A book about Fado

Fado Portugues: Songs from the soul of Portugal

Compiled and edited by Donald Cohen

with Music arranged for voice and guitar.

Includes CD with 26 classic recordings.

Donald Cohen, a retired Los Angeles attorney and fado expert, says that although fado in its current form is about 200 years old, its roots go back to the 12th century to traditions of song and poetry brought by Provencal troubadours, the Moors who lived in Portugal, and the Jews.

But it’s sad, longing spirit was defined by Portugal’s days as a great colonial power in the 16th century, when it sent generations of men overseas. It’s called saudade, a complex combination of nostalgia, sadness and a profound connection with fate.

“The Portuguese were the great explorers of the era…and that’s where this idea of saudade came – these men were out of the country for years at a time,” said Cohen, who will publish a book on fado this fall. “Saudade comes from the Latin word that became soledad – loneliness in Spanish. But saudade means more than that: it’s nostalgic soulful yearning for what may or may never have been. It could be for your husband who is gone, who may never come back. It’s consumed by fate.”

Fado is one of the most rewarding and least known genres in the world music spectrum. “Fado is very rich in history musically and lyrically. It’s also still kind of a secret,” said Tom Schnabel, a producer at KCRW, a Los Angeles public radio station known for its world-music programming.

“Like other things in Portuguese culture, it has been untouched. Everybody knows flamenco, about tango, about bossa nova. But when you say, ‘What about fado?’ they say, ‘Huh?’ While I want to see that change, it also makes it an undiscovered musical treasure.”

Excerpted from the Miami Herald,

The Sweet Sigh of Sadness,

May 7, 2003

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