Fado and the Urban Poor in Portuguese Cinema of the 1930s and 1940s

A compelling account of the role of Fado and the fadista in Portuguese film and the wider culture.

Colvin studies the evolution of Fado music as the soundtrack to the Portuguese talkie. He analyzes the most successful Portuguese films of the first two decades of the Estado Novo era, showing how directors used the national songto promote the values of the young Regime regarding the poor inhabitants of Lisbon's popular neighborhoods. He considers the aesthetic, technological, and social advanc...