Beyond Sight and Sound: Fado of Coimbra, Intangible Heritage with Touristic Value Para além da Vista e do Som: Fado de Coimbra, Património Imaterial com Valor Turístico

On June 22nd, 2013, the University of Coimbra – Alta and Sofia was classified as a World Heritage Site. The World Heritage Committee added a sixth criterion to the Unesco list, distinguishing a particular cultural asset “directly or tangibly associated with a set of events, living traditions, ideas or beliefs, with aesthetic or literary works of outstanding universal significance”: Fado of Coimbra. Over time, this tradition has proven to be an aesthetic expression of lyricism and musicality and, together with a culture devoted to the dissemination of knowledge and the Portuguese language, it has made an inestimable contribution to the distinction awarded to the University of Coimbra. This paper analyses the Fado of Coimbra and addresses its cultural value, its relationship to the heritage of the city and its economic potential in the global tourism market. Through bibliographical research, documental research and direct observation, this paper reflects on the origin of this musical genre, and its specific characteristics as well as its debated relationship to Lisbon Fado, as it investigates the social history and the evolution of Fado of Coimbra.


INTRODUCTION
Fado of Coimbra is an urban musical genre that was born in this city on the banks of the Mondego River. It has been influenced by troubadour poetry and sophisticated musical compositions and it is strongly associated with Coimbra University, which has been classified as a World Heritage Site by Unesco. The Fado of Coimbra brings together and synthesizes various elements, including the traditional music brought by students from the various regions of the country. It has also been used as a political manifesto in the defense of freedom and of the values of the Coimbra Academic Association. It is one of the rare examples of a musical genre that arose within a university context.
The classic expression of the Fado of Coimbra is the serenade, in which a suitor sings at the door of a potential lover, who may respond [by appearing at the window] or not. Other serenades take place at the steps of the General Patio and the Monumental Serenade at the Old Cathedral staircase. During the performance, the singer and musicians wear traditional student garb: trousers and black robes, covered by a black wool cape. They sing mainly at night in the streets and squares of the city.
The idea is to sing a poem with background music that is influenced by a wide variety of Portuguese regional poetic and musical forms, from the Alentejo to the Azores.

LINKS WITH LISBON FADO
Some scholars, such as Nunes (1999) and Nery (2012), trace the genesis of the Fado of Coimbra back to a process of regionalization of the Lisbon Fado. Fado is typically an urban tradition, of Afro-Brazilian origin, and it dates back to the first quarter of the nineteenth century. It began in the working-class neighborhoods of Lisbon -Alfama, Alcântara, Mouraria, Bairro Alto and Madragoa -in the red light districts, marked by poverty and crime, and inhabited by prostitutes, sailors and bohemians. The word 'Fado' derives, in fact, from the Latin fatum, meaning 'destiny' or 'fate' and it was used to refer to prostitutes (Nery, 2012). Sad, mournful and passionate, Fado was sung by prostitutes in brothels and taverns -the socalled 'fado houses'. When the singers began to occupy the upper floors for their services, the ground floors resulted in taverns, where Fado was sung. Later, in 1963, with the official abolition of brothels, these were transformed into working class taverns.
From about 1840, the population of the economically disadvantaged strata began to interact with other classes and Fado suffered a gradual process of 'marialvismo', in which the sons of the nobility, due to the advent of liberalism and the rise of the bourgeoisie, lost the guarantee of jobs in the government and began to occupy their leisure time in nightlife that took place in bohemian taverns and secluded sots where this popular Fado was sung. Through various reports, we note that this genre was progressively introduced into the private homes of the upper classes . Those who attended the University of Coimbra were usually the sons of the bourgeoisie and the aristocracy, a fact which led to the emergence of Fado in Coimbra, by the mid-nineteenth century: "Fado then conquered some space in the city of the Mondego River, with the emergence of forms, among others of the Fado Ladrão, Fado Manuel Ceguinho and the Fado da Severa" ).
