Tales of a Music Collector, Episode 282:

A triumph last night!

I first heard the Portuguese Fado in 1984, when I went to visit my girlfriend in Eugene, Oregon.

She had a cassette from a friend that was partially occupied by this strange, sad music the likes of which I had never heard before.

The label just said “Fado”. I came to find out that it’s known, among other things, as the European Blues.

I’ve been collecting it now for 26 years. And I made a copy of the tape, which I still have.

But it took me until last year to even find out the artist’s name. Ada de Castro.

And ever since last year I’ve been scouring the internet for a copy of that album. But all of her work that’s available on Amazon or iTunes is from much later. The album I sought was from the sixties.

Found a couple of them on Portuguese eBay, but either they were snapped up before I got ‘em or the cost was beyond my meager means.

So, last night I googled a unique song name, Têm tres letras o meu nome, and up popped a Portuguese site with a full download of the entire album. For free. Nicely done up with the original album art, from an almost flawless LP, with all the songs neatly labelled.

I hereby make a present of it to the Lizards who like the best of “world music” (= anything that you don’t hear on your radio).

Here.

You have to register, and until you do, the site’s in Portuguese. Anyone having trouble let me know.

This music is totally worth the effort.