Music of Portugal

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Music of Portugal" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

Portuguese music includes many different styles and genres, as a result of

Portugal has had a history of receiving different musical influences from around the Mediterranean Sea, across Europe and former colonies. In the two centuries before the Christian era, Ancient Rome brought with it Greek influences; early Christians, who had their differing versions of church music arrived during the height of the Roman Empire; the Visigoths, a Romanized Germanic people, who took control of the Iberian Peninsula following the fall of the Roman Empire; the Moors and Jews in the Middle Ages. Hence, there have been more than two thousand years of internal and external influences and developments. Its genres range from classical to popular music. Portugal's music history includes musical history from the medieval Gregorian chants through Carlos Seixas' symphonies era to the composers of the modern era. The musical history of Portugal can be divided in different ways. Portuguese music encompasses musical production of the Middle Ages, Renaissance, Baroque, Classical, Romantic and Modern eras, especially from Angola with Kizomba. Portugal has very good dancing clothes making Portuguese dancing famous.

Classical music

Portuguese music gets its rich history from its privileged geographical location. These are evidenced in the music history of Portugal, which despite its firm European roots, nevertheless reflects the intercontinental cultural interactions begun in the Portuguese discoveries.

A short list of past and present Portuguese musicians with important contributions must necessarily include the names of composers Manuel Cardoso, Duarte Lobo, Filipe de Magalhães, Carlos Seixas, Pedro de Escobar, Diogo Dias Melgás, João Domingos Bomtempo, Marcos Portugal, José Vianna da Motta, Luís de Freitas Branco, António Fragoso, Joly Braga Santos, Fernando Lopes-Graça, and Emmanuel Nunes; organists such as António Carreira and Manuel Rodrigues Coelho; singers Luísa Todi, Elisabete Matos and José Carlos Xavier; pianists Maria João Pires and Sequeira Costa; violinists Elmar Oliveira and Carlos Damas; and cellists such as Guilhermina Suggia.

Traditional music

Fado

Fado is a musical style, which arose in

Starting in 1939 with the career of Amália Rodrigues, fado was an internationally popular genre. A singer and film actress, Rodrigues made numerous stylistic innovations that have made her probably the most influential fadista of all time.

A new generation of young musicians have contributed to the social and political revival of fado music, adapting and blending it with new trends. Contemporary fado musicians like Carminho, Mariza, Mísia and Camané have introduced the music to a new public. The sensuality of Misia and other female fadistas (fado singers) like Maria Ana Bobone, Cuca Roseta, Cristina Branco, Ana Moura, Katia Guerreiro, and Mariza has walked the fine line between carrying on the tradition of Amália Rodrigues and trying to bring in a new audience. Mísia and Carlos do Carmo are also well-known fado singers.Ricardo Ribeiro and Miguel Capucho are one of the best male fado singers of the new generation.

It was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2011.^[2]

Regional folk music

Recent events have helped keep Portuguese regional folk (rancho folclórico) traditions alive, most especially including the worldwide roots revival of the 1960s and 70s.

Cante Alentejano, from the Alentejo region, was included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in 2014.^[3]

The people of the Azores islands maintain some distinct musical traditions, such as the traditionally fiddle-driven chamarrita dance.

Folk/traditional music acts include: Dazkarieh, Cornalusa, Gaitúlia, Strella do Dia, Fausto, Notas e Voltas, Roberto Leal, Ronda dos Quatro Caminhos, Terra a Terra, Tonicha, Cândida Branca Flor, Óióai, Janita Salomé, Uxukalhus, Frei Fado D'el Rei, Gaiteiros de Lisboa, Roncos do Diabo, Dâna, Luís Peixoto, Dulce Pontes, Sangre Cavallum, Teresa Salgueiro, Vitorino and Xaile.

