Fado
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| Fado | |
|---|---|
| Stylistic origins: | Portuguese music, possibly with Moorish and Brazilian modinha influences |
| Cultural origins: | Early 19th century Lisbon, Portugal |
| Typical instruments: | Portuguese guitar |
| Mainstream popularity: | Much in Portugal; sporadic elsewhere, especially Netherlands and Japan |
| Derivative forms: | Coimbra Fado |
Fado (translated as destiny or fate) is a music genre which can be traced from the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. It is characterized by mournful tunes and lyrics, often about the sea or the life of the poor. The music is usually linked to the Portuguese word saudade, a word with no accurate English translation. (Home-sickness has an approximate meaning. It is a kind of longing, and conveys a complex mixture of mainly nostalgia, but also sadness, pain, happiness and love). Some enthusiasts claim that Fado's origins are a mixture of African slave rhythms with the traditional music of Portuguese sailors and Arabic influence.
There are two main varieties of fado, namely those of the cities of Lisbon and Coimbra. The Lisbon style is the most popular, while Coimbra's is the more refined style. Modern fado is popular in Portugal, and has produced many renowned musicians. According to tradition, to applaud fado in Lisbon you clap your hands, in Coimbra you cough as if clearing your throat.
Mainstream fado performances during the 20th century included only a singer, a Portuguese guitar player and a classical guitar player but more recent settings range from singer and string quartet to full orchestra.
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[edit] History
The fado is undoubtedly Portugal's most famous music. It is also a most rewarding experience which amply repays any effort that may be entailed in its initial appreciation.[1] One theory states that Fado would have its origin in Moorish songs, that remained in the quarter of Mouraria in Lisbon. The melancholy of those songs and the referral in many fado lyrics to this part of Lisbon would strengthen that theory. Musicological research links first fado performances to modinhas, a kind of Brazilian hall music that was successful among middle-class gatherings in the later 18th century in Lisbon and Porto. Brazilian students were also a strong presence in the University of Coimbra.
The first great fado singer that is still known was Maria Severa, living in the first half of the 19th century. Recorded fado did not appear until the next century, however. In the 1920s and 1930s, a series of fado de Coimbra (a version born in Coimbra) recordings were very popular. Guitarists Carlos Paredes and his father Artur Paredes, were the masters and the great pioneers of this genre and the Portuguese guitar. The Orfeon Académico de Coimbra was, and still is, one of the most prominent ambassadors os Fado de coimbra, along with an internationally recognized choral activity.
Amália Rodrigues introduced the most well-known variety of fado and still today after her death in 1999 is considered to be the greatest fado diva. After her death, a new wave of performers added stylistic changes and brought more international popularity to the traditional Portuguese music. There are also some successful experiences with fado, namely mixing it with electronic music. Carlos do Carmo, Mariza, Mafalda Arnauth, Camané, Kátia Guerreiro and Mísia brought with them a new look to the traditional song, occasionally reviving 19th century fado.
Whilst Dulce Pontes mixed fado with popular and traditional Portuguese music, Madredeus and Cristina Branco added it with new instruments and themes - all that they kept from the original Fado is its looks and the concept of saudade. The fado is almost universally sorrowful; although some can also be joyful songs.
Mariza is considered to be one of the best newest generation of fado singers of current times.
[edit] Lisboa Fado
It probably began in the taverns and popular squares of working-class city sectors (Alfama, Castelo, Mouraria, Bairro Alto, Madragoa), being sung and heard by the people, until the well-to-do began frequenting those places to join in the enjoyment of the music. The first renown fado singer came to be Maria Severa.
The most sung about themes were saudade, nostalgia, the small recounts of everyday life in the traditional sections of town (bairros típicos) and Bullfights. It was also the song themes allowed by the Salazar dictatorship that gave way to the tragic fado, of lovers’ jealousy and passion oftentimes resolved in violent form, with blood, repent and remorse. The lyrics that sang of social or political problems, or any complaint of the establishment, were repressed by censure.
From this “classic” fado (also known as fado castiço), came their most recent performers: Carlos Ramos, Alfredo Marceneiro, Berta Cardoso, Maria Teresa de Noronha, Hermínia Silva, Fernando Farinha, Fernando Maurício, Lucília do Carmo, Manuel de Almeida, among others.
Modern fado began, and had its heyday, with Amália Rodrigues. It was she who popularized fados with the words of great poets, such as Luís de Camões, José Régio, Pedro Homem de Mello, Alexandre O’Neill, David Mourão-Ferreira, José Carlos Ary dos Santos, João Ferreira-Rosa, Teresa Tarouca, Carlos do Carmo, Beatriz da Conceição, Maria da Fé.
