Luís Vaz de Camões. The album was produced by British musician Justin Adams (Robert Plant, Tinariwen), with arrangements by John Baggott (Portishead, Massive Attack). “Fado Camões” has been widely praised for its spacious, contemporary approach to fado.
LINA_’s management Uguru have confirmed a tour for “Terra Mãe” later in 2025 in which these new connections will benefit from the cinematic
and environmental vision of Jules Maxwell and the transparent and sublime voice of LINA_.
LINA_ & Jules Maxwell’s new collaborative album “Terra Mãe” will be released by Atlantic Curve / Schubert Music Europe on June 27th, 2025.
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