MUSEU DO FADO (FADO MUSEUM)

This museum is very interesting if you want to know more about this traditional music, which can be heard all over the streets of Lisbon. The tour of the permanent exhibition is well done to discover the history of fado, its places of origin in 19th century Lisbon, its diffusion through magazine theatre, radio, discographic recordings and cinema, but also the technical evolution of its instrument: the guitar. Pedagogical too, with its music and multimedia terminals, but a little confusing when it's crowded. Without forgetting the superb and bewitching O Fado (1910) by the brilliant painter José Malhoa (1855-1933), lent by the Museu da Cidade (City Museum), the image par excellence of the musical style, inscribed on the World Intangible Heritage List by UNESCO at the end of 2011. The museum's bookshop is also very well stocked with books in all languages and "extended" fado records up to... Leonard Cohen, for example! This visit can be completed with a fetish pilgrimage to the other side of the city to the house-museum of the great Amália Rodrigues, the idol of an entire people, to listen to one of the concerts that take place twice a week. A true homage to Fado and its two instruments: the viola (the Spanish classical guitar), which sets the cadence and tone, and the guitarra portuguesa, a kind of 6-stringed mandolin used for arpeggios and accompaniments.