Travel Reference
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fado houses and the emergence of new fado voices. Amália's reputation was also rehabil-
itated. Upon her death at age 79 in 1999, Portugal declared three days of national mourn-
ing and suspended the general election campaign in her honour. Today she is buried in the
National Pantheon.
While fado may bring to mind dark bars of the Salazar years, this is not a musical form
stuck in time. Contemporary performers and exponents of a new fado style include the dy-
namic fadista Mísia, who broke new ground by experimenting with full band instrumenta-
tion. The Mozambique-born singer Mariza has earned accolades for her extraordinary
voice and fresh eclectic approach. She continues to break new ground in albums like
Terra (2008) that bring in world music - African rhythms, flamenco, Latin sounds and
jazz. Another one to watch is Carminho, a young singer with a powerful and mournful
voice. Fado runs deep in her veins - her mother was the owner of one of Lisbon's most
traditional fado houses (now closed), where as a young girl she heard the best fadistas of
the time. The men aren't outdone: one of the great male voices in traditional fado these
days is Camané.
For more on Amália Rodrigues, check out the fine documentary The Art of Amália (2000), directed by Bruno
de Almeida. The biopic Amália (2008) by Carlos Coelho da Silva provides an in-depth portrait of Rodrigues
that few ever saw.
Fados are traditionally sung by one performer accompanied by a 12-string Portuguese
guitarra (a pear-shaped guitar). When two fadistas perform, they sometimes engage in
desgarrada, a bit of improvisational one-upmanship where the singers challenge and play
off one another. At fado houses, there are usually a number of singers, each one tradition-
ally singing three songs.
 
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