Mais do que Amor, é Fado
More than Love, it's Fado — Tiago Correia invites some of fado's most historically important singers to perform in memorable venues alongside the genre's best musicians, with musical direction by Ângelo Freire. I produce, light, film, record and edit every chapter myself.
Each chapter documents one real fado session, exactly as it happened — nobody is asked to perform for the camera, and nothing is staged for a second take. Ten photographs (sometimes fewer, when a room or a night calls for it) scroll over the actual recording as it plays through, so the piece reads with the sound of the room still in it. The series moves around Lisbon rather than settling into one venue — from grand casas de fado to a six-table tavern where the singer for the night might just be whoever's turn it is.
Fado itself grew out of the city's riverside neighbourhoods, Alfama and Mouraria, sung first by sailors and dockworkers and, in the 1830s, by a legendary young fadista named Maria Severa. In 2011, UNESCO recognised it as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This series is one small, ongoing attempt to keep pointing a camera at it, one room at a time.
One night, one room, one voice — each time.
Elsa Laboreiro
The series opens at Café Luso, the room regulars call "A Catedral do Fado" — Amália Rodrigues recorded a live album here in 1955. Elsa Laboreiro, one of the house's resident voices for more than two decades, sings "Chamar-te Meu Amor" accompanied on piano rather than the guitarra portuguesa most people picture.
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Nuno de Aguiar
A Baiúca is a six-table tavern in Alfama rebuilt into a fado house in 1998 — fado vadio, where nobody is booked and patrons take their turn singing between courses. Nuno de Aguiar takes the seat for the night with "Lembras-te Mãe," a song he wrote himself, backed by Ângelo Freire and João Domingos.
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Julieta Estrela
A Muralha Tasca Típica, near the Fado Museum, is a neighbourhood tasca first — fado folded into its dinner service rather than the other way around. Julieta Estrela sings "Horas da Vida" to the traditional melody Fado das Horas, long associated with the aristocrat-fadista Maria Teresa de Noronha.
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Florêncio Carvalho
O Forcado is a working casa de fado on Rua da Rosa, back in Bairro Alto. Florêncio Carvalho sings "Pergunta a quem quiseres" to the traditional Fado Alexandrino — Daniel Freire takes guitarra portuguesa while Ângelo Freire moves to guitarra acústica for the night, the same two families of guitar just swapped between hands.
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Cidália Moreira
Casa de Linhares sits inside a 16th-century building on the Alfama hillside, partly lost to the 1755 earthquake — the same address once held two earlier, well-known fado houses. Cidália Moreira sings "Fado da Freira," set to Casimiro Ramos's Fado Três Bairros, with Ângelo Freire and João Domingos.
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Filipe Acácio
Tasca do Chico has kept fado vadio going in Bairro Alto since it opened in 1996, and is listed by the Museu do Fado among the city's fado houses. Filipe Acácio sings "Ai Se Os Meus Olhos Falassem," with Francisco Pereira on guitarra portuguesa alongside João Domingos.
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Mariana Correia
Fado ao Carmo pairs dinner with professional fado in Alfama, and counts Luís Guerreiro — a permanent member of Mariza's band since 2003 — among its resident guitarristas. Mariana Correia sings "Amor Total," set to the traditional Fado Santa Luzia.
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Artur Batalha
Grupo Sportivo Adicense is a century-old sports and recreation club in Alfama, not a fado house at all — it occasionally opens its doors for a fado gala, and organised a tribute concert for Artur Batalha, "o Príncipe do Fado," the same summer this session was filmed. He sings "Diz o que queres" with Francisco Pereira and João Domingos.
Watch the chapter →A few faces you'll see more than once.
Tiago Correia — host
Tiago Correia hosts every chapter, inviting that session's singer and finding the room for the night.
Ângelo Freire — artistic director
Ângelo Freire directs the series musically, and picks up an instrument himself in several chapters — guitarra portuguesa in Capítulos II, III and V, guitarra acústica in Capítulo IV.
João Domingos — guitarra acústica
João Domingos holds the guitarra acústica chair in most of the sessions — the constant low end under a run of different guitarristas portugueses.
Real rooms, all across Lisbon.
Café Luso
Open since 1927 — "A Catedral do Fado," where Amália Rodrigues once recorded live.
A Baiúca
A six-table fado vadio tavern, rebuilt into a fado house in 1998 — no one's booked to sing.
A Muralha Tasca Típica
A neighbourhood tasca near the Fado Museum, with fado folded into its dinner service.
O Forcado
A working casa de fado on Rua da Rosa, fado and dinner served together nightly.
Casa de Linhares
Housed in a 16th-century building on the Alfama hillside, partly lost to the 1755 earthquake.
Tasca do Chico
Fado vadio since 1996, listed by the Museu do Fado among the city's fado houses.
Fado ao Carmo
Dinner paired with professional fado, with resident guitarristas of its own.
Grupo Sportivo Adicense
A century-old sports and recreation club that occasionally opens its doors for a fado gala.
The series keeps going from here.
Every chapter's full film goes up on YouTube first — subscribe to catch the next one when it lands.