Whats Special About Fado?
At its best, fado is music the way I like it. That means emphasis on the melody, often in a minor key, and sometimes incorporating an unexpected note or chord. (Think suspension, anticipation, and so on.) Some writers say fado is like the blues, but I hear many differences. While both are folk music in origin, they are different in style and technique. For example, rhythm is more important in the blues than in fado, where melody is paramount. Also, fado usually has an independent accompaniment (on the Portuguese guitar), sometimes amounting to an obbligato. Fado songs and blues songs both deal with sadness, but fado lyrics are more resigned, as you might expect— the word fado means fate, or destiny that nothing can change. A word often associated with fado is saudade, which is cognate with Spanish soledad, meaning loneliness. More than just loneliness, saudade means nostalgic longing: yearning for what is lost, or for what might have been. In an interview, Mísia speaks of traditional f