Pop music

Famous artists and bands included in the past are

In 2019, contemporary folk singer-songwriter Ana Mariano from Aveiro was featured on the compilation Novos Talentos FNAC 2019 (New Talents of Fnac 2019) with her Folk-pop debut single "Ordinary View", (written and performed in the English language.)^[5] In February 2020, she released her debut e.p. Everything I Touch which included the songs, "Insomnia" and "Plastic Wings" (featuring Ithaka), among others.^[6][7]

Electronic music

In electronica, Underground Sound of Lisbon with their 1994 progressive house remix of the 1992 Spoken word song So Get Up by Ithaka Darin Pappas (lyrics/vocals), was a musical project that brought international attention to Portuguese DJs, namely Rui da Silva (the only Portuguese musician to reach #1 on the UK charts), DJ Vibe and Pete tha Zouk.^[8]

Some other important names in the genre are

In February 2020, internationally recognized DJ-producer-musician, Armando Mendes, from northern Portugal released Parallel Universe on cd and a double-vinyl 12" set for Turquoise Records (one of the only full-length albums by any Portuguese electronic artist), collaborating with several worldwide vocalists/lyricists.^[9][10]

Experimental and avantgarde

Portuguese music has a striving experimental underground music scene since the '80s, with some exponents attaining international attention. Notable groups and musicians in this genre are Osso Exótico, Ocaso Épico, Telectu, Carlos Zíngaro, Pedro INF, Favela Discos, If Lucy Fell and Life Theory.

Heavy metal

The biggest exponent of heavy metal music in Portugal are the bands

Heavy metal made by Portuguese bands is sold in all major records / music shops in all European countries such as Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Poland and Turkey. Moonspell, Heavenwood and Attick Demons achieved markets such as East Europe / Russia, Asia, North, and South America, furthermore Attick Demons achieved recognition in Japan by being the only Portuguese heavy metal band to have a Japanese release to date, through a Japanese label.^{[citation needed]}

Others bands like Miss Lava, Holocausto Canibal, Thirdsphere, Sirius, Sacred Sin, Factory of Dreams, Decayed, Filli Nigratium Infernallium, Morte Incandescente, Gwydion, Switchtense, Grog, Bizarra Locomotiva, Thee Orakle, More Than a Thousand and Oratory also achieved some international recognition.

Hip hop

Hip hop began in Portugal in the early 1990s. The first artist to sign a major record deal was General D with EMI Records. Other important artists from the Hip hop tuga genre include; Sam the Kid, Slow J, Papillon, Da Weasel, Dealema, Valete, Regula, Boss AC, Mind the Gap, Bob Da Rage Sense, Dillaz.

Jazz

People such as

Pimba music is the Portuguese version of the euro

During the Estado Novo authoritarian regime, music was widely used by the left-wing resistance as a way to say what could not be said, singing about freedom, equality, and democracy, mainly through metaphors and symbols. Many composers and singers became famous and persecuted by the political police, some of them being arrested or exiled, such as José Afonso, Paulo de Carvalho, José Mário Branco, Sérgio Godinho, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Manuel Freire, Pedro Barroso, Fausto, Vitorino, Júlio Pereira and some others. Their music was (and remains) mostly based on Portuguese folk music and elements of European-style singer-songwriter genres.

José Afonso 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 names in canto livre were Banda do Casaco and Brigada Víctor Jara, groups that seriously studied and were influenced by Portuguese regional music. The poet-singer-songwriter was also a significant contributor to the modern romance genre, can be compared to Leonard Cohen.

After the

Reggae and ska

More underground but very prominent are Portuguese

Best known Portuguese reggae singers include Richie Campbell, Mercado Negro, Prince Wadada and Freddy Locks, while some of the more famous bands of these types include Terrakota, Primitive Reason, Sativa, One Sun Tribe, One Love Family, Arsha, Three and a Quarter, Purocracy, Chapa Dux and Souls of Fire. This music is popular among young people, with its main roots based in Lisbon and the surrounding areas.

Earlier ska bands in Portugal included Despe&Siga and Contratempos, while

Portuguese rock was born in the 1980s, with acts like Rui Veloso and Jorge Palma. Examples of popular Portuguese rock bands, having a long history, are

The indie and alternative rock movements are also popular in Portugal. Some indie and alternative bands and artists from Portugal are Os Pontos Negros, Memória de Peixe, Linda Martini, The Glockenwise, Capitão Fausto, Frankie Chavez, Stereoboy, Quelle Dead Gazelle, B Fachada, Noiserv, Golden Slumbers (band) as well as the Luso-Brazilian group Banda do Mar.

Romantic

The highest exponents of this kind of music in Portugal are Tony Carreira and Marco Paulo (both, and even other performers, have a certain level of overlap with the Pimba genre, even partial or just in certain songs).

Singers of Portuguese descent

There are several popular musicians of Portuguese descent. Luso-francofonic artists include

• Category:Portuguese musical instruments

References