Eugenio Finardi
Fado

LA RECENSIONE

The first of four experimental and niche projects by Eugenio Finardi, O Fado is a surprising, adequate work where the rocker is accompanied by Francesco Di Giacomo from BMS, the fadista Marco Poeta on Portuguese guitar, and the voice of Elisa Ridolfi, who strangely does not appear on the cover names.
The album is a rendition of genre classics, some translated into Italian, bare and balanced, with 18 tracks spanning 57 minutes, therefore little more than three minutes per song, following an almost regular alternation of the artists.
The sequence Eugenio-Francesco-Elisa-Marco (instrumental) is respected twice in a row just like the sequence Eugenio-Francesco-Marco (instrumental). In the last four pieces, the sequence is Elisa-Francesco-Marco (instrumental)-Eugenio.
Essentially, Fado is a genre that moves on the alternation of C major G7, with some occurrences of D minor or its relative F major, and A minor. As a result, the tracks are very cohesive.
Eugenio sings the good "Le ragazze di Terceira," meaning "the juiciest oranges"; "Le cinque pietre," where the stones are in the hand; "La mia canzone è saudade," which echoes "Alberto" by his colleague and friend Camerini; in "Fado Lisboeta," melancholic and with great interpretation; and in the concluding "Non è disgrazia essere povero," with slight interventions by Francesco Di Giacomo. Noteworthy is the instrumental version of "Piazza grande" by Lucio Dalla.
However, O Fado surprises but does not convince. It surprises because a record ABOUT Fado was managed to be made, a unique episode deserving attention, but it does not convince because a record OF Fado could not be made, since saudade, that truly untranslatable feeling into Italian, is really untranslatable even in musical execution, outside Portuguese contexts. Indeed, the singing conveys joy but distorts the anger and despair of the unfortunate neighborhoods that are the basis of this musical expression.