An Evening of Fado, and More

Ever since I first heard Maria do Ceo sing Fado on a summer night four years ago, at Rectoral de Castillon, a "casa rural" in Galicia, I've been a fan, both of Maria do Ceo and of Fado. (You can read my post about it HERE )  

The following spring, 2014, when my husband and I went to Braga, Portugal for the first time, a friend at the hotel suggested other famous Fado singers we should hear — Mariza, Amalia, Anna Moura — and we've both been hooked on Fado ever since.

So it was our special good fortune that fall to meet a Fadista in Braga, Mariza da Luz, and   

become friends with her. Since then we try to see her perform every time we go to Braga. (We had started going to Braga for research on a mystery I've written that is set in Braga.)

     

 

                                       

     

                                                           

                                                                        

                                                                    

                                                                               

                                                                

                                                                      

                                                                         

                                                                            

Last week was no exception. Originally we had heard her sing at a restaurant, but Saturday we heard her and several others sing at a dinner put on by a Fado Association. As you can see, Fado is emotional and expressive, pulling a listener into a different world — and the singer, as well. Traditionally a fadista is accompanies by two guitars: an acoustical guitar and a twelve-string  Portuguese guitar (which somewhat resembles a bouzouki with its bowl-shape, although they are not identical by any means.)

 

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Not every member of the association is interested in Fado as a career; some are simply aficionados who took turns singing during the dinner. All of the voices were good, though, and the ambience of the evening was full of hearty good will and a deep love of Fado. (Nearly everyone in the room could sing the chorus of every single song.)  

I'm always comparing Fado to opera, especially the serious/somber Fado, the Fado that dwells on fate and thwarted destiny. If you were to take one of the serious operas  and cram the essence of it into one aria, you'd have the depth of emotion and the lyricism of Fado.
But, like opera, Fado has a comic counterpart as well, and the gentleman at the far right in the top row sings these humorous Fados (although, as our friend, Marisa, pointed out, they often have a subtle serious overtone as well, inspiring the sort of chuckle that can fade with too much thought.)
                 
                  Too soon, it was over. At the end of the evening, all the singers gathered for final applause and photos.

Meanwhile, earlier in the day, a young man at Centésima Página, the bookstore/eatery we love to visit, told us a great deal about well-known fado singers and the history of Fado. He introduced us to a CD of Fadistas from Coimbra, a city famous for its male fadistas. The recordings are old and "tinny", in that they were recorded back in 1928, 1929, 1930. But all of the voices shine, their  power and expressiveness evident.  I've mentioned that Fado reminds me of opera, and this CD showed the operatic power of their voices. We left the store with a bag of CDs to enrich our musical library. As I have said before, I can never leave a bookstore empty-handed (even if it's CDs).

                                         Centésima Página - "The 100th Page"
                                  You can see the "100" in the window)

How about you? Do you like Fado? Opera? What is your favorite music? Do you love book stores and music stores?

An Evening of Fado and a Fadista to Remember

 One of the great traditions of Portugal is the unique music called Fado. I first heard Fado two years ago in Galicia, when Maria do Ceo sang at a  restaurant in a casa rural. (I blogged about her singing HERE and HERE.)

My next Fado discovery was the great Fadista, Marisa da Luz, in Braga, Portugal.

By the time my husband and I went to Braga last year to do research on a book I am writing, we were both hooked on Fado, and we especially wanted to find a place where we could hear it. We lucked out! Mercado das Tapas offers Fado every Thursday evening and a wonderful selection of tapas, as well as that great potato and kale soup called Caldo Verde.

At Mercado das Tapas, various Fadistas perform, but when we went last year we were fortunate to hear Marisa da Luz. We liked her so much that, when we knew we were going again early this month, we requested her. There are many things that make her such a good Fadista: To begin with, she has a beautiful voice with quite a range. But she also pours such feeling into her songs, they wring your heart.

There are cheerful songs in Fado, but the majority of songs deal with life, one's soul, fate. Fado has been called the Portuguese equivalent of American Blues, and to some extent, that's true. But to me the melodies are more complex and take one by surprise. Some tell a story. Some are philosophical. Some simply express the sadness of loss at a high level of poetry. Some of the lyrics are taken, in fact, from the poetry of one of Portugal's greatest and most mystical poets, Fernando Pessoa. Normally a Fadista is accompanied by two or three musicians. One or two will play guitar, and the remaining one will play a Portuguese guitar, which sounds very much like a mandolin.

