The Fado Path

Listening Post 375. In the fado universe Carminho is a bright star, so it’s natural that people pay attention not only when she sings but also when she speaks about her country’s iconic music genre. “For me,” she said in a recent magazine interview, “fado is more a language than a message, more a path than a destination.” The observation is a handy introduction to Portuguesa, her sixth album, a collection of 14 songs—some new, some old and some mergers of new lyrics put to vintage compositions. Taken as a whole the album is a map of human experience and passion, exploring gaps and stopover points between solitude and engagement, discovery and struggle, love and longing, with landscapes of evocative metaphor and sharply drawn imagery. Fado is rich in tradition and in some ways Carminho personifies classical style, often performing in black garb, for example. But she also values evolution; where some may see an artist coloring outside the lines, Carminho sees a broader canvas inviting improvisation. On her 2018 album, Maria, she introduced an electric guitar into the mix. Portuguesa adds lap steel and mellotron. The opening track, O Quarto (The Room, video 1) is a study in loneliness but also a celebration of fado’s generations, mixing her own lyrics with a melody by acclaimed singer-composer Alfredo Marceneiro, who died before she was born. Fado é amor (Fado Is Love, video 2) is a soundtrack to the pathway between shadow and light; while Praias Desertas (Deserted Beaches, video 3) is a magnificent expression of hope. Pedra Solta (Loose Stone, video 4) offers poetic guidelines for seeking wisdom at the source of Portugal’s Mondego River. And alienation arrives, stealthily and achingly, in Sentas-te a meu lado (Sit By My Side, video 5). With Portuguesa, Carminho embodies tradition infused with new revelations. Don’t be surprised if every song grabs you by a different emotion. (Maria Music/Warner Music Portugal)

Carminho: Portuguesa / Portuguese Woman
Carminho: Vocals, Rhodes piano
André Dias: Portuguese guitar
Flávio César Cardoso: Viola de Fado
Tiago Maia: Acoustic bass
Pedro Geraldes: Electric guitar, lap steel
João Pimenta Gomes: Mellotron, synthesizer
André Santos: Braguinha (cavaquinho), electric ukulele 

Related posts. Carminho: Canto, Listening Post 40, March 27, 2016 http://worldlisteningpost.com/2016/03/27/carminho-canto/
Carminho: Carminho Canta Tom Jobim, Listening Post 119, Oct. 9, 2017 https://worldlisteningpost.com/2017/10/09/carminho-canta-tom-jobim/
Carminho: Maria, Listening Post 226, Nov. 6, 2019 https://worldlisteningpost.com/2019/11/06/carminho-maria/

O Quarto (Fado Pagem) / The Room
Lyrics: Carminho/Music: Alfredo Marceneiro

(From the Portuguese lyrics)
In this room so small/That I thought was mine alone,
Seeps such poison/That is loneliness and me

Together we are not a whole/The emptiness is suffocating
And I don’t know how/It was invaded by the cold

Now we are three/Three that can’t make one,
You don’t even see me when you enter/This room is oblivion

Heart that broke/With nothing to give,
Is this empty room/With no room for air

Fado é amor / Fado Is love
Lyrics & music: Joaquim Frederico de Brito

If you don’t know what fado is/Without a shadow of sin,
Without betrayals, broken hearts and alley passions
If you don’t have any idea/From this sad melody
That makes us happy and, as a rule, makes us cry…

If you don’t know how to enchant
Who hears it and who sings it/When you hold a guitar in the moonlight
Fado born from fado/A cry of wonder, a groan
Come see Lisbon, as she chants and sings while crying

Fado is love/What’s left over from a lament,
What clings to jealousy/Wrapping itself in its cloak
Fado is the pain/The compromise of life,
Neither lost hope/Nor laughter, nor tears.

If you don’t know the sadness/That catches and sticks to us,
It’s no more than the usual signs of displeasure
If you don’t know the longing/That opens and invades us,
That appears when you forget that it’s also fado…

If you don’t know what hope is/That doesn’t stop, that doesn’t tire
That’s as certain as firmness, a footprint of faith
Dream of a broken dream/Taste of perfect taste
That cradles us but can’t match what fado is

Praias Desertas / Deserted Beaches
Lyrics & music: Carminho

The deserted beaches/That I saw born
Are emblems so clear/Of my growing up

Don’t think that the sea/Won’t bring you to me
If you look deep inside/You’ll see that it will

I’m in the hair/In the wind that carries all
Whispering my cry/Cradling my chant

If you sing it loud/With your feet in the sand
And look straight ahead/You will see me at last

Oh my love/I’ll never forget you
My love/It’s a line I measure
Without label or guide, nor image nor ground,
The deserted beach is your hand

The fear of blue/What you see beyond
Is the illusion/Of being no one

But you have the faith/The beach was born
I come with the tide/That always brings what is yours

Oh my love/I’ll never forget you
My love/It’s a line I measure
Without label or guide, nor image nor ground,
The deserted beach is your hand

Pedra Solta / Loose Stone
Lyrics: Antonio Campos/Music: Carminho

Don’t go to the wellspring alone
For the Mondego nightingales/Seeing you blushing,
Will be upset

Don’t go barefoot like that
Being beautiful as you are/There is always a rogue stone
Wanting to kiss your feet

Don’t go to the wellspring alone
For the Mondego nightingales/Seeing you blushing,
Will be Upset

Don’t let your golden hair/Fly so loose in the wind
For the wind at any moment/May give it a rude kiss

Don’t go to the wellspring alone
For the Mondego nightingales/Seeing you blushing,
Will be upset

Don’t pass by without looking/Don’t run all the time
If you pass without talking to me/I won’t pass without seeing you

Don’t go to the wellspring alone
For the Mondego nightingales/Seeing you blushing,
Will be upset

Sentas-te a meu lado / Sit By My Side
Lyrics & music: Luisa Sobral

Sit by my side/When the day comes to an end
In a rehearsed gesture/Performed just because

And without even looking at me/Pretend to want to know about me
And everything repeats itself, day in, day out

What if today we talked about love?/Just for a change
If we kiss/Could it be that the desire
Would come and want to stay?

Sit by my side/With your absent look
And the heart I carry/Says nothing and feels everything

I don’t know how it happened/How it all changed
I know I didn’t notice/And now it’s late, it’s gone