page_title: Desfado
section_title: Composition and recording
hierarchical_section_title: Desfado / Composition and recording
caption_attribution_description: English: Larry Klein, American musician
context_page_description: Desfado is the fifth album by Portuguese fado singer Ana Moura. It was produced by American record producer Larry Klein in Hollywood, California, and was released on 12 November 2012 in Portugal through Universal Music Portugal, and on 13 February 2013 in the United States by Decca Records. Desfado was met with generally positive reviews by music critics, who praised Moura's vocals. The album counted with the participation of Portuguese songwriters Manel Cruz, Márcia Santos, Pedro da Silva Martins, António Zambujo, and Pedro Abrunhosa, among many others, for the composition of the themes. American musicians Herbie Hancock and Tim Ries contributed in the album, the first being featured in the song "Dream of Fire", whilst Ries in "Havemos de Acordar".
  Three singles were released from Desfado; "Até ao Verão", "Desfado", and "A Case of You", the last a cover version of Joni Mitchell. The album topped the Portuguese Albums Chart and since then it has been certified 6× Platinum by the Associação Fonográfica Portuguesa, becoming the best-selling album of the 2010s in Portugal, by a Portuguese artist. It also appeared in the charts of Belgium, Spain and the United States.
context_section_description: Unlike her previous albums, which were recorded in Lisbon, Portugal, Desfado was recorded in the United States, at Henson Recording Studios, in Hollywood, California, and it was produced by American record producer Larry Klein. According to Moura, "[e]verything was new [...] [t]he musicians were discovering new things. And I was not used to hearing my voice next to a Fender Rhodes, for example." Portuguese guitarists Ângelo Freire and Pedro Soares contributed with the "fado-alike" sounds, whilst American musicians composed "the most un-fado-like keyboards, saxophone, and drums", as described by Siddhartha Mitter for The Boston Globe. Mitter also described the songwriters to not be "poets who specialize in fado, but by young rock and pop artists, some of whom had not done fado before." And considered the songs to be "wistful, playful, and some are more upbeat than one might expect". About it, Moura said she "wanted to challenge them to write for [her], and to write fado."
  For the first time Moura included English language songs into an album, "A Case of You", "Thank You" and "Dream of Fire". Originally, the album did not have such intention, but they wanted to "explore [...] this musical universe". Producer Klein suggested Moura to cover the song "A Case of You" by Joni Mitchell, from Mitchell's 1971 album Blue. Moura commented that she "was very surprised" and she accepted to record it "because [she] love[s] her music". Also Moura considered that "if that song were translated into Portuguese, it could be a very traditional fado lyric." Jim Faber for Daily News considered the inclusion "perfectly fits both the fado’s flair for agony and its rich poetry."
  American musician Herbie Hancock was featured as the Fender Rhodes pianist for the song "Dream of Fire", which was credited to be written by Moura. According to her, she did not write the song (she wrote the melody), but it was written by a friend of her "who cannot sign it". Hancock appearance was a "happy coincidence", according to Moura, because she told Klein she was "a fan of Hancock music". Klein was collaborating with Hancock in another project, so he contacted him. Hancock happened to have listened to her previous work, so he accepted to work with her. In "Havemos de Acordar", written by Pedro da Silva Martins (guitarist of Portuguese band Deolinda), American saxophonist Tim Ries plays the soprano saxophone. Da Silva Martins also wrote "Desfado", which Cliff Bellamy from The Herald Sun described as "danceable". A second cover song was included, titled "Thank You", originally performed by David Poe.
caption: American record producer Larry Klein produced Desfado at Henson Recording Studios.
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