O Guardian falou com Mariza, Rúben de Carvalho, Mário Soares, Björk e um historiador e publica hoje um belíssimo artigo sobre a evolução da percepção social do fado. Título magnífico: "Tainted Love" (alusão ao famoso tema que os Soft Cell tornaram conhecido em 1981).
O historiador, apresentado como especialista em fado, diz que Salazar não usou o fado voluntariamente para fins de propaganda, mas que foi obrigado a fazê-lo:
"The regime did not use the fado as a tool for propaganda," says fado historian Michael Colvin, assistant professor of Hispanic studies at Marymount Manhattan College in New York. "Rather, the fado's popularity had become such that the government had no choice but to make the song a part of the consecrated national repertoire. Through censorship, Salazar insured that it did not blatantly contradict the regime's notion of progress; and by promoting the 'poor but happy' - pobrete mas alegrete - image of Lisbon's fadistas and degraded popular neighbourhoods, the government kept the potentially subversive song at bay."
O historiador, apresentado como especialista em fado, diz que Salazar não usou o fado voluntariamente para fins de propaganda, mas que foi obrigado a fazê-lo:
"The regime did not use the fado as a tool for propaganda," says fado historian Michael Colvin, assistant professor of Hispanic studies at Marymount Manhattan College in New York. "Rather, the fado's popularity had become such that the government had no choice but to make the song a part of the consecrated national repertoire. Through censorship, Salazar insured that it did not blatantly contradict the regime's notion of progress; and by promoting the 'poor but happy' - pobrete mas alegrete - image of Lisbon's fadistas and degraded popular neighbourhoods, the government kept the potentially subversive song at bay."
