Antologia

Madredeus | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 15, 2000)
• Original Release Date: August 15, 2000
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Metro Blue
• ASIN: B00004T2FJ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,941 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #5 in Music > World Music > Europe > Continental Europe > Portugal
  • #6 in Music > Latin Music > Urban > Latin Electronica
  • #13 in Music > Indie Music > Latin Music > General

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Antologia is a 17-song greatest hits collection from the Portuguese chamber-pop group Madredeus, and contains the first American release of some of the group's late '80s/early '90s recordings. Madredeus--the name translates as "Mother God"--combines the convent-pure vocals of Teresa Salgueiro and impressionistic lyrics by cofounder Pedro Ayres Magalhaes with soothingly minimalist instrumental backing on guitar, cello, and keyboards. Imagine Hildegard von Bingen serenely sitting in with a New-Age Lisbon café orchestra and you'll get the drift. One occasionally catches a hint of a more vibrant world-music tradition--Portuguese fado, Argentine tango, even Europop electronica--and one new song about the Portuguese revolution was co-written with classical composer Antonio Vitorino d'Almeida. But Madredeus's music shares a hot tub and a bottle of wine quite comfortably with the likes of Yanni and Andreas Vollenweider. --Rick Mitchell

Product Description

First Greatest Hits Ever Released from New Age Portuguese Band.

See all Editorial Reviews

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this will become a classic...it defies description, July 1, 2000

By 

Tom Lent (Guatemala, Guatemala) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antologia (Audio CD)

I discovered this CD by chance while leaving Portugal in the airport. I asked the store attendant to recommend to me something that captured and represented the best of Portuguese music at this moment. Without hesitation, the attendant gave me Antologia to listen to and I knew immediately that this was a treasure. The mixture of her high rich voice develops a real energy with the instruments...as if the best of classical and the best of modern have found a place together. Just when you think you have probably heard the most beautiful and moving song on the album, the next one is even more moving. Her voice is heavenly, as are the instruments, you can almost feel the weaving of the two. Most songs are incredibly romantic without being superfical or frivolous, others are melancholic without being melodramatic, but all are are inspired and inspiring. I want to buy and pass this on to my closest friends. It really defies catagorization. You really will not believe how beautiful it is. This is something you will want to listen to alone, with a companion, or with a small group of friends for background music to a warm conversation. People will wonder where you found this.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond anything else, May 4, 2006

By 

Victor Hugo Carballo "Victor Hugo Carballo" (Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antologia (Audio CD)

How can i start? In 1999 i was introduced to the portuguese music. The portuguese language as we speak in Brazil is a little bit different from the original, as spoken in Portugal. For us, the original portuguese is distant, exotic, noble, almost alien. And the portuguese music, the "Fado", as opposite to our generical brazilian festive music, is often sad, and loaded with sentiment, with songs that talk about love lost to the ocean, about what might have beens, about old glory. It is a fascinating genre by itself, and the eventual bystander can even look curious, find it interesting and then walk his own path unchanged.

BUT..wait until you hear MADREDEUS.

You can?t. no one can hear their songs and even BE the same person again. It?s beyond Fado. This is why music itself was created/discovered. Their melodies and THE VOICE can rescue you long lost soul from the depths oh Hades. It can turn rock into gold. It is like opening your eyes for the first time. The song "Haja o que houver" can rescue true love from scratch. And you do want to make the world a better, nobler, gentler place. This is not rushed, artificially patched together music, this is the real thing, everything that any epic or intimate song aspires to be, as big as the ocean, as calm as the universe, as gentle as a kiss and as heart pounding as the first time you fall in love.

Now, ask me if i like MADREDEUS. :)

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You see that review "Don't buy this CD'?, March 25, 2006

By 

circa1850 (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Antologia (Audio CD)

Damnit, he's right. But his review wasn't posted before I bought this CD. And now what? Yup, gotta have them all. Incredible music, light and airy, wonderful arrangements and instrumentals punctuated by an incredible voice. Who cares what she is singing, there is no translation needed for beautiful music and sound. Just let this FADO carry you away.