How Madonna’s new album Madame X was inspired by a small Lisbon bar
- The queen of pop says the little pub in her adopted home city has really influenced her latest record, which is set for release on June 14
- She moved to Portugal when her son started at the Benfica football academy. Lisbon’s melting pot of styles and musicians has inspired her since
In a neighbourhood bar on a cobbled square in Lisbon’s historic working-class Alfama district, an eclectic mix of punters pull up little wooden stools around a dozen intimately lit tables.
On the walls hang guitars and an old piano stand ready to accompany that evening’s music, be it fado, Cape Verde morna, Brazilian bossa nova or a delirious fusion of all of these and more.
Unassuming it may be in appearance but the Tejo Bar is a rich musical melting pot, each day infused with a different style and atmosphere depending on the musicians who pass by.
So instrumental has it become on the Lisbon music scene that US superstar Madonna is counted among its fans, crediting the little bar in her adopted home city for setting the stage for her upcoming new album.
“Inspiration for my new record all started here in Lisbon, at Tejo Bar,” the 60-year-old queen of pop says on Instagram, of her Madame X album, set for release on June 14.
Madonna moved to the Portuguese capital in 2017 so that her son David Banda – one of four children adopted in Malawi – could attend the Benfica football academy, where he remains enrolled.