Coimbra Fado
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coimbra Fado (Portuguese: Fado de Coimbra) is a genre of fado originating in the city of Coimbra, Portugal. It was adopted as the music of the university students of this city, also known as Student Fado (Fado de Estudante), but is usually considered the typical music of Coimbra itself.
It is performed with the traditional Guitarra de Coimbra (a kind of Portuguese guitar born in Coimbra), a modified version of Lisbon's fado guitar allegedly created by Artur Paredes, and usually accompanied by classic acoustic guitar and male voices.
Guitarists Artur Paredes and his son Carlos Paredes are considered the pioneers and masters of this musical genre. Among its most renowned singers are Edmundo Bettencourt and António Menano, in the 1930s and 40s, and José Afonso, Adriano Correia de Oliveira and Luís Goes, in the 1950s and 60s, corresponding to the two so called "golden ages" of the genre.
The University of Coimbra's students' union (Associação Académica de Coimbra) has a fado section, teaching this genre to musically inclined students and promoting musical projects and events related to it. Its fame throughout Portugal has led to the creation of similar structures in other cities, such as Lisbon and Porto, where there are also Fado de Coimbra groups organized by students and ordinary people.
