With an intimate, fragile ballad, Portugal won the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest for the first time - and with a record number of points. The person who gave his country this historic victory is Lisbon-based singer Salvador Sobral. The Portuguese singer was hospitalised a few months after the festival due to poor health. After a successful heart transplant the doctors advised him to lead a quiet
… life. It didn't stand in the way of new musical projects. The album Alma Nuestra (Our Soul) contains well-known boleros and other South-American, Spanish-language music, performed in jazzy, North-American sounding arrangements. Sobral is accompanied by a piano trio. Although the album starts out somewhat staid and well-behaved, it becomes more interesting and personal as the members take more musical liberties. Sobral's sinuous phrasings are sung with heart, soul and, above all, imagination. (JV)more
