Portuguese Music: Fado in Brazil
The origin of fado is somewhat disputed but a strong candidate is found in Brazil. There are aspects of fado that point to it being born around the same time as the lundu (an Afro-Brazilian music and dance) and modinha (a style of sentimental love song), and also the fado-dança. The so-called fado-dance was like a European square dance but conducted by singers skilled in improvising lyrics, with the addition of the sounds of a guitar and adufe (a Portuguese percussion instrument). Unfortunately, fado itself never really took off in Brazil but as long as it took off somewhere in the world, that's what matters…especially since I count it among my favorite styles of music.
Learn Brazilian Portuguese with Songs – Apesar de Você
Here is our new lesson from the series Learn Brazilian Portuguese with Songs. In this lesson we use the song Apesar de Você, by the brilliant Chico Buarque. This is a beautiful and moving samba. It is a heart to heart conversation between the artist and the dictatorial, violent, oppressive Brazilian government of the time. Below is our lesson, and below it a powerful video of the song with pictures of protests during the dictatorship. This video never fails to move me. The lyrics are at the end of post.
