FADO

of DE GEETERE Patrick

FRANCE, 2003, 00:26:19

Production : CICV PIERRE SCHAEFFER, DE GEETERE Patrick
Genre : Video art
Keyword : Sound creation, Homage, Editing, Portugal, Souvenir

Summary :
In Portuguese, “fado” means “fate”.
“Fado” is an evocation of all the great “fado” artists and also a tribute to them. Among them are Cartola, Johnny Rotten, John Fahey, Bola de Nieve, Nick Drake, Joa Gilberto, Tim Buckley, Stephen Merrit, Will Oldham, Chavela Vargas, Arto Lindsay, David Grubbs, Leonard Cohen, Omara Portuondo, Neil Young, Paulo Bragança, Marc Ribot, John Reinbourn and many others…
It runs along an unlikely trajectory between Tangiers, London and Rio de Janeiro. From Africa, where I was born, to Brazil, a land of migrants. The path from Africa to Brazil is also that of the slaves. “Fado” is a story of an empire.
Brazil is the land where the fado blossomed in samba, in bossa-nova and also in tropicalism while in other places it blossomed in punk, electronica, jazz and country music and also in Andy’s pop art. The place in which sausade is to be found, sausade being a sort of happy nostalgia made up of sharp memory, tears and jubilation, maybe like at the factory…
“Fado” is different from my other films for it is not a film montage. It’s both a flow and a long invocation in “Portugnol” (a mix between Spanish and Portuguese). The rough Spanish spoken by my grandparents meets Portuguese, a language of softness with repairing abilities. After the trilogy "En pire", "Jeanne" and "Stupa", “Fado” points to another series of films that starts with “Anoiceter” and then goes on with “Milonga” and “A estorias das horas”.

“En pire”, the first part of a trilogy of completeness and quiet jubilation already pointed to this other set the recurring theme of which is separation, uprooting and break-up. (Patrick DE GEETERE)

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