Farsighted Fly Girl

This week, I'm going on a special trip. I'm headed to New Orlean s with my mother, aunt and uncle to research our family history in the Crescent City.  I've been digging through centuries of records and history to discover the lives of my ancestors and in New Orleans we will try to trace their steps. We'll be visiting neighborhoods, cemeteries and historical societies for my research. We'll also be attending the Gumbo Festival in Treme and soaking up required music on French Street and all the  necessary restaurants.  This is a guaranteed adventure into my family's history so please stay tuned!

To me, nothing reflects a place and its essence more than the music that originates there. If it's hard to understand or explain a destination, you only need to listen to it's native rhythms for answers. Cuba has son. Jamaica has reggae. Spain has flamenco and Portugal has fado. What is fado? It's the passionate, dramatic music of longing that exemplifies the Portuguese spirit. Some call it Portuguese blues music. Fado singers or fadistas  are usually accompanied by Portuguese guitar (12 strings), viola and eight string bass. The tradition dates back to the 1820s and is usually performed in bars and cafes. The queen of fado or  Rainha do Fado,  is the legendary Amalia Rodrigues,  , whose brilliant voice helped popularize fado internationally. I have been lucky to see contemporary fado singers Martiza and Ana Moura perform but I wanted to hear the music in it's home. So I walked through Lisbon's hilly cobblestone streets to Adega Machado , a popular fado h...