Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?

Subject: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 10 Aug 11 - 11:59 AM

Looks like we may be in the Lisbon area for a week or so at the beginning of September. Anybody got any reasonably current recommendations for hearing fado?

Regards

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Aug 11 - 01:26 PM

Alfama is the area, don't know any current venues, not been there for some time.

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: GUEST,Mariza fan
Date: 10 Aug 11 - 01:40 PM

This one.

http://www.srvinho.com/

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 10 Aug 11 - 02:42 PM

Clube de Fado mentioned in previous link.

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 04:26 AM

Thanks, guys - keep 'em coming.

Regards

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: GUEST,Daithi
Date: 11 Aug 11 - 08:25 AM

The Fado museum is well worth a look. Not too far from the centre. http://www.golisbon.com/sight-seeing/fado-museum.html

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 18 Aug 11 - 11:29 AM

Refresh

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 20 Aug 11 - 04:56 PM

refresh

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 03:25 PM

Thanks for all the tips. We had a great time, helped by your suggestions and the GoLisbon website,

Some quick comments:

1. The Fado museum is definitely worth visiting. Nicely set up with a range of exhibits. Bit vague on offering advice on venues - perhaps understandably.

2. Many of the fado clubs are essentially restaurants with musical interludes. Some are out-and-out tourist traps, as far as we could see. Even when they're not, the food can be mediocre. On the other hand - if I were looking for good food in Lisbon (which I was, betimes!) I wouldn't particularly want to mix it with music! The solution is often to go to clubs very late - at which they stage they often make a simple cover charge and push up the price of drink. Not a problem as it's cheap enough anyway.

3. Watch out for the word "vadio" in notices, flyers etc. It means that the musicans and/or singers are "amateur" and the atmosphere less formal than elsewhere. For us, anyway, this was often preferable to more polished and formal setups.

On specifics:
- we enjoyed Clube de Fado, mentioned earlier. It helped that, round the corner, as a fall-back device, was what sounded like a good jazz club!
- A baiuca is a great example of the "vadio" approach.
- our least satisfying experience was an openair cafe in the Alfama area where the music was fine but the food was desperate!

The Alfama district is definitely the area to go, incidentally - partly because the streets are too narrow to get a tour bus through, I reckon.

Regards

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 04:01 PM

Glad you enjoyed it. The food aspect is common. Really good food is expensive in Lisboa, Oporto and Espinho, and on the whole good restuarants don't need to put on fado to attract custom.
Same everywhere I suppose.

Subject: RE: Fado in Lisbon - recommendations?
From: MartinRyan
Date: 13 Sep 11 - 04:09 PM

John

Yeah - there was a nice example on one restaurant-filled street in Lisbon... Each had its touts out hunting tourists as they passed - except for one which lay about 50 m beyond the main run of places. No need for a tout - just a menu in the window. Prices higher than the rest - but food very good. Mind you. the GoLisbon site, IIRC, described the service there as "a bit formal for some people". I reckon that's a very free translation of "surly"!

Regards