Fado

~~Conçao~~¹ Canção Do Mar (Song of the Sea) by Dulce Pontes was my introduction to Fado. The song featured in a scene of the movie Primal Fear. I fell in love with it the moment I heard it. Those were the pre-Internet days in India and I couldn’t locate a CD anywhere. I finally found it at a music shop at Schiphol while waiting for a connecting flight to the US a few years ago. The connection between Fado, me and Amsterdam came up again last year (some 8 years after I found the CD) when I caught a performance of Dulce Pontes live at the Concertgebouw.

Since then I’ve discovered other Fado artists that have reenforced my love for the music. I wanted to attend a live Fado performance at one of the Fado houses in Lisbon but that didn’t work out during this trip. We did however come across a band of student musicians that made beautiful music:

And thanks to all the walking we did in Alfama, I think I understand Fado a little better.

P.S. The graffiti in the first picture reminded me of Mario Miranda. Perhaps not surprising, given that Goa was a Portuguese Colony till 1961 (a good 14 years after the British left). I am constantly surprised at how much the history books in school omitted.

Thanks for the correction Bruno!↩︎

Date

October 25, 2012

Up next

Changing seasons and cameras Come October and the days in Amsterdam begin to get shorter. It’s the late, 8:30 AM sunrise that you notice first. Though with the sun still setting

Previously

The trams of Lisbon The number of tourists we saw photographing the trams in Lisbon made us wonder if the they were being kept running for their novelty value alone.