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Listen to Fado in Lisbon (PORTUGAL)
Have you ever listened to Fado, Portuguese music? It is a passionate and rash music where a singer is accompanied by 2 guitars and according to the singer’s experience and perspective of life lyrified to words. Anything can be sung, a loss of a lover, a self-questioning of life and self-evaluation, death of a beloved; all these sung in many forms, narrative or a “he said” and then “she answered” form. As a matter of fact, we note Fado as Portuguese blues, mostly sung by women with slightly rough voices.
We started our Fado journey, by visiting the Fado Diva Amalia Rodriguez museum-like charity foundation (her former home) near the Portuguese Parliament, with testimonials of her life and accomplishments, and a pilgrimage site for her fans.
Fado diva Amalia Rodriguez (1920-99) is credited more than any other singer in history with touching the nerve endings of the Portuguese soul. Born in Lisbon into a large and very poor family, her musical expressions of saudade (nostalgia provoked by a sense of loss) have been defined as the musical expression of the Portuguese soul. Hers is the music most likely to be heard in traditional bars, and hers is the voice most immediately recognizable to most Portuguese. After her death, which was considered a national tragedy, her body was buried with pomp and circumstance in the National Pantheon alongside the country's most prominent statesmen and writers.
What struck us when we first arrived, was the various pictures of Amalia from her youth to old age. We were escorted by a guide to tour her house, saw her videotapes of live performances.
Later on, in the evening, we visited a Fado house in Lisbon to have a taste of Portuguese blues with our wine. Accompanied by the 6 course Portuguese guitar which reminded us of a mandolin, the singer started to sing one by one of his own life experience sometimes improvising. We could not understand a word. However, the one thing we understood of the music, was that it was sad, sad and bitter that immediately starts flowing under your skin. Fado is a beautiful music, that’s for sure……….