1138 | 22 | Lisbon’s fado between topophilia and toponymy

According to the most accepted interpretation, the word fado derives from the Latin “fatum”, destiny. The origin of fado is still debated, even if its passage through the Luso-Afro-Brazilian universe is now universally recognized. On the other hand, there is no doubt that fado appeared in Lisbon in the XIX century, establishing its places of production and fruition in popular districts like Alfama and Mouraria. It has been argued there is a special bond and an inseparable link between Lisbon and fado, as is particularly evident from the titles and the lyrics of the songs, which contain an unusually large number of references to the city and to its topography and heritage: “One of the main lyrical themes of fado is the city itself, particularly those areas most associated with the music’s origins such as Mouraria, Alfama and Bairro Alto. A mythology of place is summoned up in fado songs texts” (Elliot, 2010). Based on this point of view, in this paper we analysed the lyrics of all the fado songs listed on the website “Portal do Fado” (almost 8.000 songs, presumably all fado ever composed), looking for toponyms that could be directly or indirectly associated to the city of Lisbon as a whole, to its geographical elements (e.g. the Tagus Rivers) or to parts thereof (neighbourhoods, specific streets, squares, monuments, casas de fado, theatres, restaurants, bars, infrastructures, transportation means), trying to give a spatial dimension to this form of “topophilia” towards the city of Lisbon, in the sense indicated by Yi-Fu Tuan (1974), that seems to be inherent in fado as a musical genre.

Luca Zarrilli
University “G. d’Annunzio” of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) – Department of Economics

ID Abstract: 22