Fadista

The word fadista is used in a variety of ways in my book, as it is in fado discourse: it is used to describe the mixture of ‘roughs’ (an analogy made by Pinto de Carvalho, one of the first serious historians of fado, in 1903), criminals, prostitutes and aristocratic libertines who made up the bohemian fado milieu of the nineteenth century; in a later set of developments, it comes to refer to performers and writers of fados, as well as to fans and aficionados of the music. It is a mark of appreciation for audience members to shout ‘Fadista!’ [faadeeeshta!] at climactic moments of a particularly authentic performance.

Tags: fadista, fado