This past week was pretty hectic for me... Between performances and midterm exams this has been one of my most stressful yet exciting weeks ever!
On Monday I had a midterm exam for my Accounting class which is 25% of my final grade.
On Tuesday I performed at the UNITED NATIONS in New York City for the "Recepcao de Abertura da Quinzena Gastronomica de Portugal" where Jose Silva, Viriato Ferreira, and I performed 2 hours straight!I met many different ambassadors from many different countries such as Russia, Norway, Zimbabwe, and others who showed great interest in Fado. I owe this wonderful experience to Joao Salgueiro, the Portuguese Ambassador, who invited me to perform at this event and of course Enca Melo, a representative for icep, who made it happen! Since we where already in the city I took Viriato and Silva on a mini 1 hour NYC site-seeing trip around Central Park, Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Radio City Music Hall, Times Square, and the World Trade Center. We all had so much fun.
On Thursday I had my Social and Legal Environmental Business Law midterm exam first thing in the morning worth 30% of my final grade.
Friday I left for Lowell, Massachusetts for my first performance ever in this city where
I was warmly welcomed by everyone involved in organizing the event and also the audience. I did the show with Jose Carlos (who is always a pleasure to perform with) and we were accompanied by the "super guitarristas" Viriato Ferreira and Jose Silva. I ended my performance with "Povo Que Lavas No Rio" sung without a microphone as someone in the audience suggested during intermission and it was a huge hit and a great way to end the night. I owe the night to Marco Bettencourt who invited me to perform and also is responsible for putting my album on the surrounding radio stations. I had a lot of fun on Friday night and met a lot of great people.
Finally Saturday I had a performance in the beautiful town of Gloucester. The other Fadistas that sang for the event included Tania DaSilva, Jose Carlos, Jose Ribeiro, and a surprise performance by Michelle Pereira who has a background in Broadway and has also performed in Fado houses in Lisbon. We all had the pleasure of performing with 4 guitarists; Tony & Abel Lima, Jose Mota, and Manuel Leite.
This week was tough for me because I had to juggle one of the most demanding weeks of school with the busiest week on my Fado agenda to date. I feel great and extremely satisfied... After this week, I feel I am capable of any challenges that may come way. I am both a student and a Fadista.
