Spain and Portugal for Visitors

The figure in 20th century fado, like Maria Callas in opera, the Beatles in pop or B. B. King in the blues, to the extent that many think only women sing fado (it isn't so). Amália Rodrigues died in 1999 at the age of 79, leaving an immense imprint on fado and on the world of music.

The influence of Amália Rodrigues is so immense that some people believe fado is a genre exclusively for women. This is very definitely not the case, as Camané so rotundly demonstrates, and has demonstrated since 1979. Unfortunately it is not easy to pin him down on the Net - the link goes to the Wikipedia page for Camané, sorry.

The grand old man of fado, Carlos do Camo comes from a dynasty of fadoists and began his career in his mother's fado venue back in the sixties.

Fado restaurant in the Alfama, owned and run by fado guitarist Mário Pacheco, the Clube de Fado is one of Lisbon's temples of fado. Names like Joana Amendoeira regularly perform here and you are more a less guaranteed a night of fabulous music whoever is on the bill. True, menu prices are stiffish, but it'll be worth every penny.

New fado voice, Joana Amendoeira has been singing more or less professionally since her teens. She is sometimes mentioned as being "godmothered" by Mariza, though in fact her first recording (1998) predates Mariza's by two or three years - Joana was only 16 at the time.

Massively successful Portuguese folk-rock group with an other-worldly, ethereal sound. They are under "fado" because that is what they are associated with, though they have to an extent abandoned their fado roots, in the same way that many of their original members have gone other ways.

Mozambique-born fadoist Mariza has established herself so authoritatively that you forget that she is a 21st-century fado singer. OK, she was singing back in the 1990s having entered the fado world at a relatively late age, but her first, massively successful recording, Fado em Mim, was only issued in Portugal in 2001. Since then, she has put out another five albums, dyed her hair and otherwise made herself a style icon, and is now possibly the top name in the fado world.