DIANA BOTELHO
Diana grew up in the Açores arquipelago and came to Portugal mainland to study law. She is a trainee lawyer and a Fado singer during her free time. Fado is a melancholic, traditional Portuguese music that was declared part of Humanity Immaterial Heritage by UNESCO.
INTERVIEW – december 2015
How did you come to Fado?
I moved from the Açores islands to Porto to study, and then to Lisbon to complete my Master Degree. And coming to Lisbon I was lucky enough to live in the Alfama neighborhood, where I discovered Fado and realized it was magical. I was already singing other styles of music then, and I thought Fado wasn’t for me. Whenever people asked me to sing a Fado song, I would reply I don’t want to. But I finally dared singing it, not so long ago – four months actually! And I don’t even know how that happened! But I am really glad to be into Fado now.
What is Fado to you?
Fado has no definition. If you ask different people, they will give you different answers; it is very personal. For me, Fado is an escape, a refuge. It is a way of letting your feelings out. There are Fado lyrics that say: “Fado is all I say and all I can say”. And that’s it to me: a way of expressing oneself, and letting something get out that you don’t even know what it is… Like painting or dancing; it’s just a form of art.
How do you envision the future of Fado?
Fado is never going to die. It is a musical style that has evolved quite a lot over the past decades. Today, some singers sing it in a very different was than the singers in the 70’s or 80’s. Today they have more latin influences, like Bossa Nova and other styles. Some people say this new style is not Fado, and they are afraid the tradition will disappear. But to me it is still Fado, because anyway Fado is expressing oneself! Fado is Humanity Immaterial Heritage, and it is one of those things that will always distinguish Portugal. So it will always be a part of Portugal, and I believe it will never die.
Looking for artists around the world, I see more male artists. How is this with Fado?
Actually there are more women than men singing Fado. It is not because of the difficulty or the beauty, because there are very beautiful recordings by both women and men. But it’s just that more women sing Fado! But some men sing truly marvelously, when you hear them to tell yourself “oh my god, if only I could do that…”
Do you have a message for the world?
I think something is lacking in the world today. And I think Fado and all styles of music can benefit the world: if we put our heart into our actions instead of our head, instead of wondering if that country has more guns than ours or if that immigrant is going to blow up my house; if we stop thinking about that and start putting our heart into things, through true painting, true music, true sculpture, true anything… then this would be a better world.
RENATA PAWELEC
Renata was living in Poland when she discovered Fado, and decided to move to Portugal in 2014 to learn the language and become a Fado singer. Renata also makes visual art, including collages about Fado.
INTERVIEW – december 2015
How did you come to Fado?
Five years ago I was visiting Portugal and I heard Fado; I thought this was something very special, that we don’t have in Poland. The sensitivity of the musicians, the beauty of the music, and there is something very sentimental in it… I thought that was lacking in my country. Back in Poland, I listened to Maria Rodriguez and other singers on Internet. I had been a visual artist for 20 years and I decided I wanted to do something different, something I deeply liked, and I discovered this was singing! So a year ago, I decided to move to Lisbon.
And what’s wonderful is that when I arrived here, I met all these singers in the streets of Lisbon! In this very café for example, one night I was walking around here, and through the window I saw a Fado singer I really loved… This is Lisbon’s magic!
What is art to you?
It is something that really touches the souls of both the person who is creating and the person who is receiving. It may be singing, it may be a picture, anything… It is something that has value, quality, it is something very special. And I think Fado has these qualities, because it has a very long tradition, and it was very protected to prevent it from changing too much. The Fado singers were really trying to keep the tradition. And so it was preserved over a century, and the form today is still very similar to the roots. But of course today some singers are developing the art form and mixing it with other genres, introducing new instruments for example.
How to you envision the future of Fado?
I think there will be two streams: one that will stay very traditional, and one, which has already started, will be Fado as an inspiration. And as an inspiration also for people from other cultures, from Europe or America, like me. It is a kind of music, a kind of feeling that can inspire the other styles of music.
And it can inspire other art forms as well – I also make plastic works about Fado for example. Through Fado I also discovered other music styles from Portuguese-speaking areas, like Brazil. And Brazilian music also has a very strong sentimental value, I believe.
The world of Fado is very inspiring. I haven’t yet put all this inspiration in my works. But this world of night, of places where people join and sing very deep, sentimental, or also sometimes very happy songs; these places in the surroundings of Lisbon, which is a beautiful, old city; all this is very inspiring. To me it is like revealing secrets of the heart. And I am still exploring how to translate this on a visual support.
Do you have a message for the world?
The roots of your country are precious. I am fascinated by Fado, but this also made me look back at the music from where I come from. So take care of your traditions. And do what you like to do! Follow your dreams!
See Renata’s Fado clips on Youtube here and here >>
Retrouvez l’interview avec Diana Botelho et Renata Pawelec en français sur Terri(s)toires ici >>
PORTFOLIO – ARTWORKS AROUND FADO, BY RENATA PAWELEC
All following art works (c)Renata Pawelec. I am displaying them here with her nice authorization. Visit renepawelec.tumblr.com to see more of her work.