2011 12 - Fado - World Heritage
Wednesday, 30 November 2011 16:33
Alfama, PT – Fado, has joined the list of the Worlds Intangible Cultural Heritage as a tradition and skill passed on inter-culturally. The committee praised Fado as an example of good practices to be followed by other nations. Fado joins some 13 other Portuguese sites on the World Heritage lists:http://whc.unesco.org/en/statesparties/pt
"So, let us celebrate the Fado" defined this way - Fado is a performance genre incorporating music and poetry widely practiced by various communities in Lisbon. It represents a Portuguese multicultural synthesis of Afro-Brazilian sung dances, local traditional genres of song and dance, musical traditions from rural areas of the country brought by successive waves of internal immigration, and the cosmopolitan urban song patterns of the early nineteenth century. Fado songs are usually performed by a solo singer, male or female, traditionally accompanied by a wire-strung acoustic guitar and the Portuguese guitarra a pear-shaped lute with twelve wire strings, unique to Portugal, which also has an extensive solo repertoire. The past few decades have witnessed this instrumental accompaniment expanded to two Portuguese guitars, a guitar and a bass guitar. Fado is performed professionally on the concert circuit and in small "Fado houses", and by amateurs in numerous grass-root associations located throughout older neighborhoods of Lisbon. Informal tuition by older, respected exponents takes place in traditional performance spaces and often over successive generations within the same families. The dissemination of Fado through emigration and the world music circuit has reinforced its image as a symbol of Portuguese identity, leading to a process of cross-cultural exchange involving other musical traditions.
++The Birth of Fado
A divided Iberian Peninsula emerged in Portugal as an independent kingdom in 1139. The poetry of the day, sung by troubadours, was songs of love, friendship or mockery. These songs were popular in the Portuguese court.
Portugal's' second king, D. Sancho I, was a poet, and Portugal's sixth king, D. Denis, not only wrote poetry, but was the first monarch in Europe to remove Latin as the official court language. He made Portuguese the nation's official tongue.
What happened next made the Fado more than poetry.
In the 15th century, Portuguese caravels began exploring both sides of the Atlantic and eventually found the sea route to Asia. Hence, the Portuguese sea borne empire reigned for two centuries, becoming the world's first global trading model. The sailors, of course, were faced with shipwreck, years away from their home and family and constant danger. They took their songs along with them for comfort. Ships records of the day show that sailors always brought their guitars, called banzas, and their songs became nostalgic and full of longing.
The banza, today called the guitarra portuguesa, was a unique evolution of the medieval lute. With 12 strings, it has an amazing ability to sound like a human voice.
Fast-forward to the 1830s and Portugal is emerging from a ruinous Napoleonic War and is in the midst of a Civil War. In Lisbon, these uncertain times brought together gypsies, noblemen, artists and others to sing and listen.
One of the great voices and performers of Fado was Maria Severa.
By the 1950s, Fado was well established in its present form, with more than a dozen "Fado houses" becoming late-night meeting places in the Bairro Alto section of Lisbon. Celebrated in film and on records, Fado had arrived.
But, in the past few years, a new generation has revived its 800-year-old tradition. The song is returning to its roots and being broadcast around the globe through such new "Fadistas" such as Mariza, Ana Moura, Cristina Branco and Pedro Moutinho.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fngp39nXKhk
Cristina Branco - Água e Mel
++Soul of the Fado
They say that the songs of a sad people are happy, and the songs of a happy nation are the opposite. But the Fado is not sad it is cathartic. In these verses of suffering, survival, loss and death there is a gritty sense of hope and survival.
When you listen to a Fado, you are transported back in time, to a mythical place that erases the present pain. You listen, tear up, and forget by remembering. That, "meus senhores", is the Fado.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ke6Ss4g3Pt4
Ana Moura - Leva-me aos Fados
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NOg1Jce1fco
Caetano Veloso - Estranha Forma de Vida
++ Fado de Coimbra
Fado de Coimbra is the song of the students of the city of Coimbra
It is performed with the traditional Guitarra de Coimbra, a modified version of the Fado guitar and usually accompanied by classic acoustic guitar and male voices. One of the best palces to hear it is in an anciet chaple turned Fado house
A Capella: Coimbra Fado
Address: Largo Vitoria, Coimbra
Phone: +351 239833985
www.acapella.com.pt
++ Lisbon and places to hear the Fado
A Baiuca, a tiny Fado House and eatery in the heart of the Alfama district, just off Rua São Pedro on Rua de São Miguel 20. Fado is sung 8 p.m. to 12 a.m. Thursday to Monday.
Phone. 351-218-867-284).
More information:
Tasca do Chico
The amateur singers start at 10 p.m. and go until 2 a.m. Mondays andWednesdays every week. Rua Diário de Notícias, Nº 39
Café Luso
Fado legend Amalia Rodrigues sang here, so it is understandable that it is now one of Lisbon's most famous Fado spots. Travessa da Queimada, 10 - Bairro Alto Phone: 351-21 342 2281 http://www.cafeluso.pt/
Clube de Fado
R. S. João da Praça, 94
This restaurant is located in the heart of Alfama and just a "stone's throw away" of the renowned Sé de Lisboa.
Phone: 351- 218 882 694
Bacalhau de Molho
Beco dos Armazéns do Linho, 1 (Arco de Jesus)
folkshere gather up to hear the best of the fado sang by an unequal cast of Fadistas.
Phone: 218863767
Parreirinha de Alfama
Beco do Espírito Santo, 1
Phone: 351- 218868209
Located in a small street in Alfama, this restaurant is well known for its fado singers.
-Senhor Vinho
Rua do Meio à Lapa, 18/22
The esteemed Lapa quarter is the setting for "Sr. Vinho" and its atmosphere and an impressive wine list
Phone: 351- 21 397 2681
For more suggestions, visit the Lisbon Tourism Office Website
Contact Information:
Miguel Carvalho
Portuguese National Tourism Office
www.visitportugal.com
V: 646 7230213
Jayme H. Simoes
Louis Karno & Company Communications, LLC
V: 603 2245566 x19
Portugal National Tourist Office