fado- c/d ?

Most Fado tends to sound a bit "samey" to outsiders (much like Delta Blues in that respect) unless you know alot about the history behind it. Also, it has been pretty much hijacked by the conservatives as "authentic" Portuguese music (in opposition to Portuguese Rock and now Hip-Hop), so a lot of the current stuff is too drenched in self-righteous smugness for me to like it.

At its best, however, it's as good as any type of Folk music, capturing the Portuguese spirit in all its melancholy and longing and saudade. And yes, there's some "happy" Fado, too- all depends on the region and the environment.

No idea what's available outside of Portugal, but I'd recommend checking out the works of Alfredo Marceneiro, Maria Teresa De Noronha, Manuel De Almeida and Dulce Pontes (Elvis Costello digs her.) Also, the tune "De Quem Eu Gosto (Só Às Paredes Confesso)" as sung by anyone.

DeRayMi: I liked Amalia Rodrigues the best when she got real weird and artsy- like "Formiga Bossa Nova", a tune which is exactly what it sez- a Bossa Nova tune about ants!

All I know are these two Amalia Rodrigues comps, and they are finally growing on me, although it took some getting used to- at first everything sounded like some mildly Latin version of "The Third Man Theme."

Well has wnyone heard Mariza's 2005 CD Transparente, yet?

Haven't heard the new Mariza yet, but the consensus seems to be that she's resting on laurels a bit. Out of the younger (relatively speaking, of course) artists my personal favourites are Mísia and Camané (whose albums are produced by longtime Folk/Jazz/Rock/Artsong genius José Mário Branco, who in turn has been covered by The Walkabouts iirc.) Soulseek if you like.

There's been a couple attempts at updating the style - a Fado/Trip Hop thing (the portuguese love them some Trip-Hop!) and more recently a fella who claims to be "Gangsta Fado". Haven't heard either, but am quite wary.

http://www.instituto-camoes.pt/arquivos/musica/camane.jpg

http://lve.scola.ac-paris.fr/portugais/site%20internet%20ac%20images/camane_cd.jpg

Somebody told me just the other day that I should go see Mariza at Carnegie Hall on Friday.

Her recent-ish live album ...from last year? was rather marvelous too.

t**t, are you t\'\'t (t\'\'t)?

took ya quite a while to figure dat out, eh? :)

Outside Portugal the fadista (as a practitioner of the genre is called) most evident of late is the 31-year-old Ana Moura, whose smoky contralto has drawn the attention of the Rolling Stones and Prince and who has just released a live CD called “Coliseu.” At home, though, she is just one of a bumper crop that includes Mísia, Mariza, Mafalda Arnauth, Dulce Pontes, Cristina Branco, Joana Amendoeira, Raquel Tavares, Yolanda Soares and Kátia Guerreiro.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/27/arts/music/ana-moura-is-among-singers-reinvigorating-fado.html?_r=1&ref=music

I always like fado more in theory than in practice(both cds and the singer I heard in Portugal once). Maybe I'm not giving it the proper attention though.

Death Is Not The End just did a set of nothing but Fado from the 20's and 30's for NTS:

https://www.nts.live/shows/death-is-not-the-end/episodes/death-is-not-the-end-7th-april-2018

So this is my song of the week. I don't know the words but I know it's about heartbreak. I want to learn Portuguese. Tell me about fado. Tell me about heartbreak

Ercília Costa - Meu Tormento

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9vHpUpVeH0

It's on a compilation from Death is Not The End, an esoteric label which everyone needs to check out. Everything is "name your price" so dive in https://deathisnot.bandcamp.com/music

Think forks invited me to an event related to that label.

Anyway, I still don’t know much about this style- my favorite fado song was written by a Brazilian!

Last Summer I had some French friends visiting in Portugal and their interest made me investigate some more modern fado stuff:

Fado Bicha (queer Fado)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GrZv7FJGUKE

Hip-Hop producer Stereossauro collabing with Fado great Camané (and an Amália sample)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy0pUfh1X78

(check out all the expats in the comments lol)

I was looking up covers of my favorite fado song, “Os Argonautas,” by Caetano Veloso, and came across a good version by some singer who had played young Amália Rodrigues for several seasons in a television show.

Maybe a theatrical production, not television.

Carla Pires

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3TiSLRd3ik

There is an incredible video of Elis Regina performing this “Brazilian fado” and discussing the connection to Portugal, but it is not on YouTube, only can be found on FB.

I remember seeing Caetano Veloso on TV talking about playing Fado when he came to tour Portugal after the revolution and local audiences being all "wtf" because to them it was the music of the regime. Amália also being seen as an establishment figure, despite singing plenty of leftist poets and (though this wasn't common knowledge then) helping out the communist party. Of course even by 1979 José Mário Branco, one of the greatest protest singers of the revolutionary era, made this beautiful example of the genre:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TuhX-PKp20

The Carla Reis Amália show you're thinking of is the stage musical Amália, directed by Portugal's Andrew Lloyd Webber, Filipe la Féria. Sadly a major contribution to the 90's gentrification of the genre, with fado becoming nice polite girls doing concerts for upper middle class audiences. Nothing against her in particular tbc but it really made the genre seem lame. Frankly the greatest fado experience I've ever had was going to a dive bar in Lisbon that a local friend had hipped me to and hearing local working class performers sing, women singing about stabbing the men that did them wrong, men singing about being "poor and arrogant about it". Sorry 4 authentocracy, I realise that's not an option for most ppl on this board lol.

Anyway, I still don’t know much about this style- my favorite fado song was written by a Brazilian!

James, I just listened to the Veloso album that has "Os Argonautas" in it and thought you might like to know that:

a) Caetano's clearly trying to go for a Portuguese accent in his performance
b) The chorus is lifted from a poem by Fernando Pessoa

so it's still pretty Portuguese all things told!

Thanks! Knew the second thing, not the first.

I’ve actually been thinking about doing “Cambalache” at karoake and copying his version from that same album since he definitely doesn’t sing it in a Gardel tango style. I guess that would have been a bridge too far for him. Although maybe he does affect a bit of an Argentine accent.

Won't pretend I can identify accents in Spanish, but it is pretty interesting that Caetano has Spanish language tracks on both his first two albums and of course Tropicália. Later recorded a Spanish language album as well. Don't know if he has family connections, though otoh if anything it's surprising more Brazilian artists haven't recorded in Spanish - huge market next door, and v easy to master if you speak Portuguese. Well, maybe they do, and it's just so market-specific I don't hear about it, kinda like all those beat groups recording in German.

Interesting. Friend of mine recently remarked that Brazil has its own thing and people just don’t listen to much Spanish language music at all.