Howdy, MudCatFolk,

I posted the following note to rec.music.folk a couple of weeks ago and several people encouraged me to repost it here. If you saw it on usenet, please pardon the duplication.

Last month, I experienced a remarkable exception to the usual American way of presenting traditional music in eating and drinking establishments. I was in Lisboa (Lisbon, Portugal) and saw midnight shows in Fado houses -- upscale restaurants with tourist floor shows 8-11pm, and then the pure Fado until 2pm or later. For a moderate cover/minimum about $12.50 at each place, a drink or food will be included.

The music is incomparable. A continuous tradition since 1830 or so and very much alive today with singers from their twenties to their eighties. The format is equally mind-opening.

We are sitting in a restaurant with people talking at their tables. Waiters take orders, bring food and drink, distribute checks, collect money as in any good dinner place.

Now the lights fade and change, candles added. All the waiters leave the room. A three-piece band enters: bass (double or guitar), guitar (Spanish), and Portuguese guitar (12-string cittern, tuned (from highest) BAEBAD, the top BAE are doubled. The low BAD are octaved. The top four strings are tuned in the same intervals as banjo g-modal (sawmill: DCGD). This tuning allows the Portuguese guitar player to play major/minor/modal tunes in several keys including those based on each of the open strings.

A singer emerges and stands behind/beside the seated players. S/he listens to the band play an intro, then sings a sensuous song about destiny (fado). The audience applauds. The same group does about 15 minutes altogether and leave the stage, singer, then band. The lights come up, the waiters return. Restaurant business as usual with talk, etc.

About 15 minutes later, the lights fade and the pattern is repeated. This time with a different singer. Usually a man if the previous singer was a woman, or the reverse. So in three hours in the house, you will hear 6 singers more or less. Most singers stay the evening to hear each other. The house band plays a long night of 6 hours, 15 on, 15 off. The waiters work this long also, off when the band is on and vice-versa.

At the end of the Friday night show, three men each of whom had sung earlier split one song from three corners of the room. First alternating verses, then lines, finally phrases.

The traditional repertoire is large and varied in Lisboa and Coimbra. The heroic figure is Amalia Rodriques, a fabulous singer recorded over 40 year, who died in 1999. Her recordings are magnificent.

So, why don't we try this in the US? In a traditional music house where food and drink are served, there is some tension between the social/restaurant function and the musical/concert function. Waitpersons are courteous but are expected to work during the music and their customers respond with social/restaurant behavior, interrupting their musical/concert attention.

And, particularly on Friday nights in pubs, the crowd wants to hear the music but they also want to talk and unwind after a week's work. This leads in many such places to the singer having to demand the crowd's attention or settle back as background music. This latter role is easier for instrumental players.

I have two wishes: to listen to more Fado and to experiment with the Fado format of traditional music presentation.

All the best,

Rick http://ricklee.org