Amália

In line with the Fado,no singer can just be its interpreter without context. There has to be some sort of history attached, the difficult life of a hyper-sensitive and highly emotional constitution to bring the sadness and pain of its songs. Not many people can understand that. These is the love and influence of the soap opera, a genre that latins like...and that runs in primetime! Yes, it is over-the-top, sentimental, passionate, sometimes tacky. But if you don't understand that, you are missing much of what latinos feel and are. And that includes Portugal.

For those who grew up in a Latin country then, the apparent corny excceses could very well pass as realistic. We have seen it, we have lived it, it's the culture.