The fruits of Melancholia
With its little words and big emotions, fado is the music of sadness whose beauty keeps us happy. Stanley Borg speaks to fado singer Cristina Branco
Saudade is a stone of a word that shivers ripples in the sea of a thousand meanings; harking a melancholic yearning for a happy memory that might return; a present of constant desire for that which has been lost to the past. A Portuguese word that has no direct English translation, saudade is what Derrida would have called a pharmakon, a word that is both remedy and poison.
Its Portuguese origins explain why saudade is the word that best leads to the understanding and appreciation of fado, that deep and soulful traditional song that haunts the western tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
The origins of one of the oldest forms of urban folk music are not clear. Some claim that it was grafted on a dance that came from Africa in the 19th century, and which was adopted by the poor in the streets of Lisbon. Others say fado owes to the melodic songs of homesick Portuguese sailors, originally sung to the rhythms and emotions that a lonely ship on a lonely sea can stir.
Sang for pleasure but also to ease the pain of life, this music of love and betrayal, death and despair reached the heights of popularity in the first half of the 20th century. Until then, fado was sung in the taverns and brothels of Alfama and Mouraria, Lisbon's poorer areas. Yet the dictatorship of Salazar forced fado performers to become professional, and confined them to perform in revistas, or fado houses.
Following years of decline, fado was rediscovered and transformed by a younger generation of Portuguese singers, who adapted and blended the genre with new trends to simultaneously carry the tradition and attract a new audience.
One of the most important singers of this new generation, Cristina Branco, grew up far from the fado houses of Lisbon, and until her 18th birthday, was only interested in folk, jazz, blues and bossa nova. Then her grandfather gave her the album Rara e Inédita by Amália Rodrigues, and she embarked on the voyage which would lead her to become the world-renowned fado singer she is today.
"At the time, I was also reading communication studies and pursuing my ambition to become a journalist," Ms Branco says. "But then, I soon realised that I could dedicate myself to another form of communication, fado, that is more effective and has a higher purpose."
"Rather than a revolution," she continues, "what I am involved in is a renaissance of a music that must remain rooted in tradition and form. We have to respect such an old and vivid style, and it is through such respect that we can learn about what it can be and which direction to follow."
Each of Ms Branco's albums contains the germ of the one that follows it. Sensus, her last disk, was an exploration of the erotic vein that first seduced in her previous album, Corpo Illuminado. Ulisses evokes the wandering, leaving and returning that hints to the origin of fado as music of the sea and the loneliness it inspires.
"Being Mediterranean brings us in contact with the sea, but essentially, everyone has the tendency to be fatalistic. Fado is traditionally melancholic, yet it gives hope because it celebrates life without any artifice. Everything that life contains is part of being alive, and song can be an exploration and a form of exorcism."
"The name 'fado' comes from the Latin 'fatum', which means destiny. The appropriation of the term as the name of this genre of music was almost immediate as almost from the beginning, fado was the musical expression of prostitutes and pimps. Saudade, on the other hand, is almost a synonym that condensates several states of mind for hard, irreversible and drastic feelings."
The fado singer is traditionally accompanied by a number of guitarists: Classical, acoustic bass, guitar and Portuguese guitar, which establish the tempo. The base to play fado music is the fado corridor, which resembles the music that jesters played when travelling from one village to another. There is also the theory that the Portuguese guitar appeared in Europe as the accompaniment for a Congolese dance called Lundum. Others say that its origins are more distant, and that it is a close relative to the lyre used in Ancient Greece.
There are two different tunes for the Portuguese guitar; the Lisbon and the Coimbra. Each tune necessitates a different guitar shape; the Lisbon guitar ends in a curl, while the Coimbra ends in the shape of a tear. The importance of the guitar in fado comes from the fact that the instrument has common roots, and there is great passion in playing an instrument just by hearing its sounds and trying to pressure the fingers against the strings.
The lyrics, on the other hand, are poetry. Ms Branco mixes the traditional fado with themes and folk songs that are personal favourites, and always seems to choose the words of the best Portuguese poets with discretion. With her beautiful voice, Ms Branco aims to merge lyrics with music and make the listener experience them as inseparable.
"Even when performing, I remain a very private person," Ms Branco adds. "My voice is the instrument of my own liberation. I close my eyes and go away. The audience is welcome to join in."
