Newsday, Queen of Fado Still Influences Young Singers >>
BY MARRY LIPP
Imagine if the Beatles had dominated rock for 60 years instead of the 10 they were together - that would begin to give you an idea of the kind of dominance that Amália Rodrigues had over
Portuguese fado.
Like Spanish flamenco, Argentine tango and the American blues, fado rose from poverty, where daily hardscrabble existence sparked the urge to cry out, albeit artistically.
Like the other genres, fado eventually was embraced by the more "respectable" parts of society. Its pervasive melancholy, which first found sympathy among homesick sailors and the urban poor, became a touchstone for an introspective people whose land looks out onto the expanse of theAtlantic Ocean.
Rodrigues began her career in 1939 and became the undisputed queen of fado for the next several decades, retaining her status through her semi-retirement. With her powerful voice and sense of high drama, Rodrigues seemed to shout down fate itself and held audiences rapt.
In the years after Portugal's peaceful "Carnation Revolution" in 1974-76, fado was marginalized because it had been touted by the former dictators. In a strange twist of fate, however, fado has become more popular worldwide since Rodrigues' death in 1999. One reason has been the rise of a handful of young, talented women whom the press regularly dubs as heirs to Rodrigues. Even in the United States, where we are accustomed to Hollywood happy endings and sugary pop music, there is a small, growing audience for the bittersweet emotional palette of fado.
Three of the new generation of fadistas have recently released albums stateside: Mísia, with "Ritual" (Erato); Mariza with "Fado Em Mim" (Times Square), and Cristina Branco, "Corpo Illuminado" (Decca). A fourth singer, Dulce Pontes, has taken time off to have a child, but last year she released the ambitious "O Primeiro Canto" (Polydor), which explored fado and other types of traditional Portuguese music.
Someone unfamiliar with fado would probably have trouble hearing any differences in the three fadistas' recent releases, but there are some subtle differences: Mísia's is a bit grittier, Mariza's shows some influence of jazz, and Branco's is a bit prettier and less dramatic.
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Mariza was born in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, but she immigrated to Portugal when she was 5 years old. Although she started singing fado as a child, hearing it first at her parents' restaurant in Lisbon, she gave it up when she was a teenager. Her friends told her,"'Don't sing fado; it's for old people,'" she said, so she began singing bossa nova, blues and jazz.
Five years ago, she realized she needed to be true to herself and take up fado professionally. "It's like breathing; it's me," she said of fado.
...The singers also do not chafe at being compared to Rodrigues. "It's a big compliment," Mariza said, adding that it would be akin to a jazz singer being compared favorably to Frank Sinatra or Ella Fitzgerald. 08/04/02
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