The music of the streets of Lisbon
Since the first traces around 1840, the rolling melancholy has taken over the city of Lisbon through the fado. This inimitable climate of nostalgia and hazy moods, the saudade, makes heads and bodies sway. Popular legend has it that fado was born in the streets of Mouraria, then occupied by the Moors. But the birth of the fado is still debated and no one knows where it really comes from; for some, the fado derives from the songs of the troubadours of the Middle Ages, for others it was born from the songs of sailors at the time of the great discoveries, songs impregnated with their adventures and their sentimental life: goualante of ports where the sailors were confronted with the world, gypsy lament, local evolution of the Moorish song, or vocal modulations coming from Afro-Brazilian rhythms. Considered as the traditional and urban music of the city of Lisbon, it is now felt as a music that represents the quintessence of Portugal and most Portuguese communities consider it as a symbol of their national cultural identity. Its diffusion in Europe and America, and more recently through world music networks, has contributed to reinforcing its symbolic aura. Yet Fado has come a long way. Like the tango or flamenco in other countries, in Portugal it served as a banner for the Salazar dictatorship. For several years, Fado was the song of conformity. And then a violent reaction of rejection arose when the dictatorship fell in 1974, with the Carnation Revolution. The result was a new fado, more open and airy. Since 2011, Fado is now part of the world's heritage and the genre's durability is assured. The particularity of Fado is that the music is very codified and often played in the same way. Traditionally, it is performed by a solo diva with a haunting voice, an indispensable element, accompanied by plucked string instruments, including the guitarra portuguesa (a kind of cistrum) and often one (or more) viola. Each musician has three hundred melodies that he must be able to interpret, but he can choose his singing according to the metrics of the melody, so that the same tune can be sung with different words from one artist to another. It is thanks to this that music is passed on from generation to generation, without schools or conservatories. However, the current evolution of Fado has allowed the creation of experiments with other instruments such as the bass, the double bass or the accordion. This deep and melancholic song, accompanied by classical and Portuguese guitars, inevitably touches the listener's heart.
Lisbon and Coimbra Fado
Fado is unique, it comes from the heart of the Portuguese soul and there is no evaluation or distinction to be made between its different variations. Nevertheless, some people venture to distinguish between professional and amateur Fado. The former is sung by those who make their voice their way of life. This genre originated in the working-class districts of Lisbon (Alfama, Mouraria, Bairro Alto). The most sung themes of this fado are lost loves, the sadness of the human condition, the nostalgia of the dead and the small stories of the daily life of the typical districts. These were themes that were allowed under the Salazar regime. Lyrics related to political or social problems, or texts that made demands, were banned.
Fado does not only originate in Lisbon: there is another genre, that of Coimbra, the city of students. Monumental and medieval, overlooking the Mondego river, the city's fame owes much to the tradition of local fado, interpreted and sung by men, most often students attending the university. The interpretation of this fado implies a particular rigour of dress with the wearing of trousers, a cassock and a black cape conferring even more solemnity to the moment. The specificity of this fado lies in its interpretation and the themes it deals with. Like Lisbon Fado, this one looks for its themes in folklore, but it has not hesitated to become a protest song, critical of power and institutions, especially in the face of Salazar's repressive regime, using metaphor to overcome censorship. In 1963, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, then a student in Coimbra, recorded Trova do vento que passa,
which became an anthem of the student movement against the government. Musically, Coimbra's fado is quite similar to Lisbon's, even if it has also sometimes allowed new sounds to appear. The main difference lies in the texts, which are more literary and intellectual. Coimbra's fado is intimately linked to university life. The themes of the fado's authors are therefore the same: first love, youth problems, nights spent remaking the world, disappointed love affairs, but also the great names of Portuguese poetry. Its performers sing at the dawn of the night in the squares and streets of the city, when the sun beams down on the city walls. You will find them on the steps of the Mosteiro de Santa Cruz monastery, or in front of the city's churches. The Fado ao Centro cultural centre is an establishment with a particularly careful programme that campaigns for the defence of this cultural heritage.Nowadays, the two fados often meet, both dark, but with the concern of today's poets and musicians to renew the genre. The old fado coexists with the new fado, still anchored in Lisbon. A whole people has reappropriated the magic of the old fado, with its codified music and popular texts that are passed from bar to bar.
