Travel Tip: Classical Music in Belgium
Huelgas Ensemble

Fado was born in the tough port districts of 19th century Lisbon. These poetic songs were sung in small, dark rooms, for a deadly silent audience, as if they were part of a ritual. These songs talk about seamen’s nostalgia, impossible loves, sadness, transitoriness, loneliness and the hard life in the poor barrios of Lisbon.

Although fado, a music genre for soloist, has a totally different form than the villancico, profane polyphonic songs from 16th century Portugal, both styles breathe the same sense of saudade: the typical melancholia from Lisbon, a city drowned in dreams on the borders of the Atlantic Ocean.

This concert is a combination of two traditions: villancicos by the Huelgas Ensemble, experts in polyphonic songs, and fado performed by two fadistas, Beatriz de la Conceição and António Rocha.