In the extensive literature of former students of Coimbra there are references to several evenings in taverns in the city, where Fado was sung at some point. However, the imagery of the Fado of Coimbra was different. During the transition to the twentieth century, the Fado of Coimbra gradually distanced itself from that of Lisbon, and it became a unique type of urban song with specific poetic and musical features, which should be studied independently. Long before the emergence of Fado in 1820 (Nery, 2012), Coimbra had enjoyed a rich musical and cultural tradition with a wide range of rhythms including waltzes, tangos, serenades, folk songs, marches, tocatas, polkas, quadrilles, popular songs, rhapsodies, among many others. In Coimbra, in addition to the intense musical activity of the lower classes, it was the aesthetic and musical tastes of the aristocratic and bourgeois student body, as well as their philosophy of life, that predominated and that distinguished the genre from that of the Lisbon Fado singers.
Fado has therefore to be the simplest expression of that which was musically created and sung in Coimbra. In short, it would seem that, by virtue of Fado having become fashionable, and in order to take advantage of public and consumer acceptance, semi-classical musicians started calling their compositions Fado. This was more in the search for commercial gain, though, as these musical expressions had little to do with the primary feature of Fado. Instead, they were noted for fashionable European rhythms throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, such as the tango and the Fox-trot. In this sense, Coimbra Fado is an artificial musical style, a consequence of the great Fado rage over time. With Samba, for example, there was a similar phenomenon, with hybrid forms, which took names such as samba-tango, samba-song, samba-rumba, among others.

ORIGIN, SOCIAL HISTORY AND EVOLUTION
The production of audio recordings and the trading of records of the Fado of Coimbra started very early, with the Lacerda of Manassés 1902 recordings. Some written references to the Fado of Coimbra are also found in the late nineteenth century in newspapers about the traditional Bonfires. Then, in 1853, the first academic anthem was sung, written by Cristiano O'Neil Medeiros [music] and José Augusto Sanches da Gama. It became a tradition for graduating students to sing some of these songs as a 'gift' to the city at graduation and some of the songs became very famous, such as the Balada de Despedida do 6º Ano Médico de 1958 [also known as 'Coimbra tem mais encanto'].
However, there was very little written about Fado of Coimbra during the twentieth century, since works were mostly passed on orally. It should be taken into account that, in the late twentieth century, there was a clear division of Coimbra society into two factions: academic and the lower classes. Although there was some contact between these groups, as cooks, laundresses and servants, for example, carried out their professional activities in homes and republics inhabited by students -these two groups did not always coexist peacefully.
Until 1942 and the demolition of the Uptown 3 , Fado of Coimbra was mainly transmitted by 'salatinas' 4 , who behaved as true guardians of memory. These inhabitants assimilated and taught the song to several generations of young students who passed through town, and this sociability and cultural exchange led to the diffusion of more complex and erudite forms of local songs. At the same time, students naturally brought to Coimbra the influences of the folk music of their native lands -e.g. Spain, Brazil and Africa -and which were subsequently taken, assimilated, recreated and published by the locals, creating a truly unique folk repertoire. Additionally, many of these songs have medieval roots and they emphasize love and social satire -often in burlesque Serenades.
In short, the Fado of Coimbra is not merely the result of academic music. The traditional music of Coimbra has received all sorts of influences that reflect the history, memory, habits, customs and behavior of the townspeople, revealing two very different sensitivities: the academic and the popular. We venture to assert that in Fado of Coimbra traditional and academic music find their ideal blend. A lack of documentary evidence prevents our researching further back in time than the era of, say, Augusto Hilário. This historical figure from the last quarter of the nineteenth century historically marked the point of reference and departure for the whole history of the Fado of Coimbra, as an autonomous urban musical genre (Niza, 1999).
Hilário was a stage actor, poet, composer, guitarist and singer. He was the best-known academic of Portugal in his time. He was famous for his bohemian lifestyle and was considered the best troubadour of the period. His legacy was a type of Fado called the 'Fado Hilário'. Its importance was fundamental in the consolidation of the unique vocal interpretive style of the Fado of Coimbra. It features a placement of semi-operatic voice and expressive ultra-romantic language, particularly with regard to the rhythmic freedom of enunciating the musical phrase and suspensions of high notes (Castelo-Branco, 2010).
In the '20s, we have for the first time a so-called "Golden Generation" of Fado of Coimbra, a modernist school emerged. Recording technology, such as the introduction of the electronic microphone in 1925, came together with the particularly favorable terms offered by the growth of the music market and the membership of some of the Portuguese record companies in major international labels. Of particular importance in this period was the singer-poet Edmundo Bettencourt.
