Music of Portugal

Some more recent successful fado/folk-inspired acts include Madredeus and Deolinda, the latter being part of a folk revival that has led to a newfound interest in this type of music.

Other popular modern genres in Portugal include dance, house, kizomba, pimba, pop, reggae, ska and zouk.

These are evidenced in the music history of Portugal, which despite its firm European roots, nevertheless reflects the intercontinental cultural interactions begun in the Portuguese discoveries.

A short list of past and present Portuguese musicians with important contributions must necessarily include the names of composers Manuel Cardoso, Duarte Lobo, Filipe de Magalhães, Carlos Seixas, Pedro de Escobar, Diogo Dias Melgás, João Domingos Bomtempo, Marcos Portugal, José Vianna da Motta, Luís de Freitas Branco, António Fragoso, Joly Braga Santos, Fernando Lopes-Graça, and Emmanuel Nunes; organists such as António Carreira and Manuel Rodrigues Coelho; singers Luísa Todi, Elisabete Matos and José Carlos Xavier; pianists Maria João Pires and Sequeira Costa; violinists Elmar Oliveira and Carlos Damas; and cellists such as Guilhermina Suggia.

It is claimed that fado's origins are older, going back to the 15th century, when women cried with longing for their husbands that sailed to the never-ending seas.

[2] Recent events have helped keep Portuguese regional folk (rancho folclórico) traditions alive, most especially including the worldwide roots revival of the 1960s and 70s.

Folk/traditional music acts include: Dazkarieh, Cornalusa, Gaitúlia, Strella do Dia, Fausto, Notas e Voltas, Roberto Leal, Ronda dos Quatro Caminhos, Terra a Terra, Tonicha, Cândida Branca Flor, Óióai, Janita Salomé, Uxukalhus, Frei Fado D'el Rei, Gaiteiros de Lisboa, Roncos do Diabo, Dâna, Luís Peixoto, Dulce Pontes, Sangre Cavallum, Teresa Salgueiro, Vitorino and Xaile.

Nowadays some of the most popular acts are Virgem Suta, HMB, Aurea, Amor Electro, GNR, Xutos & Pontapés, The Gift, David Fonseca, Diogo Piçarra, Os Quatro e Meia and Capitão Fausto.

[6][7] In electronica, Underground Sound of Lisbon with their 1994 progressive house remix of the 1992 Spoken word song So Get Up by Ithaka Darin Pappas (lyrics/vocals), was a musical project that brought international attention to Portuguese DJs, namely Rui da Silva (the only Portuguese musician to reach #1 on the UK charts), DJ Vibe and Pete tha Zouk.

In Porto, the hometown of numerous talents such as Nuno Forte, Drum n' Bass styles are immensely popular, and the city has hosted various important international names in the genre such as Noisia, The Panacea and Black Sun Empire.

In February 2020, internationally recognized DJ-producer-musician, Armando Mendes, from northern Portugal released Parallel Universe on cd and a double-vinyl 12" set for Turquoise Records (one of the only full-length albums by any Portuguese electronic artist), collaborating with several worldwide vocalists/lyricists.

Notable groups and musicians in this genre are Osso Exótico, Ocaso Épico, Telectu, Carlos Zíngaro, Pedro INF, Favela Discos, If Lucy Fell and Life Theory.

The biggest exponent of heavy metal music in Portugal are the bands Moonspell, Ava Inferi, Ramp, Heavenwood, Corpus Christii, Reaktor, W.C.

Heavy metal made by Portuguese bands is sold in all major records / music shops in all European countries such as Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Poland and Turkey.

[citation needed] Others bands like Miss Lava, Holocausto Canibal, Thirdsphere, Sirius, Sacred Sin, Factory of Dreams, Decayed, Filli Nigratium Infernallium, Morte Incandescente, Gwydion, Switchtense, Grog, Bizarra Locomotiva, Thee Orakle, More Than a Thousand and Oratory also achieved some international recognition.

During the Estado Novo authoritarian regime, music was widely used by the left-wing resistance as a way to say what could not be said, singing about freedom, equality, and democracy, mainly through metaphors and symbols.

With artists like Sérgio Godinho and Luís Cília, Afonso helped form nova canção music, which, after the 1974 revolution, gained socially-aware lyrics and became canto livre.

The biggest names in canto livre were Banda do Casaco and Brigada Víctor Jara, groups that seriously studied and were influenced by Portuguese regional music.

Political ideas and causes, like the agrarian reform, socialism, equality, democratic elections, free education and many other were a constant presence in these songs lyrics, often written by well-known poets like José Barata-Moura, Manuel Alegre or Ary dos Santos.

Best known Portuguese reggae singers include Richie Campbell, Mercado Negro, Prince Wadada and Freddy Locks, while some of the more famous bands of these types include Terrakota, Primitive Reason, Sativa, One Sun Tribe, One Love Family, Arsha, Three and a Quarter, Purocracy, Chapa Dux and Souls of Fire.

Some indie and alternative bands and artists from Portugal are Os Pontos Negros, Memória de Peixe, Linda Martini, The Glockenwise, Capitão Fausto, Frankie Chavez, Stereoboy, Quelle Dead Gazelle, B Fachada, Noiserv, Golden Slumbers (band) as well as the Luso-Brazilian group Banda do Mar.

The highest exponents of this kind of music in Portugal are Tony Carreira and Marco Paulo (both, and even other performers, have a certain level of overlap with the Pimba genre, even partial or just in certain songs).

Luso-francofonic artists include Linda de Suza (Portuguese born and later an immigrant in France) and Marie Myriam, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest in 1977.