Fados

This is an excellent film. I enjoyed it so much that I bought another copy to give to a friend as a present. She told me she also loved it

We have seen the film lots of times. Fado is a beautiful kind of music where the instrumentalists follow the singer like in a duet. The text is often a bit sad but thoughtful. The film is visually beautiful, and illustrates the great diversity of that form of music. Many good fado singers participate. The potugese text is translated in an english subtext which is a bit primitive and the queen of fado, Amalia Rodriguez, could have been better presented but otherwise the dancers, good ones indeed, illustrate the messages in the song texts, although fado normally is not a kind of music for dancing. Also the history of fado is presented during the film, but in a way which could be a bit difficult to extract if you never have been in contact with fado before.The dvd which was delivered had a mismach between the land/region code for the film and the sound, a trouble I never had encountered before, so I had to reburn the content to a new dvd before watching.Presumably just an accidental coincidence.Partly because I love this form of music but partly because it is an axcellent film I have watched the film more than 20 times. Normally I am not that kind of cineast.A good complement is the humanitary fado gala on Youtube, though much of talking, has many good fado music parts. Also the very old sister of Amalia, Celeste, is singing.If you like some of the music there yuo certainly should by the fado film. Carlos Saura has also made other films with music themes as tango and flamenco.

I preordered this dvd in August and it has been well worth waiting for. I have been listening to fado since my grandmother sang it to me in my craddle 61 years ago. I have been lucky enough to have known personally some of the great names of fado, like Amalia, Lucilia do Carmo, her son Carlos and Argentina Santos. Camane I heard for the first time some fifteen years ago when he walked in and did an imprompto set at Sr. Vinho at 2 o'clock on a Saturday morning. A year ago I spent my 60th birthday singing "fado vadio"(amatuer fado)with old friends in a small club in Bairro Alto in Lisbon. So when I speak of Fado, I know whereof I speak, even if I happen to be speaking English and not Portugues at the moment.I can already hear the "purists" who will watch this film. "This is not fado because it is not traditional". I am old enough to remember when they said the same things about Amalia, Lucilia and Carlos because each brought their own interpretation to the fado they sang. Fado is a living art form. Not a relick to be preserved untouched in a museum. Carlos Saura has brought us "living Fado" with new and creative variations of music and dance. I hope those who already know fado and those who have yet to experience its magic will experience this film.Paul Vieira of Greenville, RI and Lisbon, Portugal.

Of Saura's musical trilogy (with Tango and Flamenco) this is probably the least ellaborate. It has some great performances but lacks a story. Some of the tracks may be a little out of place. But still does a good job of providing a Fado overview.

Every time I watch and listen to Fados by Carlos Saura, I peel back another layer, and enjoy the music and dance more deeply.It's a national treasure (Portugal) which is a bit of history on parade....from the first Portuguese sailors to ply the 7 seas, throughout the colonies and the arc of their histories, to Brazilian & African artists, rappers, the whole gambit, alpha to omega, of Portuguese soul music & magic....that I never knew existed until I saw this movie.It makes me ashamed maybe, sad certainly, to come from such a stiff, heartless culture, military industrial northern European, with so little spontaneous music directly from the heart, so little emotional range or skill. The extemporaneous free spirit of these songs, freshness, heartfelt, raw, unabashed, is rare in our culture. What a discovery.Hope it grows on you like it did on me....try it.

My first introduction to Fado style music from Portugal was through a friend who had study it in college. I was able to see this fantastic music production on Netflix. Once seeing it I wanted to own a copy to have in my video library. If you are a lover of world music as I am you will enjoy this musical journey through the origins of Portuguese style Fado music. I really like all the different variations of this unique musical genre. Hip-Hop, Fado!! An added plus is that they have provide subtitles so you can understand what the artists are conveying in their songs. I don't particually like subtitles but with Fado it was esay to follow along. Each artists set was beautifully designed to provide a sensual/colorful texture to the performance. You won't be disappointed here.

The sad and heartfelt music is extremely touching. I watched it twice because I just couldn't have enough. Carlos Sara is magnificent when making musical films. The interplay of songs and dances with the reflection of colours and images in the mirrors is absolutely awesome. It's surprising that the DVD is not available from Amazon and I had to buy a second hand DVD from a library with a broken box. Fortunately the DVD was not scratched.

The DVD don't works and I'l try in several equipments, include in my PC, without success. The DVD run but the image don't appear to be. I'd like to receive another DVD, but if you can test it, I think better, I'l apreciate.

La calidad de la imagen es buena y aceptable, pero el sonido -muy importante, especialmente en un DVD musical- es completamente decepcionante. Lo devolví inmediatamente. Parece mentira que fabriquen y vendan DVD de estas características. No comprar, y no confiar -como yo hice- en la calidad de los DVD vendidos por AMAZON.

Carlos Saura scheint ein Ballett-Fan zu sein: Von 8 Kapiteln der Haupt-DVD sind die ersten 5 so sehr tanzlastig, dass der Fado in den Hintergrund tritt. Im Kapitel 8 "O Gente da Minha Terra" wird die Sängerin Mariza überhaupt nicht gezeigt - schade. Aber wegen des Kapitels "Casa de Fados" hat sich der Kauf schon gelohnt. Eine weitere Enttäuschung ist, dass es auf der DVD-Verpackung kein Inhaltsverzeichnis gibt, etwa mit Liedtiteln und Interpreten in chronologischer Reihenfolge, wie man das von jeder CD kennt. Ich musste mir das mühsam vom Nachspann zusammenklauben - ohne Sicherheit, wer was wann singt.

De los tres documentales que ha hecho, quizás sea este el que más me gusta visualmente. Saura es especial. En cuanto a los interpretes y músicos, son extraordinarios. Parece mentira que esas sentidas voces y esos virtuosos instrumentistas (¡ay! esas guitarras portuguesas) sean desconocidos en nuestro pais. Tan cerca y tan lejos. Todavía nos dura lo de Aljubarrota.. Saludos.

Carlos Saura nos hace descubrir el Fado, desde el más clásico hasta el más moderno, aunque Fado y Modernidad puedan parecer palabras opuestas. Mucha emoción y el conjunto es precioso.

Es indiscutible la calidad de la firma Saura, aunque me gusto mucho mas, Flamenco y El amor Brujo,Personalmente el Fado me resulta muy meloso, chillon.