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Fado is an art form like no other, and Marisa da Luz's voice and delivery rise to the demands of it. We predict that she is a rising star Fado lovers will hear of more and more.

Elegant and dramatic

She was the main singer of the evening, but three men took turns singing Fado, too, as many Fadistas are men, and this seems to be tradition.

Beautiful voice.

Great feeling

The humorous one.

As it turned out, it was Marisa da Luz's birthday, and she was celebrating it with her friends and family. Graciously she shared some champagne with us, and she let us take pictures of the party, as well as a couple of pictures with them! And with her! A very cordial, down to earth lady.

The woman behind me on your
right is one of the owners.

She gave us champagne!

A wonderful group of people as
you can see.

I was really honored.

Thank you, Marisa da Luz, for an inspiring evening full of wonderful song.


Next week: Some of our favorite places in Braga, and a wonderful tour guide.

Meanwhile, what is your favorite music to listen to? Have you heard Fado? If so, do you like it?

A Wonderful Fado Singer

With blog problems these past few days, I'm behind in my posting. Last Friday was a fabulous evening at Torre Vilariño (a later post and photos will come), and we spent both Saturday and Sunday in Monforte enjoying the Medieval Faire (again, a later post and pictures will come).

First, though, I have to share a concert we attended in Quiroga by a fabulous fadista (Fado singer)— María do Ceo. She's very popular here and famous worldwide.

I first heard María do Ceo sing last June when she gave a concert at Rectoral de Castillon. At that time, I bought the CD shown to your left, and I blogged about it HERE.  It was an unforgettable evening, and my first exposure to Fado. (That was when Rajan and I we were taking turns with trips while the other nursed our ailing dog during his last days.) When I returned home and played the CD for Rajan, he loved Fado. Attending one of her concerts became a priority for this trip.

We went with friends Craig and Melanie, who hadn't heard Fado before, and they became converts, too. At the end of the concert, we gathered with others to get María do Ceo's autograph. She is a remarkable performer, and very down-to-earth and unpretentious after performances. Everyone was having their picture taken with her, and she welcomed us to have our picture with her too. What a treat!

After a long concert, she
still had buoyant energy
as she signed autographs.

She took time to converse
with people who lingered.
A truly gracious person.

She remembered my name (from FB
and the early blogpost.) A very
modest celebrity who makes you
feel welcome and at home.

I enjoyed introducing her and Rajan.

She was kept pretty
busy with autographs.

You can go to her website and see her CD's HERE.

We bought a new CD that we enjoy as much as the first one, and now I wish I had bought more. Each one is unique. The one we bought isn't shown in the Discography section on her website above. But there are many performances by her on YouTube at this site, so you can get a feel for her singing.

Fado, as I mentioned in my earlier post, is a distinctive art form of Portugal, similar in one sense to American Blues, in that it is emotional and comes from deep in the heart and soul. But Fado has a variety of influences, one of them Moorish, and you can hear that in the warbling minor trills in some of the songs. The word itself means "Fate." Usually the songs are about deep yearning and thwarted dreams. Some of them can have a cheerful beat, but it's a fatalistic cheer, dealing with life's outcomes. It's not depressing, though. It's a response to what life deals you. I'm hooked on Fado, and if I can find another Fado concert, I will. Unfortunately, we will be gone before María do Ceo's next concerts in Galicia, but we will watch her schedule and hope to hear her during our next visit in the fall.

María do Ceo is from Portugal, but she lives in Ourense, Galicia. Her songs are in Portuguese, but her singing is quite popular all over Galicia. Gallego, or Galego, or Galician—all are accepted names for the Galician language—is a sister language to Portuguese, so all her songs are understandable to Galicians. I read recently that Gallego and Portuguese share 85% of vocabulary. Our neighbors, in fact, have told us if we knew Portuguese, we would be able to understand Gallego.

