Marta Pereira da Costa is the first woman to play Portuguese Guitar professionally at FADO worldwide. In a territory historically occupied by men, a woman stood out, made this instrument hers, and brought it to the forefront of music. The Portuguese Guitar is closely associated with Fado, and Marta, not forgetting her roots and tradition, ventured into new sounds and sought to give her instrument a voice in the world of Jazz, World Music, Portuguese Music.
Marta Pereira da Costa began her musical training on the piano at the age of 4; she studied 2 years of classical guitar at age 8; At 18, she started playing Portuguese guitar. She graduated in Civil Engineering, and after working for 8 years, in 2012, she abandoned the activity and dedicated herself exclusively to music and the Portuguese guitar, thus starting her solo career.
In 2012, she recorded for Rodrigo Costa Felix’s “Fados de Amor”, the first album in the history of fado where the Portuguese guitar on the record is played exclusively by a woman. The album was awarded “Best Fado Album of 2012” by the prestigious Amália Rodrigues Foundation. In 2014 she was distinguished by the Amália Rodrigues Foundation with the “Instrumentalist Award”. In 2016, she released her debut album through Warner Music Portugal, which featured participation of well-known names from the world music scene, such as bassist Richard Bona or Iranian singer Tara Tiba, or from the Portuguese music scene, such as Dulce Pontes, Camané or Rui Veloso.
2019 started off in the best possible way with a new US tour of 9 concerts, 8 of which were sold out, coast to coast, highlighting the Lincoln Center in NY, the South by South West Festival in Austin, and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. The pandemic suspended concerts scheduled for the rest of the year. The post-pandemic start could not have been better. In January 2022 Marta performed at Dubai Expo, on the day allocated to Portugal. In February, Marta participated as a guest artist in conductor and cellist Jaques Morelenbaum’s show at the Trancoso Jazz Festival, Brazil. In March, she represented Portugal in Dakar, Senegal, at the 9th World Water Forum where she returned to perform in June. In April, she returned to Brazil to perform with another huge name in Brazilian music, Toquinho, in São Paulo.
Marta has increasingly represented Portugal in various official events, such as the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, as well as events in Embassies around the world. She accompanied the President of the Republic on his state visit to Ireland where she also performed. In the first half of 2023 Marta produced and recorded her second album. In this project Marta marks a meeting between the Portuguese Guitar and the Piano. “These are Songs “Without Words” in a conversation between two instruments, in an intimate environment, where there is intention, sensitivity and feeling in each note, chord or silence.”
