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A crucial concept in Portuguese music is saudade, which can be most closely translated as yearning, but has a more expansive meaning. Saudade is said to be requisite for musicians, as it powers their performances and causes frenzied crowd reactions.

1 Fado

Fado (fate in Portuguese) arose in Lisbon as the music of the urban poor, and is thus often compared to rembétika music of Greece. Fado songs are typically lyrically harsh, with the singer resigned to sadness, poverty and loneliness, but remaining dignified and firmly controlled.

Fado is said to have been born in the beginning of the 19th century, when immigrants from Brazil were commonplace, and their music was the fofa and lundum dances. These were often crude and vilified by the upper-class at the time, but soon became the basis for fado. Portuguese literature, especially the quatrain couplets and modinha ballads, were another integral part of early fado, but fado had appeared by 1836, when Maria Severa sang a fado so beautifully that she seduced and ruined the Comte de Vimisio . References to what may have been fado appear in Brazil in 1829, while modern fado is known since at least 1910, when it was first recorded.

Late in the 19th century, the city of CoimbraCoimbra is a city and a district of Portugal. Coimbra city is located in the central part of Portugal, 120 km south of Porto, 195 km north of Lisbon. One of portuguese biggest crossroads, Coimbra is served by A1, the main highway of Portugal. The city is developed a distinctive fado scene. Coimbra, a literary capital for the country, is now known for being more refined and majestic. The sound has been described as "the song of whose who retain and cherish their illusions, not of those who have irretrievably lost them" by Rodney Gallop in 1936Events January-February January 15 The first building to be completely covered in glass is completed in Toledo, Ohio, for the Owens-Illinois Glass Company. January 20 Death of George V of the United Kingdom. His son Edward VIII succeedes him as King of th. A related form are the guitarradas of the 1920sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 Events and trends Technology John Logie Baird invents the first working t and 30sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s Years: 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 Events and trends Technology Jet engine invented Link Trainer invented Sc, best known for Dr. Antonio Menano and a group of virtuoso musicians he formed, including Artur Paredes and José Joaquim Cavalheiro . Student fado , performed by students at Coimbra University, have maintained a tradition since it was pioneered in the 1890sEvents and trends Technology Early commercial production of automobiles. Science Henri Becquerel discovers radioactivity Discovery of x-rays by Wilhelm Rontgen Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius and US geologist Thomas Crowder Chamberlain independently co by Augusto Hilario .

Starting in 1939Events January-June January 2 End of term for Frank Finley Merriam, 28th Governor of California. He is succeeded by Culbert Levy Olson. January 24 Earthquake kills 30. 000 in Chile about 50. 000 sq mi razed January 26 Falangists take Barcelona January 26 with the career of Amália Rodrigues, fado was an internationally popular genre. A singer and film actor, Rodrigues made numerous stylistic innovations that have made her probably the most influential fadista of all time.

A rival in terms of influence is José Afonso, who began performing in the 1950s; he was a popular roots-based musician that led the Portuguese roots revival. With artists like Sérgio Godinho and Luís Cília , Afonso helped form nova canção music, which, after the 1974 revolution, gained socially-aware lyrics and became canto livre . The biggest name in canto livre was Brigada Victor Jara , a group that seriously studied and were influenced by Portuguese regional music.