o fado

"Fatima Futebol e Fado" are the 3 FF that represent the Portuguese Holy Trinity.

Fatima: where the Holy Virgin came to the little shepherds and gave them enlightenment or something like it. This is now a pilgrimage location where people spend days walking on their knees to pay for some promise they did to the Lord. It's indeed a quite sickening and morbid place.

Football: no Portuguese could ever be a good family man without liking football and making his children (especially the boys) members of some football club as soon as they are born.

The third F is the one I want to talk about. Fado.

:::::::::::::

A quick Wikipedia article on Fado can be found by clicking here from which I copy and paste a few lines.

Fado is a type of folk music which most likely originated in the 1820s in Portugal. 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 equivalent in English; being a type of longing, it conveys a complex mixture of sadness, pain, nostalgia, happiness and love), and its origins are probably from a mixture of African slave rhythms with traditional music of Portuguese sailors, with Arabic influence. Some theories say it was derived from Brazilian music styles like Lundum and Modinha.

There are two varieties of Fado: Lisbon and Coimbra. The Lisbon style is the popular, while the Coimbra's is the refined style; both are seen as ethnic music for sophisticated audience.

The first great fado singer that is still known was Maria Severa, living in the first half of the 19th century. Her type of fado is today called "Lisbon's fado".

In the 1920s and 1930s, a series of fado de Coimbra (a highly stylized 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.

Amália Rodrigues introduced the most well-known variety of fado. After her disappearance, 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. Mariza, Mísia and Ana Moura brought with them a new look to the traditional song, occasionally reviving 19th century fado. While Dulce Pontes mixed it with popular and traditional Portuguese music. Madredeus and Cristina Branco added 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.

:::::::::::::

I shall be dwelling on fado on the next 2 or 3 posts.