Sad, Sexy Fado

Christina Branco would make the late "Queen of Fado," Amalia Rodrigues, proud. She follows in the grand dame's footsteps, but also manages to break with tradition by crafting a sound with a laundry list of other influences.

Having grown up at a time when fado was looked down upon (due to the fact that it was embraced by the dictatorship that ruled Portugal until the early '70s), Branco mostly listened to the likes of Ella Fitzerald, Billie Holiday, and Brazilians such as Chico Buarque de Hollanda and Elis Regina. It was only during her late teens that she was turned to the genre after being given a collection of Amalia Rodrigues' songs.

Since early on in her career, she's attempted to look at music as a whole and beyond the borders of Portugal. In a previous album, she recorded Buarque's "O Meu Amor" (My Love) with the backing of a piano, an instrument not traditionally used in fado. In her new release, Ulisses, she journeys around the world, reinterpreting Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" and offering an a capella remake of Maria Bethania's "Sonhei Que Estava Um Dia Em Portugal (I Once Dreamed I Was In Portugal). She further surprises by adding music to Paul Eluard's French-language poem "Liberté" (music by her former husband, guitarist Custodio Castelo).

Clear evidence of her jazz upbringing can be found in her music. In a number of songs, Branco's voice seems to come from deep within, and her willingness to go beyond the confines of tradition brings welcome results, such as in "E Por Vezes" (Sometimes) and in "Fundos," a wordless tune where she improvises freely with the backing of Portuguese guitar, bass, piano and-as a surprise-a discreet electronic backbeat. The genre that made her career, however, is not forgotten, and you can almost smell the bacalao when she sings to the verses of Luis Vaz de Camoes in "Oh! Como Se Me Alonga De Ano Em Ano" (Oh! It Grows Longer Each Year), with lyrics that speak of the disillusionment of one's spiritual search.

By flawlessly blending tradition with other sounds, Cristina Branco updates fado, attracting a newer, younger generation of fans to the genre without completely losing touch with her origins.

March 11. Skirball Center at NYU, 566 LaGuardia Pl. (at Washington Square South), 212-992-8484; 8, $32.