The History of Fado

There will be plenty to be discovered about the history of Fado, however we leave in this article some curiosities about it.

The word Fado means destiny and came from born from the Latin word Fathum, celebrating destiny, melancholy, longing, a story that is believed to have been born in the 19th century with the arrival of the Portuguese royal family from Brazil, as it is thought that Fado also descends from Afro-Brazilian music.

The History of Fado

Portuguese music, traditional from Lisbon, although Fado is also sung in Coimbra, but differently, in Coimbra only with men, different from the Lisbon Fado that can be singed by female.

The first and best known Fadista was Maria Severa, who was a prostitute and lover of the illustrious Count of Vimioso would eventually “take” Fado to the High Aristocracy, who until now were not fond of this type of music from low strata.

Always spontaneously, Fado was sung inside and outside doors,  gardens, in bullfights, in streets and alleys, with urban lyrics, about daily life, very connected with marginality and also environments frequented by prostitutes, sailors, cowboys and marialvas.

Fado is accompanied by two guitars; the classical guitar and the Portuguese guitar,  with twelve strings and with a much more metallic sound, during the dictatorship Fado would end up being used political composites, having been censored and even changed the lyrics to appeal to the unification of the country, promoting family values .

Fado

When the dictatorial regime fell, Fado also fell, because the younger generations “mistrusted” Fado, already in the 1980s a new era of Fadistas was born, among them the most famous Marisa.

In 1999, the icon of World Fado, Amalia Rodrigues, dies. In the funeral ceremonies there were about 100,000 people, a true state funeral, which ends up indicating the connection of the Portuguese with Fado.

A visit to Lisbon will never be complete without a visit to a restaurant with traditional Fado, ask us right now how …