Like American blues, Argentinean tango and Greek rembetika, Portuguese fado (literally, “fate”) began on the wrong side of town, was rehabilitated, fell in and out of favor, and, when finally allowed to get back to basics, came to personify the culture of its birth. Today, locals and tourists alike flock to sit at the feet of black-shawled divas whose incongruously sweet voices intone smoldering, tragedy-laden couplets over chiming, all-acoustic plucked strings. For Para Além da Saudade (Beyond Sadness), her third album, Ana Moura has deepened her ongoing creative partnership with Jorge Fernando, who contributes music and lyrics, plus sensitive yet gloriously intricate accompaniment. She also interprets works by Custódio Castelo, another noted guitar virtuoso and arranger, and a host of other revered songwriters. GRAMMY® Award-winning sax man Tim Ries, who has played with The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, Joe Henderson, Sheryl Crow and innumerable other top recording artists, co-composed Velho Anjo and sits in on "A Sós com a Noite," while Spanish singer/actor Patxi Andión appears on "Vaga, no Azul Amplo Solta." Whether starkly declaiming or swirling into filigreed crescendos of emotion, Ana Moura’s burnished alto personifies fado’s darkly sensual credo of wisdom born of pain, grace amid futility, and sexual passion perpetually on simmer, despite repeated and increasingly bitter betrayals.