Lisbon has plenty of places where you can see fado performed. Casas de Fado or Adegas Tipicas are likely to be pricey in Lisbon's Bairro Alto, but you will probably want to explore that area at night anyway, apart from the music. Be warned that many fado clubs have a cover charge or minimum consumption and some are insufferably touristy. Famous (and expensive) fado clubs in the Bairro Alto include Adega Machado, A Severa and Painel do Fado. Parreirinha de Alfama is down the road in the traditional fado quarter of Alfama, which makes it an attractive place to visit, but do not expect it to be any cheaper. To find more economical places, your best bet is probably to get a taxi out to the suburbs. Unsurprisingly, Coimbra has fewer options, but easy to find - ask anyone who looks vaguely like a student.

The where and when of the origins of the fado constitute one of those endless sources of argument for people who enjoy that kind of thing. For the purpose of this article, it will suffice to say that, like the blues, it was the result of a confluence of cultures, being related with Brazil and Portuguese colonies in Africa and slavery. As for the when, it seems probable that the fado was practically fully formed by the middle of the nineteenth century, giving it a head start over the blues of more than fifty years.

As in many forms of flamenco, the fado follows fixed structures, originally derived from dance music, over which old or new lyrics are sung. These tend to deal with love (unsatisfactory, at least from the singer's point of view) and the word saudade (roughly yearning, longing, nostalgia, homesickness... missing in general) crops up a lot. The singer is the central figure and the audience is expected to pay due attention - no chattering.

Fado guitarists may also be highly esteemed. From the front, the fado or Portuguese guitar looks more like a lute, from which it developed, though it is flat- rather than round-backed. It is normally twelve-stringed and played in combination with a Spanish guitar, confusingly called a viola.

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