Entretanto, em Lisboa . . . Fado pt 1
Margarida at Associaçao de Fado Cato
Meanwhile, in Lisbon . . .
Disclaimer: I love Fado! This story is a little recap.
From that moment in the 80s when I was still in the advertising music game and long before Lisbon was even a gleam in my eye I followed the lead of an article that introduced me to the music of Amalia Rodriguez. I bought a CD and from that moment I was hooked.
It’s a genre that originated in the streets of Lisboa in the 19th Century. Not unlike the American Blues, it is a music that sprung from the troubles of the poor and dispossessed. It moved from the streets of the Alfama area of Lisbon to the brothels of that area and onto legitimate venues before gradually gaining popularity throughout all of Portugal and beyond. Amalia herself was a street urchin who someone heard singing. From there she went to touring all of the major concert halls of the world and is considered a national icon.
Fado, traditionally, is spare and unembellished, featuring a solo singer, a Fadist or Fadista, and usually two guitars. One of those guitars is the Guitarra Portoguesa, a fantastic 12-string instrument that usually acts in response to the singer with the guitarist often taking a solo. Above all, the music is filled with passion and it is beautifully melodic.
On my first trip to Lisboa in the Fall of 2021, my first mission was to get to Alfama. In one week there were two totally random choices for dinner, one inside a nice restaurant and the other in an open-air cafe on a small but busy winding street, choices based solely on where I could hear Fado. Both evenings were entirely magical, the outdoor evening ending with the remaining diners all huddling in the rain under the umbrella tables continuing to enjoy the merriment.
Be sure to keep an eye out for Part 2!
