Music of Portugal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Portugal is internationally known in the music scene for its traditions of fado, but the country has seen a recent expansion in musical styles, with modern acts from rock to hip hop becoming popular, as the new generations reject much of the past traditions. If Amália is still the most reconizable Portuguese name in music, today the biggest exportations are bands like Moonspell (metal), Madredeus (fado and folk inspired), Da Weasel (hip hop) or Wraygunn (rock, blues). Regional folk music remains popular though, having been updated and modernized in many cases, especially the northeastern region of Trás-os-Montes.
A crucial concept in Portuguese music is saudade, which can be most closely translated as yearning, but has a more expansive meaning. Saudade is said to be requisite for musicians, as it powers their performances and causes frenzied crowd reactions.
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[edit] 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 is said to have been born in the beginning of the 19th century in Lisbon, when immigrants from Brazil were commonplace, and their music was the fofa and lundum dances. These were often crude and vilified by the upper-class at the time, but soon became the basis for fado. Portuguese literature, especially the quatrain couplets and modinha ballads, were another integral part of early fado, but fado had appeared by 1836, when Maria Severa sang a fado so beautifully that she seduced and ruined the Conde de Vimisio. References to what may have been fado appear in Brazil in 1829, while modern fado is known since at least 1910, when it was first recorded. 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 sang with a Portuguese guitar.
Late in the 19th century, the city of Coimbra developed a distinctive fado 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 whose who retain and cherish their illusions, not of those who have irretrievably lost them" by Rodney Gallop in 1936. A related form are 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, have 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 rival in terms of influence is José Afonso, who began performing in the 1950s; he was a popular roots-based musician that led the Portuguese roots revival. With artists like Sérgio Godinho and Luís Cília, Afonso helped form nova canção music, which, after the 1974 revolution, gained socially-aware lyrics and became canto livre. The biggest name in canto livre was Brigada Victor Jara, a group that seriously studied and were influenced by Portuguese regional music.
[edit] Regional folk music
Recent events have helped keep Portuguese regional folk traditions alive, most especially including the worldwide roots revival of the 1960s and 70s.
[edit] Trás-os-Montes
Trás-os-Montes' musical heritage is closely related to the music of Galicia, Cantabria and Asturias. Traditional bagpipes (gaita-de-fole transmontana), a cappella vocals and a unique musical scale with equal semitones have kept alive a vital tradition. Some of the songs from this region are in the archaic language of Mirandês, including the most prominent group Galandum Galundaina, who have rejected a claim of Celtic heritage like their neighbors in Galicia and Asturias, instead focussing on the Arab influence.
The gaita-de-fole transmontana is similar to the Galician gaita de fol, but has only one drone (like the Asturian bagpipes) and a more variable scale. It is played accompanied only by drums, usually played in a group along with the caixa and bomba, both kinds of drums found also in Galician ensembles.
[edit] Baixo Alentejo
Baixo Alentejo, in the south of Portugal, is a region known for its extant polyphonic singing groups, comparable to those found on Sardinia and Corsica. Its music carries a significative influence of the ancient Arab populations.
[edit] Political music
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. Many composers and singers became famous and persecuted by the political police, some of them being arrested or exiled, such as Zeca Afonso, José Mário Branco, Sérgio Godinho, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Manuel Freire, Fausto, Vitorino, Júlio Pereira and some others. After the Carnation Revolution, that same music was used to support left-wing parties. Political ideas and causes, like the agrarian reform, socialism, equality, democratic elections, free education and many other were a constant presence in these songs lyrics, often written by well-known poets like José Barata Moura, Manuel Alegre or Ary dos Santos.
[edit] Reggae and Ska
More underground but very prominent is Portuguese reggae and ska. Some of the more famous bands of these types include Primitive Reason, Three and a Quarter and Purocracy. This music is popular among young people, with its main roots based in Lisbon and the surrounding areas. In 2004/2005, it was a born a wave of Portuguese bands doing noise rock and psych improvisation music, like Fish & Sheep, Frango, CAVEIRA, Tropa Macaca, Lobster, Dance Damage and DOPO.
[edit] Rock, Hip Hop, and other modern acts
An example of a popular Portuguese rock band, having a long history, is Xutos e Pontapés who've been playing for over 25 years and are known to everyone[citation needed]. Well known solo singers include Rui Veloso, Pedro Abrunhosa, Jorge Palma and Sérgio Godinho, among others. Portuguese rap include performers such as Boss AC.
Besides Moonspell, the Portuguese metal band that finds most success in the world[citation needed], and Madredeus, the best-selling band that explores traditional elements[citation needed], there are other notorious modern acts, such as Da Weasel (hip hop), Boss AC (hip hop), RAMP (metal), Faithfull (soft rock), David Fonseca (pop rock), Riding Pânico (post rock), Linda Martini (indie rock) or Ornatos Violeta (indie rock), among many others.
In electronica, Underground Sound of Lisbon was a musical project that brought international attention to the Portuguese DJs, namely Rui da Silva - the only Portuguese musician to reach #1 on the UK charts - and DJ Vibe.
Ethnic Portuguese musicians such as Nelly Furtado and Nuno Bettencourt are popular in North America, though reflecting few of their Portuguese origin in their work.
[edit] Experimental
Some of the more famous musicians of these types include Ernesto Rodrigues, Guilherme Rodrigues, Margarida Garcia and Manuel Mota.
[edit] References
- Cronshaw, Andrew and Paul Vernon. "Traditional Riches, Fate and Revolution". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), World Music, Vol. 1: Africa, Europe and the Middle East, pp 225-236. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books. ISBN 1-85828-636-0
[edit] External links
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