Meanwhile, I hope you will visit her website and enjoy the video site HERE. I strongly recommend "Lela" and "Negra Sombe". But, really, they are all good.

How about you? Do you have favorite music genre? A favorite singer? Please share.

Fado - An Unforgettable Night In Galicia, Spain

Back to my recent trip to Galicia, Spain:

One evening in particular stands out. It was the 24th of June, the night that the moon was so much closer than usual to earth, a good setting for the music I heard that night, a music that pulled emotions closer to the surface of one's heart -- that haunting genre of singing born in Portugal, Fado.


I sat with friends, David and Terry and Marta at the Rectoral de Castillon, a lovely casa rural near Goian and Ferreira that offers fine meals in its unique restaurant as well as lodgings for travelers. My husband and I have eaten there several times with Terri and David. This night, Rajan was home in California, taking care of our ailing dog. Terri and David picked me up, and Marta joined us, for a dinner celebrating Rectoral de Castillon's tenth year in operation. (More information about Rectoral de Castillon can be found below.) But here is a picture of how the tables are set up inside: 

A delicious meal served inside was followed by an evening of song outside.

Space heaters warmed the courtyard where after dinner tables had been set up. The walkway above the stairs to the courtyard had become a stage with lights and amplifiers and a microphone. Two men sat on either side, one with a guitar, the other with a mandolin. Night had fallen (dinners are late in Spain). The stage was bright. The audience was expectant. The fadista, María do Ceo -- a petite woman with doe eyes and a demure smile -- quietly walked to the microphone. She wore a long black gown. A simple black shawl draped over her shoulders. She paused. The audience quieted. She began to sing. 

This was the first time I heard fado, although a writer friend of mine has talked enthusiastically about it for years. I had thought it merely the “popular” music of another country, much like the popular music that dominates our top ten and top forty charts in America. Nice. Cool. Etc. But this was so much more: The pathos in the voice, the phrasing, the nuances, the melody line—they all reach out and transport a listener to another time and place.

Fado is about fate, destiny, about how things can go wrong and what one is left with. Fado is a particular genre of Portugese song that dates back in record to the 1800s, but even earlier by word of mouth. Its roots are in cities, most notably Porto, Lisbon, and Coimbra. It became popular originally among the poor and unfortunate, was sung on the streets and in taverns. There are hints of a Moorish influence. (Portugal has always been a crossroads of cultures.) The music is characteristically sad, nostalgic, full of longing, recalling star-crossed dreams, lost loves, bitter-sweet memories. Its deepest roots reach into the human heart. The lyrics have evolved in modern times into a complex structure as well. Today's Fado is as soulful as the blues, as poetic as a sonnet. It's a genre like no other.

Originally from Porto, Portugal, María do Ceo is very popular in Galicia. (When I mention to my neighbors, Eva and Monolo, that I had heard a wonderful Fado singer, they immediately said, in unison, “¡Maria do Ceo!”) She is also famous throughout Europe and South America. Her voice is particularly expressive, and even though I couldn’t understand a word of Portuguese, I was deeply moved during every song. In the chill air, under a star-glittered sky, her voice told story after story. 

Here are two examples of her performances on You Tube:

Lela  and  Negra sombra  

                                                                                                                                                               You can also visit her bandpage on Facebook and listen to three more songs to get an idea of the full range of her artistry. The disc shown on this page is the disc I bought and brought home for my husband to hear, and he is now a fan.  

Visit, too, Rectoral de Castillon, which hosted this wonderful event:
The hosts are charming, the atmosphere is elegant, the prices are reasonable, and the food is delicious.

 

You can contact them and like them at Facebook

You can also learn more about their lodging accommodations on Trip Advisor

And you can learn more about Fado here and HERE.

What about you? Do you have a favorite musical form that touches you like no other? If you listened to the above songs, did one move you more than the others? If so, which one?

"Estranha forma de vida" - Strange Form of Life

                   

A little follow up regarding my chapbook: Yesterday I received the exciting news from the publisher that Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing, was the featured Book of the Day.

