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Because we breathe the essence of Lusitanian fado in our restaurant, today we decided to bring you an article that explains the origins of fado and its preponderance in the Portuguese capital, as a symbol of identity of our culture.
Fado, a word that derives from the Latin fatum and means ‘fate’, is a Portuguese musical style that is usually sung by one person, accompanied by a classical guitar and a Portuguese guitar.
Nowadays, it is presented as a representative symbol of Portugal in the world, being considered a form of artistic expression that best elucidates Portuguese identity and culture.
The first registers that connect fado to music remount to the end of the XIX century, it is verified that until this moment the word fado was not related with any musical practice. Thus, the word fado as a musical expression will have appeared for the first time in 1874, when it was already a clearly active and proven practice in Portuguese society.
The origin of fado is a question that has always been in the centre of debate of the investigators of this theme, due to the little bibliography that has been diffused. Thus, until today there have been diverse enunciations that point to the possible origins.
A popular explanation that refers to the origin of the Lisbon fado is the Moorish songs. However, this is not entirely proven.
The fado only became known after 1840, in the streets of Lisbon. At this time, only the sailor’s fado was known and it was sung by the sailors on the prow of the ship. This became the model for all the other fado genres that appeared later, such as fado corrido. With this came the fadistas, with their characteristic ways of dressing and unconventional attitudes. These were recognized by their way of dressing.
Maria Severa Onofriana was the mythical representative of the Lisbon fado of the mid-19th century, identified as the first woman to sing, play and dance fado.
She represented and still represents, therefore, the popular songs of the Portuguese people, who resort to fado to express their main feelings.
A SEVERA | Since 1955