Article
The Third "F": Part I - A Singing Nation
Author: Edward Porper
Jesuit monks weren't the only Portuguese who would be ordered to leave their country never to return. Marquis de Pombal wasn't the only authoritarian ruler in Portuguese history.
Maritime explorations turned Portugal into a superpower by extending its reach to overseas countries and using those countries' resources to eventually bring about Portuguese Golden Age. Initially, the new colonies were managed by local elites cooperating with Portuguese ship captains and military commanders to secure a flow of goods and slaves. At some point, a more permanent solution became necessary, and Portuguese authorities decided to build fortresses throughout their overseas territories. The first Portuguese to settle and maintain such fortresses were the so-called "degredados/degraded" - mainly, convicts and social dissidents. Eventually, more people were needed, and adventure-seeking volunteers weren't enough to fully meet the demand - so, the Crown turned to the general population. Decrees were issues demanding that a certain percentage of men from underprivileged communities should relocate to the New World. Their families were not allowed to join them (later, that aspect of the policy changed but the first generation of involuntary settlers had to go alone). The harsh new reality meant many broken families and many more broken hearts.
Human beings aren't unique when it comes to experiencing and coping with grief. Many social animals suffer if they get separated from their loved ones - through death or for any other reason - and both physiological and behavioral patterns of their suffering (withdrawal, depression, loss of appetite and suchlike) are very similar to those manifested by humans. There is only one exception: homo sapiens are the only species that can turn their grief into art by using it as an inspiration for stories and songs. Such songs, combining extreme sadness with idealization (the irretrievably lost past often seems happier than it might have been in reality), are so distinct that they earned a special name: laments.
Portuguese laments added a new twist to the tale of the genre by heavily focusing on the cruel fate that robbed the authors of the songs of their lovers, husbands or fathers (unsophisticated creators were likely unable to trace their plight to the human agents). The emphasis was so strong that the sub-genre eventually grew into a separate form of art named after its main protagonist - Fado (which is Portuguese word for "fate"). Once established, the new artform opened the floodgates by welcoming everybody who felt pain and sadness mixed with longing. Uprooted slaves brought to Portugal from overseas colonies, families of soldiers died in battle, or sailors who were gone for years, and even young women whose parents wouldn't allow them to marry their sweethearts - all those and many others found consolation in melancholic songs filled with that emotional mixture. Portuguese word for the "longing"- "saudade" - became the calling card of the genre.
So big and authentic was the need, and so genuine the passion that what started centuries ago as a spontaneous reaction of affected underprivileged communities has grown into a fabric of Portuguese national identity. Today's Portugal is unimaginable without fado that is simply about everywhere. Every region and most major cities and towns have their own style of fado. Fado performances are on offer everywhere - from specialized "fado houses" to theatres and restaurants/cafes. Many of them are informal and free of charge: anybody can come to a participating cafe at a scheduled time and enjoy music for 45 minutes to an hour
Performances held in theatres or concert halls are more formal and even solemn. For one, they inspire a dress-code without demanding it - even if it's a minor point.
A fado singer is always accompanied by two guitarists, and the three of them are the very incarnation of Portuguese soul immortalized in a sculpture (in the cover picture) decorating the pedestrian street that leads to a fado cafe in the heart of Coimbra.