One of the most reliable musical dates on the Tokyo calendar is Festival Konda Lota, now in its 10th year.
The festival usually presents a few established names and a few surprises. With a new star of Portuguese fado sharing the bill with one of Spain's greatest living flamenco singers, as well as native aboriginal singers from Taiwan and some jazz musicians from Paris, this year should be no exception.
Misia (not to be confused with the J-R&B singer of the same name) is one of the leaders of the fado revival. On the strength of her new CD, she could eventually succeed the queen of fado, Amalia Rodrigues, whose astonishing voice defined the music for nearly 60 years. Misia's last album, "Garras dos Sentidos," has already notched up sales of 150,000 in Europe, an unprecedented figure for a fado singer in recent years.