The star of Portugal's national music scene was for decades the divine Amália Rodrigues. After her death nearly 10 years ago, different crown princesses reclaimed her throne – Cristina Branco and Mariza to name but two. But it quickly became clear that Mísia and no one else would be the beacon for fado in the 21st century.

Surprisingly, she started broadening her musical palette. Or maybe not so surprisingly since Mísia, born and bred in Portugal, has a Spanish mother. Pardon, a Catalan mother.

Her previous album Drama Box contained boleros and tangos, but she even goes a step further on Ruas. The first disc of this double CD, Lisboarium, she calls "an oniric and imaginary voyage through the streets of Lisbon, its neighbourhoods and its music." On the second disc, & Tourists (the ampersand is no typo), she meets "artists from other streets in the world, other cultures, but I think they have a fado soul."

She recorded that second disc partially with Flemish musicians, like drummer Dirk Jans (De Mens) and guitar player Geoffrey Burton, who was Arno's right-hand man for years. It's praiseworthy that Mísia explores other territories, but she has to be careful since her voice doesn't really go well with heavy guitars.

Her version of Love Will Tear Us Apart, for instance, is far from memorable (and I'm not even talking about her accent). Ditto for her cover of Hurt by the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails, a song that already got a complete, and astonishing, makeover by Johnny Cash.

But whatever she sings, the fado always resonates in her voice – that wistful fado, as deeply impregnated in the Portuguese psyche as the tango in the Argentinean one or le chanson in the French. It's crystal clear: you can try to get Mísia out of the fado, but you'll never get the fado out of Mísia.

Mísia
24 May, 20.00
Ancienne Belgique, Brussels

www.abconcerts.be