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Oh already two weeks since my return to London, and amongst a backlog of half-baked ideas for intended posts only one impression raised itself. Fado made a big impact on my short stay. Visiting Porto for a week in 2007 was the first time I had seen this Portuguese tradition in the flesh, but these last weeks in Lisbon cemented it in my mind as something very special.
The room at Bela's was tight and dense with smoke; we stood long enough outside the locked glass door for Pedro to run off down the road to buy us a little 'imperial' of Super Bock for the wait, and for him to bump into many familiar faces on the Alfama cobbles. Once inside it was all flaming sausages and sardines in vinegar, bottles of house red decanted explicity by the landlady's son from massive plastic bags into bottles of ex-spirits. Apparently one doesn't come here to get the flavour of 'authentic' south Portugal Fado; this is a place to bend the rules and be promiscuous with the rigidity of the famous tradition: Women sing, there are additional contributions to the two guitars, duos, singalongs, breaks for drinks, laughter, tears. Even recognising only one word in fifty the sentiment rings clear. On my second visit, Nuno quietly and self-consciously translated line after line. "Lips of smoke and promises" might sound trite on the cold white page, but belted out by Vanessa at touching distance (tall, dark-eyed, playing pac-man on her phone and chain-smoking Ventil before, and burning away in a battered white Mercedes 190E afterwards), something pretty magical happened.
The red kept coming. At 7 Euros a bottle it was pricy by local standards, despite the music coming for free. I would have gladly paid more.
With coat on and ready to leave, birds singing outside on a sharp and very early Monday morning, we had yet one more performance. She was on my right shoulder, squeezing past my awkward chair, and looking down at me in towering heels and exquisite make-up to say, "don't be frightened". (Thanks Nuno).
What a way to pass the hours.
Thanks: *http://truckstopmodels.com