• The Embassy of Portugal in Malta is presenting Cristina Branco in concert tomorrow at the Manoel Theatre. Tickets may be obtained by phone on 2124 6389 or by e-mail: bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt
Its Portuguese origins explain why saudade is the word that best leads to the understanding and appreciation of fado, that deep and soulful traditional song that haunts the western tip of the Iberian Peninsula.
The origins of one of the oldest forms of urban folk music are not clear. Some claim that it was grafted on a dance that came from Africa in the 19th century, and which was adopted by the poor in the streets of Lisbon. Others say fado owes to the melodic songs of homesick Portuguese sailors, originally sung to the rhythms and emotions that a lonely ship on a lonely sea can stir.
Sang for pleasure but also to ease the pain of life, this music of love and betrayal, death and despair reached the heights of popularity in the first half of the 20th century. Until then, fado was sung in the taverns and brothels of Alfama and Mouraria, Lisbon's poorer areas. Yet the dictatorship of Salazar forced fado performers to become professional, and confined them to perform in revistas, or fado houses.
Following years of decline, fado was rediscovered and transformed by a younger generation of Portuguese singers, who adapted and blended the genre with new trends to simultaneously carry the tradition and attract a new audience.
One of the most important singers of this new generation, Cristina Branco, grew up far from the fado houses of Lisbon, and until her 18th birthday, was only interested in folk, jazz, blues and bossa nova. Then her grandfather gave her the album Rara e Inédita by Amália Rodrigues, and she embarked on the voyage which would lead her to become the world-renowned fado singer she is today.
"At the time, I was also reading communication studies and pursuing my ambition to become a journalist," Ms Branco says. "But then, I soon realised that I could dedicate myself to another form of communication, fado, that is more effective and has a higher purpose."
"Rather than a revolution," she continues, "what I am involved in is a renaissance of a music that must remain rooted in tradition and form. We have to respect such an old and vivid style, and it is through such respect that we can learn about what it can be and which direction to follow."
Each of Ms Branco's albums contains the germ of the one that follows it. Sensus, her last disk, was an exploration of the erotic vein that first seduced in her previous album, Corpo Illuminado. Ulisses evokes the wandering, leaving and returning that hints to the origin of fado as music of the sea and the loneliness it inspires.
"Being Mediterranean brings us in contact with the sea, but essentially, everyone has the tendency to be fatalistic. Fado is traditionally melancholic, yet it gives hope because it celebrates life without any artifice. Everything that life contains is part of being alive, and song can be an exploration and a form of exorcism."
"The name 'fado' comes from the Latin 'fatum', which means destiny. The appropriation of the term as the name of this genre of music was almost immediate as almost from the beginning, fado was the musical expression of prostitutes and pimps. Saudade, on the other hand, is almost a synonym that condensates several states of mind for hard, irreversible and drastic feelings."
The fado singer is traditionally accompanied by a number of guitarists: Classical, acoustic bass, guitar and Portuguese guitar, which establish the tempo. The base to play fado music is the fado corridor, which resembles the music that jesters played when travelling from one village to another. There is also the theory that the Portuguese guitar appeared in Europe as the accompaniment for a Congolese dance called Lundum. Others say that its origins are more distant, and that it is a close relative to the lyre used in Ancient Greece.
There are two different tunes for the Portuguese guitar; the Lisbon and the Coimbra. Each tune necessitates a different guitar shape; the Lisbon guitar ends in a curl, while the Coimbra ends in the shape of a tear. The importance of the guitar in fado comes from the fact that the instrument has common roots, and there is great passion in playing an instrument just by hearing its sounds and trying to pressure the fingers against the strings.
The lyrics, on the other hand, are poetry. Ms Branco mixes the traditional fado with themes and folk songs that are personal favourites, and always seems to choose the words of the best Portuguese poets with discretion. With her beautiful voice, Ms Branco aims to merge lyrics with music and make the listener experience them as inseparable.
"Even when performing, I remain a very private person," Ms Branco adds. "My voice is the instrument of my own liberation. I close my eyes and go away. The audience is welcome to join in."
• The Embassy of Portugal in Malta is presenting Cristina Branco in concert tomorrow at the Manoel Theatre. Tickets may be obtained by phone on 2124 6389 or by e-mail: bookings@teatrumanoel.com.mt