FINISHING LINE PRESS BOOK OF THE DAY:
Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing by Elizabeth Varadan

https://www.finishinglinepress.com/…/saudade-thirty-poems-…/

With my bio:

Elizabeth Varadan was born in Reno, Nevada, and was raised in California. She graduated from University of California, Berkeley with a major in history and a minor in English. A former elementary teacher, she and her husband live in Sacramento, California, but travel to Spain and Portugal. Her children’s books include Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls (2015), Dragonella, (English Edition, 2016; Spanish Edition, 2017), and Carnival of the Animals (2018). Her stories, flash fiction, and poetry for adults have appeared innumerous online and print magazines.

and blurbs:

ADVANCE PRAISE FOR Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing by Elizabeth Varadan

Elizabeth Varadan‘s first book of poetry, Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing, is aptly named. The first saudade speaks eloquently of longing as “a yearning for what was, what could have been but was stillborn” and later in another poem she relates that in saudade there are no returns nor arrivals. In this book, Portugal, a country she loves becomes a place we know as she brings us poems of fado—like the blues. She speaks eloquently of our troubled land and of loss echoing my sadness for America. The four saudades in this book frame a lovely unity. Phantoms of promise in the third bring us to a place of keeping the heart dormant so that in the fourth we learn to trust again. This first book is a beautiful read, not to be missed.
–Allegra Jostad Silberstein, Poet Laureate for the city of Davis 2010-2012

In Saudade, Thirty Poems of Longing, Elizabeth Varadan reckons with an untranslatable Portuguese word, the title of this exquisite chapbook, in order to evoke a universal emotion: longing for what was lost, missing, never fully known, never truly experienced. Music, poetry, and travel offer her poignant glimpses of this evanescent but irrepressible condition, which comes close to love but escapes, sometimes into the thin air of memory. Yet once saudade has been evoked, other emotions emerge in Varadan’s poems: nostalgia, terror, sorrow, dread, and hope all appear and fade into a muted acceptance of fate. What lingers is the haunting echo of the fado, the quintessentially Portuguese blues that Varadan too sings, quietly, and with perfect phrasing.
–Bradley W. Buchanan, Professor Emeritus, Department of English, California State University, Sacramento

In this short, cohesive collection, Elizabeth Varadan steeps us in saudade, that peculiarly Portuguese feeling of regretful longing, and we emerge, ironically and gratefully, more hopeful for the immersion.
–Naomi J. Williams, Author of Landfalls (Farrar, Straus & Giroux 2015)

RESERVE YOUR COPY TODAY, PREORDER SHIPS FEBRUARY 14, 2020
https://www.finishinglinepress.com/…/saudade-thirty-poems-…/
#poetrylovers #now #reading #FLP #poetry

But today I want to share two poems from the collection. 
 One is a tribute to Amalia Rodrigues, known during her lifetime as "The Queen of Fado." I was moved to write this poem because, once I knew I wanted to write about Saudade, I recalled the newsreel I had seen of her funeral procession on YouTube. She was such a beloved icon in Portugal! When she died, the government declared three days of national mourning. If you watch HERE, wait until the procession leaves the church: As the crowd response is shown, this eerily beautiful song — one of her signature songs — plays.  You can get an idea of her fabulous, emotional voice. If you want to know the complete translation of the song, you can go HERE . And here is a public domain picture of her when she was mid-career: 

And now, here is my poem for Amalia:

AMALIA

“Estranha forma de vida . . ..”

(“Strange form of life . . ..”)

Her voice conveyed 

the sad arias and 

bright moments from the

opera that was 

her life. 

Vibrato of pain,

soaring cry of despair,

rise and fall of story,

sweetness, humor—

and always the

longing.

“Strange form of life . . ..”

In an old, flickering 

newsreel they carried the

casket out, while musicians 

wept, crowds wept,

I wept.

The second poem reflects my hopes for our country despite the troubled times we are going through. I think it is pretty self-explanatory:

NIGHT

Night falls, drawing a curtain 

across another day of longing 

for a kinder vision. 

The moon travels its lonely 

path, lost among stars. 

The stars keep their distance 

in the dark, silent night.   

Constellations wheel round in 

the abyss of space. 

And I, at the window,

yearn for signs of promise in 

the new break of day.  

Most of the poetry  in my chapbook is on the philosophical side. If you are a poetry lover, what kind of poetry do you like?