The Most Popular Music In Portugal
Sinatra's Got Nothing On Fado Singers
Portugal's a tiny country of just over 10 million people, so I guess it should come as no surprise that I've never heard of the extremely popular traditional music genre of fado. How popular is it? Well the reigning king of fado is a 40-year-old singer named Camané. Earlier this hear hen he recently released Sempre de Mim, his first album since 2001, and it went straight to the top of the charts being certified gold within three weeks! Fado stars (or fadistas) are the Frank Sinatras and Barbara Steisands of Portugal. Check out the link to learn more about fado and it's origins.
In my quest for fado I went to Café Luso in Lisbon's famous Bairro Alto - a nightlife haven. I arrived around 12:30 and was immediately impressed with the cave-like interior of this tiny club. It couldn't seat more than 70-80 diners and it's fairly typical of fado houses around Lisbon.
The music is very melancholy with the fadistas striving to wring maximum emotion from each syllable. This is a very structured genre similar to classical where the rules are well established. The music itself had heavy Spanish references with moorish overtones. Vocalists are the superstars as with other sung genres and the best fadistas find a way to blend tradition, interpretation, and innovation into a pleasing twist on the time-honored theme.
Fado's not really my cup of tea, but as with all forms of experimentation, I had to experience it to know even that. Tonight my musical tour of Lisbon continues.
More Later,
Dave
Portugal's a tiny country of just over 10 million people, so I guess it should come as no surprise that I've never heard of the extremely popular traditional music genre of fado. How popular is it? Well the reigning king of fado is a 40-year-old singer named Camané. Earlier this hear hen he recently released Sempre de Mim, his first album since 2001, and it went straight to the top of the charts being certified gold within three weeks! Fado stars (or fadistas) are the Frank Sinatras and Barbara Steisands of Portugal. Check out the link to learn more about fado and it's origins.In my quest for fado I went to Café Luso in Lisbon's famous Bairro Alto - a nightlife haven. I arrived around 12:30 and was immediately impressed with the cave-like interior of this tiny club. It couldn't seat more than 70-80 diners and it's fairly typical of fado houses around Lisbon.The music is very melancholy with the fadistas striving to wring maximum emotion from each syllable. This is a very structured genre similar to classical where the rules are well established. The music itself had heavy Spanish references with moorish overtones. Vocalists are the superstars as with other sung genres and the best fadistas find a way to blend tradition, interpretation, and innovation into a pleasing twist on the time-honored theme.Fado's not really my cup of tea, but as with all forms of experimentation, I had to experience it to know even that. Tonight my musical tour of Lisbon continues.
More Later,
Dave
Labels: Bairro Alto, fadistas, fado, Lisbon, music, Portugal
posted by Dave Hoskins at
4:51 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home