Ana Moura

As Portugal's primary musical export, fado is renowned for its glamorous, gaudy beauty. Listening to the way fado singers suffuse each stroke of melody with rococo trills (or vocalisos, as they're locally known) leaves even the most cynical listener in a puddle of heartbroken memories. Each cadence practically sighs, aching in its minor-key emotional roller coaster.

Ana Moura, who plays one of her only two U.S. dates here in Chicago (the other is New York's Carnegie Hall), has a musical soul that extends well beyond her 25 years, which elicits the grown-folks sentiments of fado with remarkable ease. Jorge Fernando (who played guitarra for fado's first diva, Amalia Rodrigues) has been mentoring Moura as well as writing songs for her, and he will lend his considerable talents when she plays here. Fado purists will note it's a bold move: While Rodrigues's manic passion suited the '50s and '60s, Moura's athleticism suits her own era, as she blazes through Fernando's lush sonic bed of fluttering acoustic guitarra.

On Moura's debut record, Guarda-me a Vida Na Mão (Keep My Life In Your Hand), fado sounds closer to Alison Krauss's gauzy adult contemporary than to tango, and the results are just as stunning. Fernando's "Sou do Fado, Sou Fadista (I Belong to Fado, I Am a Fadista)," the album's highlight, has Moura shrugging off the sentimentality of the title and laying down her vocalisos with the strength and sensitivity of a professional masseuse. Don't expect to walk away untouched.—Matthew Lurie