Fado at Carnegie Hall, New York City, on January 24, 2012

The fado is about to make one of its rare Carnegie Hall appearances. In fact, this is just the fourth time that this music is to appear in the illustrious space. (Update: See my report on the show.)

The event is "Fado: From Lisbon to New York". The title should be taken literally. The singers and musicians are not just some of the best in Lisbon, they are also part of a tight-knit group that has been playing together for years. The artists span multiple generations and include two of the most influential people on the fado scene today, the singer Celeste Rodrigues and the singer, composer and lyricist Jorge Fernando.

Celeste Rodrigues

Celeste Rodrigues' reputation within the Portuguese fado community stretches back to the 1940s. She returned from a year-long stay in Brazil in 1945 with a new, distinctive style that has marked her as much more than the sister of Amália Rodrigues. While her discography includes nearly 60 releases, they are exceedingly difficult to find (with the exception of a recent release, Fado Celeste). She continues to sing in some of the most illustrious fado houses in Lisbon, and is regarded as one of the last linkages to the time when fado was not nearly as well known as it is now. Indeed, at 88 she is the oldest practicing fado singer in Lisbon (for those who are wondering, Argentina Santos is one year younger).

José Manuel Neto

Jorge Fernando and Fábia Rebordão

Celeste is being joined by two other female singers, Fábia Rebordão and Filipa Cardoso. Fábia's voice and command of the material have grown in strength and stature. In the true spirit of the fado, she is able to take an established fado and sing it like no one else has. She is also a lyricist and composer. Both Fábia and Filipa draw on both the established repertory of the fado, broadened with lyrics composed by contemporary poets such as Mário Rainho (who has written extensively for Ana Moura and many others), Aldina Duarte, Manuel de Freitas, and Jorge Fernando.

Filipa Cardoso

The musicians for this concert are among the best that the country has to offer. José Manuel Neto, who plays the Portuguese guitar, is prolific--and busy. You can find him on YouTube, wearing flip-flops and playing in an obscure tavern in the south of Portugal, and the next day on stage with the biggest names in fado. Jorge Fernando has been involved in the fado since the the days when he was contracted by Fernando Maurício and Amália Rodrigues to write and play for them. Probably his best known composition in the USA is "Chuva", as sung by Mariza.

The concert represents a confluence of all these traces of the fado, stretching back over more than forty years, yet intimately strung together.

More information on the show, including ticket information, is here. The event is being organized by MD Fado Productions, led by Michael da Silva. Thanks to DVS for the added information and clarifications on on Celeste Rodrigues' career.

Fado and UNESCO

Rui Viera Nery, António Costa and Fernando Andresen (l-r)

Today (27 November 2011), UNESCO voted to inscribe the fado on the "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity." The vote represents a recognition from UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural organization) that the fado is a manifestation of Portuguese culture deserving of worldwide recognition. The application has been led by Rui Viera Nery and supported by the efforts and good wishes of many people, but not everyone is certain that a outcome will actually benefit the fado.

On this point, the discussion among the fadistagem has revealed plenty about the contested significance of the fado, particularly whether it is most accurately viewed as a music of the people (i.e., something is lost when it happens in a big concert hall) or as music qua music (i.e., the fado in the concert hall is the highest expression of the fado). 

Today's announcement came via Twitter around 7:15am EDT:

‘Fado, urban popular song of #Portugal’ now on #IntangibleHeritage Representative List. Portugal’s 1st inscription! See http://bit.ly/teAVkp

The Portuguese papers already have a number of articles on this historic event (e.g., Publico, DN), with links to a bunch of other good stuff. One example: Nery has said that the "extraordinary incompetence" of the leader of today's meeting produced a long delay in transmission of the results. Here is a report from Bali (where deliberations took place) from RTP that includes an interview with Rui Nery (4:00).

In the interview, Nery emphasized a little-discussed consequence of this recognition. The Portuguese government, by putting forth the candidacy, committed to the preservation and promulgation of the fado, which includes dissemination of materials to schools, as well as preservation and dissemination of archival materials (the Museum of the Fado is probably the fulcral point for the latter). But he also emphasized his gratitude to the fadistas (which I think he means includes musicians and poets!) who make the fado. So much so that, according to Nery, the scholars' main responsibility is to follow their work in order to record it.  He concluded by saying that this is a great day for Portuguese culture generally, as this recognition opens the door to a broader appreciation of Lusophone culture.

António Costa

Once the decision was announced, António Costa, Mayor of the City of Lisbon, which was the formal submitter of the application, thanked the chair. Then he pulled out his cell phone, held it up to his microphone, and played a fado from Amália Rodrigues--Estranha Forma da Vida. Excellent! 

The complete text of the official description of the fado according to UNESCO, along with documentation to support the application as well as the text of the decision is here. Here are some other documents:

Report of the Subsidiary Body on its work in 2011 and evaluation of nominations for inscription in 2011 on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

All nomination files can be consulted from 13. Representative List
ITH/11/6.COM/CONF.206/13+Corr.+Add.: English|French


Report by the rapporteur on the meetings of the Subsidiary Body in 2011
ITH/11/6.COM/CONF.206/INF.13: soon available


Regardless of the hubbub over what this result may or may not mean for the fado, this recognition represents a triumph for Portuguese scholarship on the fado (my understanding is that the effort was executed entirely by Portuguese researchers and collaborators) and, clearly, for the placement of a uniquely Portuguese art form in the worldwide cultural firmament.