Portuguese song and dance genre, the typical urban vocal music of cafés, cabarets and nightclubs. It may have a Moorish origin, or originally have been a maritime style. It is usually sung with guitar-like instruments, which play cross-rhythms against the vocal melody; the form is usually strophic and the songs may include improvised material.

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Fado is not a dance. never was, never is and never will be. it's a collective name for songs that are accompanied by the (spanish) guitar and the viola (lute) and is sung in cafés called "tipicos". In the more "upper class" tipicos (restaurants), the contrabass is usually added (also when fadistas*, singers of fado, tour, the contrabass may be included).

originally fado was sung in bars of ill repute in lisbon in the nineteenth century, but the form became formalised and has developed into an art-form with its own rules and regulations. hence, new forms of fado springing up, find it hard to gain popularity with the general public.

fado is split into two genres: the best known is the lisbon fado and the other one, only sung in the city with the same name, is the coimbra fado. the latter is sung by students and are love songs. the lisbon fado has been exported and has made adepts all over the world thanks to the most famous fadista, called amalia rodrigues who died in 1999 and whose body was laid to rest in the pantheon in lisbon where the most famous are resting. other famous fadistas of the classical kind are maria da fé, lucilia do carmo (also deceased and whose son carlos do carmo, now retired, used to run a tipico in lisbon called "a faia" where he would also sing along with his mother) and plenty of others. although fado is sung mainly by lady performers, the aforementioned carlos do carmo was the best known male performer of recent times, but not the only one. at present, camané, is a newly established name in the line of male fadistas. mariza is a modern fadista who started out singing the amalia fados (their timbre was very much alike), but she has now joined the new breed of fadistas.

lisbon fado is not only about love but it also incorporates nostalgia, unattained love and longings (generally knows as "saudade") as well as remembering lovingly people and places of the past and to me expresses the veritable soul of the portuguese and the portuguese language. amalia's most famous fados are "a casa mariquinhas" (fado alegre), "com que voz" (a sad fado) and a very famous "fado amalia" but no fado stirs the heart of the portuguese more than "a casa portuguesa" in which she describes what a typical portuguese house looks and feels like. maria da fé's latest album "divino fado" is a delightful collection of old and new. another fadista, unknown abroad but quite well-known in Portugal, is beatriz da conceiçao whose deep, warm voice is there to mesmerise you. alas, she no longer records or appears in public to my knowledge.

it is not uncommon for artists to re-edit old fados: popular melodies are often sung with new texts to make them appear on the label as new fados. also, some records and CD-s have fadistas sing fado with an orchestra, a movement i personally deplore.

fado is so strong in Portugal that a Hollywood tune (April in Portugal) has been turned into a fado called "coimbra" and it tells about the forbidden love between ines de Castro (a spanish lady) and the portuguese king at the time. despite being called "coimbra" it has been turned into a lisbon-style fado and was popularised by amalia rodrigues.

lisbon fado has many styles: fado menor (sad fado), fado alegre (happy fado) and even a spoken fado (fado falando) but they all have traditionally one thing in common: the guitars play the opening bars and then the fadista starts out with either a "cry" or with an opening bar that sets the tone of the fado.

when you want to experience fado in real life, the best way is to walk the streets of lisbon in the evening (avoid the popular tourist area of bairo alto) and listen in the streets. if you hear "untrained" voices singing or joining in, then you are likely to have found an authentic café/restaurant where fado is sung in between meals being served. in porto, fado is sung in the afternoon rather than in the evening and small fado restaurants can be found between the ribeira (riverside) and the station sao bento. in lisbon, the best thing is to walk around alfama (between the quay side and the castle) or mouraria (starting from martim moniz and work your way up to the castle). and as they say, the later in the evening, the better the fado.

(*the word "fadista" in portuguese is feminine, but is applied to male singers as well.)

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