Miguel Araújo Essentials

After going solo following several years with Os Azeitonas, Portuguese songwriter Miguel Araújo became a major new voice in fado. His character-driven songs combine poetic observation with street savvy, and his relatively unadorned acoustic settings—guitar and accordion, bolstered by small string sections or brass bands—provide the perfect backdrop to his narrative sketches. Add his trademark conversational murmur and you'll hear why artists from António Zambujo to The Weatherman feature him on their own recordings.