Saudade cannot be translated
Saudade is the Portuguese word that many linguists consider untranslatable. It describes a melancholic longing — for a person, place, time, or thing that may never return, or may never have existed. It is simultaneously grief and tenderness. The Portuguese novelist José Saramago called it 'the love that remains after someone is gone.'
Fado's origins
Fado (fate) emerged in Lisbon's waterfront neighborhoods in the early 19th century — likely a fusion of African slave music, Moorish influence, and Portuguese Gregorian chant. It was initially the music of the poor, the dispossessed, and those who waited for sailors who might not return. It became the national song.
The instrument and the voice
Traditional Lisbon fado uses the Portuguese guitarra (a 12-string pear-shaped instrument unlike the Spanish guitar), a viola baixo for bass, and voice. The voice (fadista) carries all the emotional weight. Amália Rodrigues, who died in 1999, is still considered the definitive voice — her face on the thousand-escudo note.