İstanbul to get rare ‘Casa de Fados’ experience

Margarida Bessa, one of Portugal’s best-known fado singers, who is among the production’s cast, speaks about the project and the tradition of fado in an interview with Today’s Zaman.

“Casa de Fados” is a very unique project that adapts Carlos Saura’s “Fados” for the stage. Who is the creator of this stage adaptation?

“Casa de Fados” is a joint project by several people, and there is no single creator behind this project; nevertheless, our guitar player, Pedro de Castro, was the first one who came up with this brilliant idea. The aim of the project is to bring people to the theater and make sure they experience a real casa de fados [traditional places where fado singers perform]. Fado touches not only your mind but also your soul, and the project aims to make people feel the real traditional atmosphere there.

How did Saura present this tradition in one movie?

I guess it was not that easy for him, because first of all he is Spanish -- he is not Portuguese -- but he is so much into the music that he could transmit all the tradition through his film when he listened to the songs, feeling them deep inside. He is so talented, but on the other side, artists understand each other very well. Fado is a type of music that you can feel the story when you listen to it.

What makes a “casa de fados” what it is?

Singers and musicians give a soul to a venue. Of course, the nostalgic decoration also enhances the atmosphere, but the real instruments of the place are the stories of love and passion, and you can only transmit these stories through good singers and musicians. Fados tell the stories of poor people and lonely people, the love people lost, but “Casa de Fados” is more about love.

The concert brings different generations of fado artists to the same stage. Does it offer anything experimental or is it purely traditional?

We sing purely traditional fado songs. Fado has a kind of magic; when we start to sing, we feel like one single entity together with our souls. We all sing about love. But this is not an ordinary love; this is a love with passion.

Your performance is accompanied by scenes from the movie in the background. What were your criteria while choosing the scenes?

Fado comes from a single city; it is the music of Lisbon, it’s a unique tradition from Lisbon. Just like tango originated from Buenos Aires, fado originated from Lisbon, and it later became Portuguese. So, our concert is accompanied by images of Lisbon. We especially use dance scenes from the movie. Fado used to be accompanied by dance 200 years ago, but there’s no [written] record of this fact. Modern dance artist Patrick de Bana created a very special choreography for the movie, and we use those dance sequences in the background to accompany our songs.

In “Casa de Fados,” what kind of emotions would one experience?

You are taken to old times and feel pure emotions in this atmosphere. It especially brings out the romantic feelings in you. It’s the world of romance full of love, saudade [longing] and sadness. You are surrounded by sad love songs and sorrow.

We know fado is from Portugal. But sometimes we hear very similar Spanish love songs. What makes fado unique?

We all know that fado originated from Lisbon, and these songs are about sailors and their love stories. Because of that, some claim that actually sailors might have brought [other genres of] music from abroad and that fado has its roots originally in North Africa or Brazil. You can feel all these details in the songs, but fado is quite unique in its singing style and the instruments it uses. Traditional fado songs are accompanied by only one Portuguese guitar and one viola or two. Recently some musicians tried mixing other instruments, but traditionally it’s so unique in the way it uses instruments and in its singing style.

Fado feels like blues, especially when it comes to its sorrow. Do you agree?

Yes, absolutely. When you think of sadness and sorrow in these songs, this feeling of similarity is pretty natural.

Do you perform old popular songs from legendary singers or do you sing new material?

“Casa de Fados” is going to give you the real traditional experience; all songs in our repertoire are traditional songs written decades ago, from the beginning of the 20th century. But there will be a little surprise for the audience as one of our artists, Vicente do Camara, is going to present the story of fado.

Saura has presented different genres of music, all highly toned in emotions, from flamenco to tango. But when it comes to “Fados,” how do you compare these films in his trilogy?

All these three different kinds of music are original, they come from separate regions and cities and they are all very profound. They all tell the fact that life is not that easy, and they are all nourished by stories of fight and passion. They are all music that comes from the soul, and they bring out the most hidden feelings.

There are some fado songs full of joy and hope. What about your repertoire?

The concert will mostly focus on the sad and melancholic side of fados, but all of them are passionate songs, and everyone will feel very romantic in our İstanbul concert. But there will also be fados in different styles, such as those called humorous fados, which tell funny and sarcastic stories. Although very few people know about humorous fados -- which were very popular during the ‘50s -- you will like this funny style for sure. You will feel all the tradition in the stories of fado, and you will feel Lisbon for real.