Artur Batalha
Four photographs from one afternoon at Grupo Sportivo Adicense, scrolling over the actual recording as it plays through. Turn the sound on in the corner, and give it a few quiet minutes.
Grupo Sportivo Adicense isn't a fado house at all — it's an Alfama sports and recreation club, founded in 1916 by eleven neighbourhood residents. Fado found its way in anyway, as an occasional gala and the odd tarde de fado alongside the table tennis and theatre.
Artur Batalha is Capítulo VIII's guest singer — known as "o Príncipe do Fado," on stage since age nine, professional from fourteen, and a winner of the Grande Noite do Fado at the Coliseu dos Recreios back in 1971. The club itself organised a tribute concert in his honour in July 2026, a few weeks before this session.
The song is "Diz o que queres" — poem by Paco Gonzalez, music by Eduardo César, and one of the songs independently documented as part of Artur Batalha's own repertoire, though neither name behind it has much of a public trail beyond this.
Francisco Pereira returns on guitarra portuguesa, alongside João Domingos on guitarra acústica. Tiago Correia hosts, as always. Recorded on the 23rd of August 2026 — fado in a room built for sport, for one afternoon anyway.
Four frames from a sports club in Alfama that, every so often, becomes a fado house instead.
Photographed and recorded by Luis Roquette Valdez, Grupo Sportivo Adicense, Alfama, Lisbon, 23 August 2026.