Nuno de Aguiar
Ten photographs from one night at A Baiúca, scrolling over the actual recording as it plays through. Turn the sound on in the corner, and give it a few quiet minutes.
A Baiúca sits on a narrow street in Alfama, Lisbon's oldest fado neighbourhood — a tavern rebuilt into a fado house in 1998, with barely half a dozen tables and no stage at all.
Here, nobody is booked to perform. Fado vadio means "wandering fado" — patrons, neighbours, even the staff take their turn singing between courses, one of only a handful of houses left in Lisbon still run that way.
Nuno de Aguiar is Capítulo II's guest singer — the same seat Elsa Laboreiro held for the project's first session, now his for the night.
The song is "Lembras-te Mãe" — the poem by Jorge Ataíde, the music written by Nuno himself.
Tonight's accompaniment is the pairing most associated with fado: Ângelo Freire on guitarra portuguesa, its bright twelve strings carrying the melody, and João Domingos on the acoustic viola underneath — a different sound from Capítulo I's piano, session to session.
Ângelo Freire is also the series' artistic director — one of the more recognisable names in fado today, and, tonight, one of the musicians in the room.
Tiago Correia hosts every chapter of this project; where it lands each time depends on who's willing to open their door for one more night of fado.
A Baiúca seats a handful of tables pushed close enough that strangers end up sharing them by the end of the night — small enough that the room doesn't just hear a song, it holds it.
Reservations here are booked out roughly a week ahead, cash only at the door — for a room this small, on a night this good, there's rarely a table to spare.
The same house rule holds here as everywhere else in fado: silence while someone sings, whoever they happen to be. Tonight, that was Nuno.
Ten frames and one night in Alfama — a room built for singing, not performing.
Photographed and recorded by Luis Roquette Valdez, A Baiúca, Alfama, Lisbon, 19 November 2025.