João Braga also has his name in the history of fado revitalization because of the quality of the poems and musi that he performed, from the authors mentioned above, and from Fernando Pessoa, António Botto, Affonso Lopes Vieira, Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen, Miguel Torga or Manuel Alegre, and for having been thmentor of a new generation of ‘’fadistas’’.
Along with the attention to lyrics, new instrument accompaniment and music from great composers were introduced: with Amália can be noted Alain Oulman (an important contributor to the modernization of fado musical accompaniment), so too Frederico de Freitas, Frederico Valério, José Fontes Rocha, Alberto Janes, and Carlos Gonçalves.
The Lisboa fado that is known throughout the world today can be (and oftentimes is) accompanied by violin, cello, and even by a full orchestra, but always with the essential Portuguese guitar, which has had and still has excellent musicians, such as Armandinho, José Nunes, Jaime Santos, Raul Nery, José Fontes Rocha, Carlos Gonçalves, Pedro Caldeira Cabral, José Luís Nobre Costa,Ricardo Parreira , Paulo Parreira and Ricardo Rocha. The cello is also central to the music, with cello performers such as Alfredo Mendes, Martinho d'Assunção, Júlio Gomes, José Inácio, Francisco Perez Andión, o Paquito, Jaime Santos Jr., Carlos Manuel Proença, and the greatest fado performer of bass Joel Pina.
Today many younger singers – Maria Ana Bobone, Mariza, Joana Amendoeira,Mafalda Arnauth, Ana Sofia Varela, Katia Guerreiro, Camané, Gonçalo Salgueiro, Diamantina, Cristina Branco, Ana Moura – have added their names to those of the great fadistas, and are giving this urban song an amazing revival.
The traditional fado or ”típico” today is sung mainly for tourists in “fado houses” (casas de fado), with the traditional instrumentation. The best fado houses are found in the traditional or bairros típicos of Alfama, Mouraria, Bairro Alto and Madragoa. It maintains the characteristics of the tradition: singing past and present sorrow with bitter sadness. But fado can also tell a funny story with irony, or provide a way for two singers to battle, improvising the verses - this is called the desgarrada.
[edit] Coimbra Fado
This fado is closely linked to the academic traditions of the University of Coimbra and is exclusively sung by men; both the singers and musicians wear the academic outfit (traje académico): dark robe, cape and leggings. It is sung at night, almost in the dark, in city squares or streets. The most typical venues are the stair steps of the Santa Cruz Monastery and the Old Cathedral of Coimbra. It is also customary to organize serenades where songs are performed before the window of the woman to be courted.
The Coimbra fado is accompanied by either a Portuguese guitar or by a classical guitar; the tuning and sound coloring of the Portuguese guitar in Coimbra are quite different from that of Lisbon.
The most sung themes: student love, love for the city and bohemia, and the ironic and critical reference to the discipline and conservative nature of the professors and their courses. Noted singers of this style are Augusto Hilário, António Menano, and Edmundo Bettencourt.
In the 1950’s, a new movement took the singers of Coimbra to adopt the ballad and folklore. They began interpreting lines of the great poets, both classical and contemporary, as a form of resistance to the Salazar dictatorship. In this movement names such as Adriano Correia de Oliveira and José Afonso (Zeca Afonso) had a leading role in the revolution taking place in popular Portuguese music.
Regarding Portuguese guitar, Artur Paredes revolutionized the tuning and the accompaniment style to the Coimbra fado, adding his name to the most progressive and innovative singers. Artur Paredes was the father of Carlos Paredes, who followed and expanded on his work, making Portuguese guitar an instrument known around the world.
Some of the most famous fados of Coimbra include: Fado Hilário, Do Choupal até à Lapa, Balada da Despedida (“Coimbra tem mais encanto, na hora da despedida”, the first verses are more recognizable than he song title), O meu menino é d’oiro, and Samaritana.
Curiously, its not a Coimbra fado but a song which is the most known title referring to this city: Coimbra é uma lição, which had success with titles such as April in Portugal.
[edit] Fado in North America
Several singers of the traditional Portuguese fado have appeared in Canada and the United States.
One of these, Ramana Vieira, regularly performs in the San Francisco Bay Area with unique blends of musical accompaniment that may include classical guitar, bass, percussion, violin and mandolin. Ramana received her formal voice training at San Francisco's American Conservatory Theater and has been called "The New Voice of Portuguese World Music." [1].
In Canada one can look to Vancouver based Salome. The large Portuguese community in Toronto, and Montreal are also home to local fado singers that perform regularly in community events in these two cities.