The houses of Fado, darkness and whispers
To listen to fado, you have to go to one of these houses, without necessarily wanting to enter the first one that opens its doors. Fado houses must have their own characteristics: it is a place where the music must be experienced, a small intimate place where there must also be an exchange between the musicians, the singer and the public. To transmit its intimate atmosphere, fado requires calm, darkness and serenity. This is true for the audience, but also and above all for the performer: this is what Cristina Branco, one of the most renowned modern fadists, explains. And when you manage to enter the intimacy of the fado, in this secret place where the memory of a timeless music lives on, you can penetrate the Portuguese soul. We listen, absorbed, leaning against a table, leaving it to the imagination to do the rest. The guitars echo the silence, the interval between the time of life and that of dreams, fed by the voices. Let yourself be lulled by this magnificent Portuguese song, one of the last urban songs in Europe, in a Fado house or in one of the dedicated bars in Lisbon's historic districts. In Lisbon, Adega Machado, Café Luso, Clube de Fado and Sr. Vinho are institutions. In a typical setting with stone arches, you will hear quality fado that varies according to the mood of the professionals present. The greatest fado players have performed here and the new generation has nothing to envy them. Some more intimate venues offer quality shows: Casa Linhares or Real Fado. For a more local experience, go to Tasca do Jaime, a friend's bistro with a confined space that has retained its soul, or Tasca do Chico, a place frequented by the Alfacinhas. Here, if the rhythm is lively, everyone will start singing. And if the tapas are not the best in the city, the interest of the place is above all to be able to exchange smiles and conviviality. More recently fado has come out of the traditional walls and in the late afternoon you can listen to it in Amália's garden (Casa d'Amália).
And no, fado is not outdated and there is a life after Amália Rodrigues! After an apparent period of abandonment in the 1970s and 1980s, Fado is showing renewed vitality and interest, with new musicians, composers and singers appearing every year. Its process of interaction with other musical traditions has given it a new vitality that reaffirms it as a living cultural tradition. If the profane Madredeus and the moving voice of its fantastic singer Teresa Salgueiro have made its excellent "world" interpretation known all over the planet, Mafalda Arnauth, Camané, Carminho, Dulce Pontes, Anabela Duarte, Katia Guerreiro, Mísia, Ana Moura, Lula Pena, the very elegant Cristina Branco or the fabulous Mariza are rediscovering and reviving the genre with a certain grace, while remaining faithful to the music of the fado houses and tavernas, to the sense of abandonment that the genre implies. For this new generation of artists, their place in the tradition and their contribution to fado is a crucial, sometimes even obsessive, question. They are thus torn between their individual artistic identity, which is necessary in a media-driven and globalized society, and their collective responsibility for the preservation of a heritage that they must continue to keep alive. This new generation of artists goes beyond their local roots, performing on national and international stages, but also wishes to maintain a strong local presence, where their peers will give them recognition. A common repertoire links these fadists, despite their different styles and distinct paths. The fado repertoire appears to be the common thread of this practice, shared by actors who identify themselves as "fadists" across geographical spaces, from the old quarters of Lisbon to the worldwide diffusion of the genre, and its evolution over time, from the second half of the 19th century to the present day. As a symbol of this return to the roots, Mariza, one of the most famous Fado singers, returned to traditional Fado in 2010 with the album Fado Tradicional
, going back to the roots of the genre. Every year, the Santa Casa Alfama festival takes place in the heart of Lisbon, a music festival dedicated to traditional Portuguese melodies. For two days, the life of the Alfama district is punctuated by fado singers. Fans take to the streets and squares to attend a series of concerts and live music.And for those interested in the genesis of this music, you must make a detour to the small Lisbon Fado Museum, also in the Alfama district. The visit is very instructive and didactic, thanks to the audio guide. The museum has assembled a collection of testimonies from singer-songwriters, composers and musicians who tell their stories about the construction of the history of Fado. The collection of instruments, posters and vinyls from the 1920s is well worth a visit.
