Madonna at 60
Bar duets with a Portuguese folk legend, a £7m historic palace and a son at the Benfica football academy... the Queen of Pop’s new life in Lisbon
Madonna may be the Queen of Pop, but in a tiny bar in Lisbon she happily became the humble junior partner in an incredible double act, duetting with 95-year-old Celeste Rodrigues, a celebrated performer of Portuguese Fado music.
Since moving to Portugal’s capital last year so her 12-year-old son David Banda could pursue his football career at Benfica’s academy, Madonna has been a regular at the Mesa de Frades bar.
This mistress of musical reinvention would sweep in and sing Fado – urban folk songs – with Celeste. Although there was a time last December when Elvis fan Madonna persuaded Celeste – said to prefer a bit of Bowie – to do a duet of Can’t Help Falling in Love.
A waitress at the bar, which is in the trendy Alfama district, tells me: “It was magical to watch them sing together.
“To see it in real life was amazing. We are very, very lucky.”
As Madonna celebrates her 60th birthday today, her thoughts will turn to Celeste, who died on August 1. Her friend’s death hit Madonna hard.
The waitress says: “Whenever Madonna and Celeste sang together we would close the doors so nobody came in and nobody came out.
“She absolutely loved Celeste. It was a very sad moment when she died.
“Madonna is one of our regulars. She will come in later when it is quiet, so as to avoid any fuss, with a few friends and some bodyguards. She is nice, she is quite humble, quite simple.”
Madonna has been building up the hype for her birthday on Instagram, with captions such as: “COUNTDOWN.. Getting Ready For My Spankings!”
She is said to be planning to spend her birthday at a fundraiser for orphans and children in Malawi, the African country where she adopted David, Mercy James, 12, and four-year-old twins Esther and Stella Mwale.
Back in Portugal, she has reportedly bought the palatial Quinta do Relogio, a World Heritage Site in the historic city of Sintra, 16 miles west of Lisbon city centre, paying a cool €7.5million – or £6.7million.
Sintra is ranked as one of the most expensive municipalities in the country.
Madonna’s new pad is in a state of disrepair, but the four-floor mansion was once home to Portuguese royalty, and its estate has a lake, a seven-bedroom villa and garden with rare tree species, exotic plants and fountains.
The owner of Mourisia, the local restaurant, is excited by the rumours.
Adriano Bihno says: “We haven’t seen her yet but we have heard she has bought Quinta do Relogio. It will be great to see it restored.”
Lisbon’s residents are over the moon that a superstar has decided to make their city her home.
When I show souvenir shop owner Ashiq Ashiqurrahman, 32, a picture of Madonna sitting on steps in a cobbled alleyway next to his shop – a pose I recreate – he exclaims with glee: “Madonna! Next to my shop. I am so gutted I missed her.”
Madonna is happy to rub shoulders with the locals in her favourite bars and restaurants. Orlando Alves, a barman at Bar O Purista, tells me she’s a regular at his darkly lit cocktail joint, which blasts out rock music late into the night.
Orlando, 42, who has served Madonna her favourite rose wine, says: “She likes to come in here for a drink and to relax.” Madonna also visits the neighbouring restaurant, Bairro de Avillez, where her favourite French fries snack sets her back a modest three euros, or £2.68.
But being a pop legend comes at a price, and a local tour guide says Lisbon residents are not happy that the city’s mayor Fernando Medina grants her massive entourage up to 15 car parking spaces wherever she goes.
The tour guide tells me: “I am a fan of
Madonna and I think she will pull in even more tourists. I even tell my clients about her moving here in my script. But it doesn’t seem fair that’s she’s allowed all these parking spaces. Parking is a real issue in Lisbon – it’s expensive and there isn’t enough of it. The locals should come first.”
While she was hunting for a house, Madonna stayed at Pestana Palace, a fivestar hotel with a spa, two swimming pools, Turkish baths, hairdressers and a lake.
Driving up to the entrance for my twonight stay at Pestana, I feel like I am about to check into a stately home.
Marble staircases lead from the lavish entrance hall to a grand piano hall, which is lined with oak panels and lit by glimmering chandeliers.
I am given a tour of the dining rooms, with their frescoed ceilings, and the hotel’s own chapel, which has stained-glass domes. A cleaner tells me Madonna books out the entire presidential suite to accommodate her bodyguards, personal trainers, personal assistants and four children.
She says: “She has the whole suite so it can be more private for her – it must be very expensive.” It costs around £3,000 a night for the suite but the cleaner tells me Madonna would have to pay much more to have the whole wing closed off from other hotel guests.
Whatever the cost, it would be a drop in the ocean for the best-selling female artist of all time, a woman who has sold 300 million record and is worth £460million.
Madonna, whose older children Lourdes Leon, 21, and Rocco Ritchie, 18, live in the US, also loves visiting Lisbon’s more classy bars and restaurants.
One of them is the Michelin-starred Casa de Linhares – described as the “most atmospheric old music club in Lisbon” by international critics – where the owner refuses to talk to me about his starry clientele.
Another favourite is Tejo Bar, where she was pictured playing a ukulele. A worker tells me: “If you are a musician, you come to this bar. Madonna comes here for the music.”
The star told this month’s Italian Vogue magazine: “The energy of Portugal is so inspiring. I feel very creative and alive here.”
With its warm climate, eclectic music scene and friendly locals, it is easy to see why Lisbon is now the place Madonna calls home.