page_title: Music of Portugal
section_title: Fado
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Portugal / Lisbon Music / Fado
caption_attribution_description: Verdes Anos fado group
context_page_description: Portuguese music includes many different styles and genres, as a result of its history. These can be broadly divided into classical music, traditional/folk music and popular music and all of them have produced internationally successful acts, with the country seeing a recent expansion in musical styles, especially in popular music.
  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 Dulce Pontes and Mariza. The genre is one of two Portuguese music traditions in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists, with the other being Cante Alentejano. Regional folk music remains popular too, having been updated and modernized in many cases, especially in the northeastern region of Trás-os-Montes. Some more recent successful fado/folk-inspired acts include Madredeus and Deolinda, the latter being part of a folk revival that has led to a newfound interest in this type of music.
  In popular music, there is a significant number of popular genres. These include rock, with popular acts including Xutos & Pontapés, The Gift, Fingertips, Blasted Mechanism, Noctivagus and Wraygunn.
context_section_description: Fado is a musical style, which arose in Lisbon as the music of the urban poor. Fado songs are typically lyrically harsh, accompanied by a wire-strung acoustic guitar or the Portuguese Guitar. It is usually sung by solo performers, with the singer resigned to sadness, poverty, and loneliness, but remaining dignified and firmly controlled.
  In 2011, Fado was inscribed on Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.
  It is claimed that fado origins are older, going back to the 15th century, when women cried with longing for their husbands that sailed to the never-ending seas.
  Late in the 19th century, the city of Coimbra developed a distinctive scene.  Coimbra, a literary capital for the country, is now known for being more refined and majestic.  The sound has been described as "the song of those who retain and cherish their illusions, not of those who have irretrievably lost them" by Rodney Gallop in 1936.  A related form is the guitarradas of the 1920s and 30s, best known for Dr. Antonio Menano and a group of virtuoso musicians he formed, including Artur Paredes and José Joaquim Cavalheiro. Student fado, performed by students at Coimbra University, has maintained a tradition since it was pioneered in the 1890s by Augusto Hilário.
  Starting in 1939 with the career of Amália Rodrigues, fado was an internationally popular genre. A singer and film actress, Rodrigues made numerous stylistic innovations that have made her probably the most influential fadista of all time.
  A new generation of young musicians have contributed to the social and political revival of fado music, adapting and blending it with new trends. Contemporary fado musicians like Carminho, Mariza, Mísia and Camané have introduced the music to a new public. The sensuality of Misia and other female fadistas (fado singers) like Maria Ana Bobone, Cuca Roseta, Cristina Branco, Ana Moura, Katia Guerreiro, and Mariza has walked the fine line between carrying on the tradition of Amália Rodrigues and trying to bring in a new audience. Mísia and Carlos do Carmo  are also well-known fado singers.Ricardo Ribeiro and Miguel Capucho are one of the best male fado singers of the new generation.
  It was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2011.
caption: Fado group Verdes Anos (Coimbra Fado)
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