The meaning of this word is deeply connected with the Portuguese culture and soul. Fado and Saudade are intertwined ideas in Portuguese culture and the songs are generally filled with nostalgia, longing, love in all forms or short stories of the life in different city quarters. The Latin word fatum meaning fate or destiny but the explanation for the Portuguese word is much more complicated.
A constant feeling of absence, the sadness of something that is missing. A deep emotional state of nostalgia or profound melancholic longing for an absent something or someone that one cares for and/or loves. It often carries a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might never be had again, a recollection of feelings and experiences, places or events which now trigger the senses and makes one feel the pain of separation from those things. It is both happy and sad at the same time.
Fado.
Fado gives Saudade a voice.
If you have never experienced Fado in its truest live form you have missed out on something special. My love affair with Fado started many years ago with a Fadista called Mariza. I am lucky enough to be in Lisbon now, during the celebrations of one hundred years since Amália Rodrigues 'Rainha do Fado", the Queen of Fado, was born.
There are places all over Lisbon you can experience Fado but Alfama is the place of its history and birth. Little taverns, restaurants, cafes and bars where men and women pour their hearts and souls into the history and stories of Lisbon and the Portuguese people. It came very close to dying out in our modern world and so first with Amália who shared it with the world and then just as it was thought to be an older persons tradition, along came Mariza.
Young and hip with her out of this world voice, she brought Fado back to life for the younger generation and has given this tradition new life in an incredible way.
I sit with friends in a little restaurant in Alfama
Coraçao de Alfama (the Heart of Alfama), where the singers wander in and out, singing a song or two or three before moving on to the next place in true traditional style.
I don't understand all the words but regardless, the music, the voices, move me in an indescribable way that brings me joy, yet on the verge of tears all at the same time.
From an older lady in a traditional long dress and the Fado shawl, to a young woman dressed in jeans, a leather jacket and motorcycle boots, the unexpected voice of the girl that works behind the bar, the young 20 something guy in jeans and sneakers
the middle aged man in jeans and a puffy winter coat to the elderly gentleman full of grace and old world style. Each with a unique and beautiful voice, with the ability to bring you from tears to joy to sadness and back again, it will never make complete sense until you experience the uniqueness of this part of Portuguese culture.
As we left our cozy little Fado house into the night, following the sound of Fado down the street towards the main stage of the Santa Casa Alfama Fado festival we were greeted with an awe inspiring and incredibly sad sight.
Saudade at it's finest. This song, just listen.
Mariza, the Princess of Fado, on stage singing her heart out, with a small crowd of physically distanced people inside and a few die hard Fado fans (like ourselves) standing on the side of the street dancing, singing and living that moment.
The saudade being that this beautiful festival, celebrating 100 years of one amazing Fadista, who has given rise to this next talented generation, should have been attended by thousands of people inside and outside the venue soaking up the culture and true genius of these people and their music.
Saudade.
If you ever have the opportunity to experience this, don't let it pass you by.
