Fado in the Kansas City Summer Heat

Last weekend Shay and Jordan had the chance to perform a few fados with their Brazilian group Mistura Fina, which includes Michael McClintock on guitar in the video below, during their performance for the Kansas City Guitar Society's "Concert in the Park" series this past Sunday (see very rough video below). I was struck by the audience’s response to the fado we performed.  It was at the end of an hour set and it was over 100 degrees but the audience seemed renewed, excited, and surprised by the fado and the contrast between the Brazilian music we were performing and the Portuguese fado. It seems that fado can not be performed without demanding attention and quiet from the audience which I think is in line with the conservative and traditional nature of how fado is performed (referring to the black shoal and how the vocalist is to hold a certain pose and not move their bodies too overtly). It was striking how the mood of the performance changed for the final three pieces as we performed a selection of modern fado including Rosa Branca and O Gente da Minha Terrra originally performed by Mariza, and Os Buzios originally performed by Ana Moura (See video below for a short rough clip of Os Buzios).

~Jordan

 

Learning the history fado - Jordan Shipley

I have been working on general transcriptions and arrangements of a handful of modern fado composition and new recordings of classic fado but just recently started to embark on learning about the traditional forms of fado and the characteristics that define each form. We are in the process of filling out are set list and I am excited about the great resources we already have that will make us able to add in great songs that will be examples of the wide range of fado forms. Reading through translations that we have been able to find and doing my best rough translations from my knowledge of Brazilian Portuguese is a great lesson in the cultural history of Portugal, and especially of Lisbon and Coimbra, as many of the songs are a beautiful description of the life of the people in different neighborhoods in those cities. There are many nostalgic love songs for each city and their diverse various neighborhoods.

The evolution of fado, from the different musical influences absorbed by fado over the years, to the different castes of society that took part in the creation of the music is very fascinating to me. I look forward to reading more about how fado went from the music of those in society who were looked down upon and on the fringes of society, to being performed by Portuguese royalty. I have read in Donald Cohen's book "Fado Portugues" that the term fadista was at one time used as an insult to anyone believed to be unseemly or outcast from society, and I am fascinated to learn more about that transition and the history of fado.