The Fado

We all know that the Fado is considered a symbol of Portugal, known around the world and almost ever represented by Amália Rodrigues, and recently by new talents like Dulce Pontes, Camané, Mariza, and more.
The term Fado comes from the Latin Fatum, which means destiny, the destiny that is impossible to change. The Fado is usually so melancholic and so unhappy because it sings the part of the destiny that resulted in bad moments to its owner. It’s a lyric and sentimental music.
The Fado expresses a nostalgic psycho condition, but started to be a frustration sense of Portugal.
There are two versions of the Fado: one is from Lisbon (Alfama e Mouraria) and the other is from Coimbra. The one from Lisbon is personal and full of feeling; the one from Coimbra reflects that cities academic traditions. (There is another Fado version, called Popular Fado, better linked to the folk and traditions)
We don’t know the époque of the Fado’s birth, but there are three suppositions:
The first is that it could be born with the Moorish Anthems; its sorrow and melancholy are similar to the fado’s.
The other supposition is that the Fado came to Portugal as Lundum, the music of the Brazilian slaves in the 1822.
The last one is that the birth of it maybe had been in the époque of the troubadours and the buffoons. The Friend Ballads, sung by a woman are similar to the themes of the Fado from Lisbon. The Love Ballads are sung by a man to a woman and there are some similarities with the Fado from Coimbra. There are also the Slander and Scorn Ballads that are used in the Fado to politic and social critics.
It is from 1888 that the Fado started to be accepted by the social stratums.
The Fado from Coimbra appeared for the first time in the city in the farewell of the school year of 1900-1901. But the Fado was born firstly in Lisbon and Porto and only after that it went to Coimbra.
In Lisbon, the song grow in the alleys, beginning famous and starting to be accepted by the ladies and dames who started to sing, play and dance it, substituting the “Modinha”.
As time went by, there were some changes and the Coimbra’s Fado started to be only sung and played by the students, who gave it some proper characteristics of Lyricism and Romanticism.

Differences in the Fado
In Lisbon and Porto, we find the Fado in the oldest part of the city, in the taverns or in the Fado Houses, decorated with these songs’ symbols: the Black Shawl and the Portuguese Guitar.
The man that sings, do it on feet in a black suite. He sings his loves, his city, the life misery; he criticizes the society and talk almost ever about the yearning for someone.
Te woman sings always in black, with a shawl in her shoulders and with a mournful voice. She sings the death that comes from her love lost, the love lost to the death.
For tradition, the Fado is sung in restaurants fit for the effect, called Fado Houses. People go there, have their dinner and in certain time the Fado started to be played and sung.
When a singer sings the Fado, the silence is demanded and everyone stops eating and serving food. The most famous singers do some live concerts and spectacles and this is the only occasion that the Fado gets out of the Fado Houses.
Fado is always singed live in concerts and in his houses.
The Fado is the excellent expression of Lisbon’s soul and also the Portuguese being.
This is the spirit of Fado: the expression of a collective soul, made by the soul of each one.

So be quiet, because we are going to sing the Fado…

Baiiro Alto’s Fado

Bairro Alto so dedicated to his loves
On a day wanted to strike the eye
And went out with the troubadours and the Fado
To do his conquests

The lyres are playing
Lisbon opened its windows
Awaken alarmed
They shouted: “Zones at random,
Be quiet old Lisbon,
Bairro Alto is going to sing”

Old Tunes, yearning or canto
Ballads are spread from one to another
Sad in communion
Guitars are groaning from hand to hand

Made by Carlos Simões Neves and Francisco Gonçalves Carvalho
Sing by Carlos do Carmo

The Portuguese Guitar

The Fado Guitar is known as Portuguese Guitar (It is a Portuguese traditional instrument).
We don’t know much about its origin, but the specialists think that it is similar to the Arabic Lute; if it descend from this lute, probably it should appeared with the Moorish occupation in Algarve.
The Portuguese Guitar is a smallish 12 string guitar that is generally played with a 6 string guitar.
The guitars are manufactured and they are exclusively made in Portugal by the Portuguese experts and it is also made in England by a man called Simpson.
There are many copies made by amateurs in the entire world but the bigger demand is in Portugal.