Journey through the History of Fado
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Fado is to Lisbon, Portugal as Country and Western music is to Nashville in the United States. Fado is a form of music whose rhythmical roots may have come from both the African and Brazilian slaves’ dance music, since Brazil was a colony of Portugal. However, the storytelling nature was nothing new to the European continent. After all, troubadours sang about the daily trials and tribulations several centuries earlier. Nevertheless, troubadours never sang songs with dance rhythms listeners could enjoy or had troupes of dancers following them.
Like country and western songs, Fado often told of sadness, lost loves and disappointments, but it also had elements of the daily news in many of the songs. In fact, the name of the song style, “Fado” means destiny or fate, which is a reference to the type of story told in song. Even though the first Fado songs appeared in the 1800s, the music and nature of the songs evolved as each new performer added something more to the development of the Fado style of music.
Also like Country and Western music, Fado wasn’t the songs of the aristocrats but performed mostly by those of lower class or sailors. These performers often danced to the rhythms as they performed. However, as the music developed, the dance performance slowly faded and the guitar became more important in the accompaniment of the song. In fact, today when people think of Fado performances, they often picture visions of a single singer strumming a classical or Portuguese guitar to accompany their song.
Fado singers were initially street singers who would burst forth in song to entertain on street corners or in taverns. However, as the style of entertainment became more popular, often those responsible for large events such as carnivals or celebrations would include Fado singers as part of the entertainment.
Listen To Mariza - One Of Portugal's Finest Fado Singers On Youtube
Probably the most notable early Fado singer was Maria Severa. She was the daughter of a tavern owner and prostitute, who entertained people with song in her own neighborhood. Once she became a paramour to the 13th Count of Vimioso, Francisco de Paula Portugal e Castro, where she popularized the music with a more aristocratic crowd. A novelist, Julio Dantas, immortalized her in writing in a book called, “A Severa,” later made into a film. Two other notable Fado singers were Amalia Rodrigues—also called “Rinha do Fado or the queen of Fado-- and Alfredo Rodrigo Duarte—better known as Alfredo Marceneiro. Marceneiro embodies what you visualize when you picture one of the 20th century Fado singers. He always wore a beret and a silk scarf tied around his neck. When he performed, he swung his shoulder and torso and kept his hands in his pocket, when he wasn’t smoking a cigarette. Often you’ll see his image with a cigarette dangling from his lips.
His initial exposure to Fado was at a carnival street festival when he was 13, after he left school due to the death of his father and got a job as a bookbinding apprentice to support his family. There he heard the popular form of music and meant a man, Julio Janota, who was not only a participant in the entertainment, but also a joiner. He and Alfredo initially hit it off and Janota agreed to get him a job as an apprentice where he was a joiner. Marceneiro is the Portuguese word for joiner. That is how Alfredo Rodrigo Durarte became Alfredo Marceneiro.
From the age of 14 to 17, he entertained at parties. Later he entertained at charity events and finally performing at Fado houses across Lisbon. Throughout his career, he won contests for his singing, performed in theatre shows and even made a few recordings. However, most of his Fado singing was live performances and there are limited recordings, with the last one recorded when he was 70 years old. In 1980, because of his donation to the heritage the uniquely Lisbon Fado, the mayor of the city gave him the “Gold Medal of Merit of the City of Lisbon.” Two years later, he passed at the age of 91.
Fado has a place in any history of the culture of Lisbon. The unique nature of this type of music and the impact on the world of music as well as the culture of Portugal creates a fascinating study for historians such as British historian, Peter Kingdon Booker, who fell in love with the style of music when he went to Portugal. He elved into many of the greats in the world of Fado, including Alfredo Marceneiro, identifying the nature of the songs, the origins and true Fado style and now offers lectures about his research into the amazing history of Fado.
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Published in: Portuguese Life