Lisbon and the "fado" |
|
Collection title
Stella del Sud : il piacere di viaggiare
First broadcast date
02/01/2009
Abstract
The magazine evokes Lisbon through its history and its culture. Lisbon is a city with a thousand faces, whose development is linked to portuguese conquests between 1400 and 1500. In 1755, a very strong earthquake destroys the city and impress all over Europe. The city was reconstructed.
The magazine tells the history of the Fado and evokes the singer Amalia Rodrigues, great interpreter of fado, the popular Portuguese music.
Interview with the fado singers Nathalie de Oliveira, Luisa Rocha and Mafalda Arnauth.
Views of the architectural beauties of the city, panoramic views of streets and squares.
Broadcaster
RAI - RAI Due
Audiovisual form
Magazine
Primary theme
Geography and landscapes
Secondary themes
- Art, Culture and Knowledge / Music and songs
Credits / Cast
- Perino Chiara - Journalist
Map locations
- Portugal - South - Lisbon
Original language
Italian
Additional information
B/W stock photos of great fado singers.
Context
Lisbon and the Fado
Cyril Isnart
The documentary on tourism of the series RAI "Stella of the South" tackles several facets of the history and cultural heritage of Lisbon, capital of Portugal. A brief introduction discusses first the Age of Discovery, which perceived Europe, via Portugal, opening up to trade with the African coast, India and South America, then on the popular Portuguese music of Fado, which is both an image of the town of Epinal and a strong national identifier and also an economic development linked to Portugal's access into the European Union in 1986. The film begins with the destruction of Lisbon due to a massive earthquake in 1755, which marked the end of the golden age of Portugal having accumulated, during few hundred years, an unprecedented commercial, architectural and scientific wealth. Portugal has also discovered and colonized territories from South America to Asia. The magnificent and ambitious rebuilding of the city by the Marquis of Pombal (1699-1782), who adopted a modern approach in building Lisbon, the City of Lights, will preserve the nostalgia of the time of splendor and conquests, says the report. This Saudade, a particular form of nostalgia combining a sense of regret for the past and a kind of resignation to the fate, is transmitted through the Fado music, which, according to the singers, explains the fatalism of the fishermen and sailors’ wives amid the absence of the beloved ones and the homeland, and would concretize the sadness of all the generations of Portuguese women. Amalia Rodrigues (1920-1990), the greatest diva, is the best representative and soon became the international ambassador of the Fado music.
The report alternates between symbolic monuments of the city of Lisbon (the Monument of Discoveries, Belem Tower, the Praço do Comercio, the castle) with more famous or anonymous portraits of Lisbonites, in a swift juxtaposition of the images. The voiceover emphasizes on the uniqueness of the city and the country, while underlining its historical international destiny, as well as the sadness and the languor well maintained by the popular Fado music. While covering past realities with more contemporary aspects, especially in architecture, the documentary does not, however, evokes the memory of the Second Republic dictatorship (1926-1974), which undermined the economic and cultural development of the country. Furthermore, the film ignores the dynamic relationships that ancient metropolis has continually maintained with these colonies, that played a central role in the richness and diversity of its cultural heritage.
Labourdette Jean-François 2000, History of Portugal, Paris, Fayard.
Chandeigne Michel 1988, Lisbon. The nostalgia of the future, Paris, Autrement.
Pellerin Agnès 2003, The fado, Paris, Chandeigne.
