Mother and daughter Sandra and Katrina Pacheco carry the tradition of fado, Portugal’s soulful song of longing and melancholy, to Bay Area audiences. For this Break Room set, they turn to the repertoire of Amalia Rodrigues, the legendary “Queen of Fado” who did more than anyone to popularize the genre around the world and remains the best-selling Portuguese artist in the history of recorded music.

Sandra Pinheiro Pacheco was born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island to Portuguese immigrants from the Azorean island of Faial. She loved singing as a child and started performing on stage as a sophomore at San Jose High School, where she joined the choir as lead soprano, studied Portuguese and was among the early participants in the International Baccalaureate program. It was there she first learned of Amalia in Portuguese class. When Manuel Escobar, who had heard her sing many times, encouraged her to consider fado, she never dreamed she would come to love singing it. She gave her first fado performance in Santa Clara on March 14, 2003 and has sung throughout the Bay Area and Central Valley ever since.

Katrina Nicole Pacheco was born and raised in San José, her father from the Azorean island of Graciosa and her mother from Pawtucket. Deeply involved in the Portuguese community, she has danced in carnaval for 15 years and plays clarinet in a Portuguese marching band. She first sang fado at Sandra’s 2016 CD release party, and in 2019 was honored to perform in the Azores. Now following in her mother’s footsteps, she has performed at venues throughout California.

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