Music is my main hobby; I love to play instruments, find new music, and listen to live music. I knew I’d need to find as much music as possible during my time in Lisbon, Portugal. I expected fado music, essentially Portugal’s classical genre, which is often sung in dedicated bars or in the streets of particular neighborhoods (namely Alfama). Fado is typically played and sung by one or very few musicians, and almost always features the Portuguese guitar, a double-stringed, wide-bodied guitar you can make out in the image below.
My expectations were met – I encountered a lot of fado in Alfama, and I got to view a close-up performance during the Study in Portugal Network’s fieldtrip to the city of Coimbra, which has its own particular brand of fado.
I also expected to find pipe organs, and there I was not disappointed. Catholicism in Portugal dates back to the 12th century CE, and anywhere Catholicism touches tends to include ornate pipe organs in its cathedrals, since the modern organ has its origins in religious worship. Organs themselves originated in ancient Greece and spread throughout Europe; their use in religious music began around the 9th century CE. It was not until the 1500s, however, that organs of the Iberian peninsula (Iberian organs) became more distinct from other European organs. Even today, Iberian organs have different characteristics.
Last year, I took organ lessons in Pitt’s Heinz Chapel and learned not just to play the organ, but about the history and function of the instrument. Thus, I was excited to find pipe organs in most of the churches I walked into in Portugal.
In particular, the palace at University of Coimbra, which we visited on another Study in Portugal Network trip, had the most gorgeous pipe organ I’ve ever seen, shown below. In both, the trumpet-like pipes emerging from the front of the instrument are characteristic of Iberian organs.
In all respects, my classical music expectations were met. But I didn’t know what to expect of the modern music scene. Surprisingly, it seemed that at least in Lisbon, a lot of popular music comes from Brazil. I saw a celebration of this fact at a pride celebration in June, where a dance group of Indigenous women from Brazil performed at Praça do Comércio, Lisbon’s main historic square. During the arraials for Saint Anthony in June, I encountered a lot of DJ mixes of Portuguese folk songs. And it was very common to hear batida de funk blasting from tiny cars on the streets of Lisbon.
It seems music in Portugal is a melting pot, as it ends up being in many places around the world. There’s the more traditional side – folk music, fado, church music – and then the side that comes from modern reworkings of the classics within Portugal, from Brazil, from visitors and immigrants the world over. I was glad to find what I searched for and what I didn’t.