Fado : the saddest music in the world / by Elaine Avila ; foreword by Oona Patrick ; afterword by Mercedes Bátiz-Benét ; appendix by Lila Ellen Gray.

89 pages ; 21 cm.

Fado is the story of a young singer, Luisa, who arrives home to her apartment in Surrey, BC, to find her mother, Rosida, collapsed on the floor, weeping, because the greatest fado singer of all time, Amalia Rodrigues, has died. All of Portugal’s vast diaspora has entered into three days of mourning. Luisa discovers that one of her mother’s old fado albums is signed by Amalia’s guitarist, Antonio. It seems they were friends back in their village. Luisa realizes she doesn’t know how to sing a single Portuguese song, because she and her mother moved outside the community after Luisa’s dad died. Luisa begs Rosida to write to Antonio so Luisa can reclaim her heritage by learning how to sing fado. Rosida is reluctant, but Luisa says she will save the money to take them on the trip of a lifetime, back to Lisbon. When they arrive, Rosida is overcome with feeling for all she has lost. Luisa and Rosida look up their long-lost mysterious cousin, Rui, who shows them carefully curated tourist spots, making Luisa wonder what he is hiding. The ghost of Amalia begins haunting the city, watching over and singing to all of the characters, all in mourning, all searching for how to sing fado without Amalia. At Luisa’s first lesson with Antonio, Luisa discovers Rosida’s favourite fado is fascist. It seems fado became propaganda during the Portuguese dictatorship, the longest in modern times. When Rosida is outraged that Antonio says her favourite fado is fascist, she confronts him during Luisa’s singing lesson. Luisa discovers that Antonio and Rosida were far more than friends. Luisa is furious, wondering if her mother ever loved her father. Rosida and Antonio begin to rekindle their romance. Rui reveals his secret, causing Rosida to reject him completely. Luisa finds her world overturned. Despite her best efforts, Antonio says Luisa isn’t Portuguese enough to sing the music. Heartbroken, Luisa begins wandering the back alleys and streets of old Lisbon, where the music was born. Luisa encounters a sexy poet, who shows her the city, they fall in love. Luisa finds her path to reclaim her culture is as curving and mysterious as the back alleys of Lisbon, winding through queer fado, fados of resistance, immigrant fados, fuelled by her desire to find her own true song.

Produced by Puente Theatre.

9781772012897

Women

D A958fa 2021