Driving from Ray's to Sheils', we listened to Astrud Gilberto.
Me : Damn. Portuguese has got to be the sexiest language in the world - bar none.
Ray tells me about fado and saudade. Like other forms of folk music such as American blues, Argentine tango or Greek rebitika, fado cannot be explained; it must be felt and experienced.
Ray said it better. Like the blues, feeling bad and reveling in the feeling. Unrequited love and all. It's about looking for your love everywhere, and he's not there.
I told Ray I'd post this so he could recommend some CDs, so I could have some tunes to listen to while driving in the rain.
Posted by weez at November 25, 2003 08:53 AM | TrackBackI can recommend some music, but it would be better just to burn you a sampler; then you can investigate further, get deeper into fado and some of the echoes that would bounce around on the disk. I could list some names of artists I'm familiar with but that would feel too academic, and given my relative ignorance of the field, a bit pretentious. Let me just make you some music and send it to you, either in Atlanta or back in Rochester. Deal? Perhaps recompense for injera, chai, and belly laughs (sans puking).
Funny how strange these words seem in this public space, signs of something that doesn't make very much sense without memory to back it up; the old "you had to be there" line. The magic behind the trick.
But if you insist on names: Cristina Branco's "Corpo Illuminado" ("lighted body" -- love that image, like Paul Simon's "my life is on fire") or Dulce Pontes' "O Primeiro Canto," which is way beyond fado. Amalia Rodrigues is the once and future queen of the genre, but I'm not familiar with her, except as the voice during a Portuguese dinner of creamy fish and lots of wine.
If you want more booty in your sadness, go over to Brazil. A tropical climate will do such things.
Let me know where to send the mix. I can get it down to Atlanta plus vite.
Posted by: ray orkwis at November 25, 2003 10:18 AM