NEW GOLDEN AGE – COMENIUS PROJECTPORTUGUESE MUSIC

The music of Portugal includes many different styles and genres, as a result of its history:

classical musictraditional/folk musicpopular musicAll of them have produced

internationally successful acts.

In traditional/folk music, fado has had a significant impact, with Amália Rodrigues still the most recognizable Portuguese name in music, and with more recent acts, like Mariza or Cristina Branco or Ana Moura.

In popular music, there is a significant number of popular genres. These include rock, with popular acts including Xutos & Pontapés, The Gift (alternative rock), Fingertips (pop rock), Blasted Mechanism (experimental electro-rock) and Wraygunn (rock, blues).

FADO

Fado (fate in Portuguese) arose in Lisbon as the music of the urban poor. Fado songs are typically lyrically harsh, with the singer resigned to sadness, poverty and loneliness, but remaining dignified and firmly controlled.

FADO

Many claim that fado origins are much older, back to the 15th century, when women cried with longing for their husbands that went to the never sailed seas; others also claim that Arabic inprint in Fado is visible, especially in instruments. Arabs left Portugal in the 13th century, but their influence in crafts and music prevailed. Fado is often sung with a Portuguese guitar.

TO SHOW YOU THE BEST OF FADO, WE CHOSE TO PRESENT YOU TWO SONGS: ONE BY AMÁLIA RODRIGUES («COM QUE VOZ») AND ANOTHER ONE FROM CRISTINA BRANCO, THE MOST WELL-KNOWN PORTUGUESE SINGER IN THE NETHERLANDS («SETE PEDAÇOS DE VENTO»)

POLITICAL MUSIC (MÚSICA DE INTERVENÇÃO) During the reign of the fascist

regime music was widely used by the left-wing resistance as a way to say what could not be said, singing about freedom, equality and democracy, mainly through metaphors and symbols.

POLITICAL MUSIC

Many composers and singers became famous and persecuted by the political police, some of them being arrested or exiled, such as

Zeca Afonso, Paulo de Carvalho, José Mário Branco, Sérgio Godinho, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Manuel Freire, Fausto, Vitorino, Júlio Pereira, and some others.

TO ILUSTRATE THE POLICAL MUSIC, WE CHOSE "GRÂNDOLA, VILA MORENA“ , A PORTUGUESE SONG BY ZECA AFONSO, THAT TELLS OF THE FRATERNITY AMONG THE PEOPLE OF GRÂNDOLA, A TOWN IN THE ALENTEJO REGION OF PORTUGAL.

FAUSTO BORDALO DIAS, APOLOGIST OF THE PORTUGUESE MUSIC AND CULTURE, COMPOSES EACH ALBUM LIKE SOMEONE WHO IS TELLING A STORY, FROM THE FIRST TO THE LAST SONG..«POR ESTE RIO ACIMA» IS ONE OF THE ALBUMS ABOUT THE PORTUGUESE DISCOVERIES. THE NAME OF THIS SONG IS «O BARCO VAI DE SAÍDA».

POPULAR MUSIC

Popular music includes a large variety of genres and famous names.

To present you, we chose Tim from Xutos & Pontapés singing in a duet with Tara Perdida, a Portuguese punk rock band.

This song is recent and talks about someone who sees Lisbon for the first time and wants to stay… but has to go away, as it will happen with the most of you… and as it happen to all the Portuguese spread all over the world… so we chose it to end the lesson about Portuguese music. Hope you will enjoy it!!