IN LOVE WITH LISBON

I’m currently reading The Surprise of Being which is a collection of poems by Fernando Pessoa. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I am ashamed to say it’s been a good few years since I settled down to read some poetry. During my degree years, my favourite writers were the romantics: Wordsworth, Shelley and Blake. I like poetry that makes me think and which has an edge of darkness to it.

This collection of Pessoa’s work seems to me to paint a picture of someone who spend much of his life questioning who he was and what others thought him to be. There is certainly the element of the ’suffering poet’ etched within his words. That said, I cannot possibly think of him as ‘miserable’ because there are such flashes of inspiration and delicate beauty. There is sadness and perhaps a hint of saudade. Reading Pessoa is like walking into another’s dream and seeing the landscape they built with their thoughts, only to watch it shift into a place you almost recognise. It’s like deju-vu on a rainy day and curiously recognising a stranger.

Here is my favourite poem so far.

O que me dói não é
O que há no coração
Mas essas coisas lindas
Que nunca existirão…

São as formas sem forma
Que passam sem que a dor
As possa conhecer
Ou as sonhar o amor.

São como se a tristeza
Fosse árvore e uma a uma,
Caíssem suas folhas
Entre o vestígio e a bruma

What hurts me is not
What is in the heart
But those beautiful things
Which will never be.

They are the forms without form
That go by without pain
Being able to know
Or love to dream them

They are as if sadness
Were a tree and one by one,
Its leaves were falling
Between the trace and the mist. 

The Fado Museum (Museu do Fado) is a must do trip for those who love Fado music as well as those with an interest in Portuguese culture and history.

Situated on Largo do Chafariz de Dentro, the museum is right opposite the entrance to Alfama. The easiest way to find it is to simply walk towards the sea on Praça de Comércio and turn left up the main road (Avenida Infant Dom Henrique). It’s about a 5 - 10 minute walk along the water front and is situated on the right. Alternatively you can take bus number 28.

The museum opened in 1998 and is located within a spacious well-designed building that still smells new. It costs 3 euro’s to enter and you are not allowed to take photographs. Both times I have visited, the museum has been quiet although as with most tourist attractions it is busier at the weekends.

Despite being quite a small museum, they have a packed collection that includes interactive features. The permanant collection is a wonderful journey through the history of Fado - the music, the singers, the musicians and instrument (namely the Portuguese guitar).

There are hundreds of photo’s of famous singers as well posters of old advertisements. Every wall is crammed with information on how fado developed as a musical genre. You can listen to the different types of fado as well as different artists. My favourite part of the museum is the  model Portuguese guitar workshop. A wax work figure stands over his tools as a film runs behind him showing how a Portuguese guitar is made. As a musician I have always been in awe of master instrument makers. Along the wall is a large display of different makes and models of guitar. My fingers were itching to play!

The last room is a wonderful installation that recreates a fado bar. Last time I visited I was the only person in there so it was easy to feel like I had been transported back in time. The room is dark and atmospheric. Cases of original costumes worn by great Fadistas like Lidia Ribeiro, Maria da Fé and Amalia line the back walls. All around the room are photographs of Fado in action and of course there is fado playing as you stand and absorb the atmosphere.

The museum has space also for temporary exhibitions. Past exhibitions are listed on their website if you would like to know more. There is a cafe which wasn’t open when I was there but according to their website it is open at the weekend and Fado is played live.

You’ll find the shop very expensive but it does have an excellent selection of fado music as well as some lovely books on art and culture in Portugal as well as fado. My only disappointment was that they did not have any posters. I love the old Fado advertisments - particularly those by Stuart Carvalhais and would love to have some prints of his work.

The Fado museum is the perfect place to pass an hour in the late afternoon. From there you can cross the street and be right in the heart of old Alfama ready to spend the evening in the arms of fado.

Museu do Fado (in Portuguese and English)
Opening Times: Tuesday - Sunday 10 - 6pm

Azulejo by buenasaires on Flickr