Amália Rodrigues (1920 – 1999) was called the Queen of Fado and made this genre internationally known.
Fado Music
Fado music originally comes from the slums of Lisbon. The songs almost always deal with grievances, people’s longing, world pain or past times. Important for the music are the Portuguese guitar, which has 12 strings, as well as a classical guitar and possibly a bass guitar.
Today there are two types of Fado: The professional and the spontaneous, where guests get up in the respective restaurants and recite their own stanza or song.
Since 2011, Fado music has become part of the UNESCO World Heritage.
In the Algarve there are various offers to enjoy a Fado evening. Fado evenings with professional artists often take place in restaurants. Regular concerts with one or more artists are organised in larger cities.