…of the day: introducing you to fado

Fado. Oh, Fado. I was introduced to portuguese fado by my friend, the Portugese artist Paula Rosa.  In fact, I think the first song she introduced me to was Cancao do Mar, performed by Dulce Pontes:

Anyway, after seeing this video, I remember staring intensely at my monitor.  I was silent for a few minutes and then I got a rush of some sort, you know, the kind you get when you’re faced with so much beauty that it’s overwhelmed you completely.  I wanted more so she sent me more song recommendations and after a while, I’d become very familiar with the genre.  I continued to research it and experiment with different kinds of fado music and traditions.

I learned more about the portuguese guitarra, too.  There are two versions of this instrument.  One is from Coimbra, the university town and the other from Lisbon.  They have very different sounds and their shape and style is slightly different.  The guitarras provide accompaniment in the two different variations of fado music.  The Coimbra fado is primarily the song of the students and academic life whereas the Lisbon fado is traditionally to mourn the loss of sailors or to sing about unfortunate events or circumstances in life (Lisbon fado is the more popular version).  Both variations of fado express the feeling of “saudade”.  ”Saudade” is to long for something, an intense sensation of longing or feeling like something is missing.  I’ve been told that there’s no adequate English translation for it.  But you can feel it when you listen to fado.  The job of the singer is to translate these emotions to the audience and it’s crucial for him or her to succeed (I’ve been told that the Portuguese will kick a singer off the stage if she’s not emotional enough in her performance!).

The most popular fado singer, the queen of fado, is Amalia Rodrigues:

Sadly, for those of us who don’t live in Portugal, Fado is still not that popular in North America.  You definitely have a greater chance of seeing Spanish traditional folk songs and dances than finding a fado house in your city!  In Canada, I’ve heard that there’s live fado in Montreal and I’m hoping to find out if that’s true sometime this year.  There’s probably live fado in Toronto, too.  And if you’re really lucky, you might get to see some of the great portuguese singers perform during a North American tour.  I was lucky enough to catch a poster announcing a performance by Mariza in Ottawa in 2007.  I went to that concert and it filled me with so much emotion.  I had chills the entire time I was there!  If you learn ever learn that she’s performing in your city, go see her.

My dream now… to see Dulce Pontes perform live, preferably at an outdoor venue, under the stars.  :)

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