The 1940s and 1950s witnessed the 'Second Golden Generation' with special emphasis on the guitar virtuosity of Carlos Paredes. This genius introduced a new style that, over the years, came to be known as a new school of Coimbra guitar: […] a strong and supported beat, in other word, the notes are played by the index finger and are supported by the thumb that plays the lowest string. What predominates are the acoustic effects that come from the vibration of the strings and the suspensions and that reflect the musician's state of mind and inspiration; it is the perfect mastery of the scale of the Portuguese guitar (Cravo, 2009, p. 62).
During the 1940s, radio broadcasts of serenades [beginning in 1946] from the Coimbra Regional Broadcast Company, contributed to the dissemination of the Fado of Coimbra with its broad popular roots. This undoubtedly led to the popularization of academic traditions, accentuating their performance in more formal contexts. For example, the Monumental Serenade became an institution at the graduation festivities of the Queima das Fitas, one of the largest academic celebrations in the world.
This decade was also the most productive period of Portuguese cinema, with special emphasis for 'Capas Negras' by Armando Miranda. This was the first movie to portray the typical academic world of Coimbra and it starred the famous Fado singer Amália. The film opened in 1947 and it was both Amália's debut movie performance and a huge box-office hit, playing in theaters for 22 weeks. The story depicted "the bohemian academic life in Coimbra and represented both the Fado of Coimbra and Lisbon" (Pereira e Seixas, 2012). The film included the first recording of the song 'Coimbra', composed by Raul Ferrão, which was performed by Alberto Ribeiro. Later, in 1947, an  The 1960s was a particularly interesting decade for Fado of Coimbra, as it foreshadowed the coexistence of different trends: one sought to maintain respect for the legacy from the first part of the century while another made a clear break with the past. But let us not forget that it is precisely in the 1960s that music of social intervention came to pervade the universe of the Fado of Coimbra and totally transform the genre. In March 1960, José Afonso brought out his first record. This singer's early music arose within the Fado of Coimbra tradition. He opened up new avenues of social and political interventionism with the song Balada de Outono. The genesis of what would become the movement's political corner in Portugal is largely associated with the fact that José Afonso began using the viola, thus provoking a disruption at the thematic level.
In 1962, the First National Meeting of Students took place in Coimbra, setting off a student strike and leading to an academic crisis with hundreds of arrests. Several Coimbra students were expelled and strikes and demonstrations broke out all over the country on May 1 st [Workers' Day]. Meanwhile, a core group of friends -António Portugal, Rui Pato, Adriano Correia de Oliveira and Fernando Rolim -was getting together at the home of Manuel Alegre and would ultimately yield a set of songs that would later be identified as the Movement of Trova. This designation is due in part to the influence of troubadour poetry in the poetic production of Manuel Alegre, especially in terms of formal structure, but also because of the wide dissemination of two poems: Trova do vento que passa and Trova do amor lusitano which were initially published in the academic newspaper Via Latina.
Manuel Alegre began a poetic innovation of the Fado of Coimbra. He used the traditional poetic forms of his friends' songs, the ballads and rhythmic prosody, together with the themes that spoke to the concerns of that generation -colonial war, emigration, Portuguese identity and the anti-fascist resistance. The Trova do vento que passa (1963) went on to become one of the most influential songs of this period, and a symbol of resistance to the dictatorship. The genre came to be used as a medium of student protest with biting political and social lyrics, a fact which turned Fado of Coimbra into Protest Song.
As Fado of Coimbra took on this new role of protest, some progressive sectors of the Academy also began to put the Fado of Coimbra to use as a weapon of political and associative struggle. This new branch of the Fado of Coimbra felt the influence of a range of different types of 1960s protest songs  . In reaction to the dictatorship that had settled in the country, Fado of Coimbra began to change not only in terms of its lyrics, but also regarding its playing style. This musical movement quickly spread from its berth amidst the students of the University of Coimbra to those of other universities, who saw this kind of song as a powerful way to spread their ideals and their social and political messages. In addition to the students, this artistic expression appealed to all of those who opposed Salazar's regime.
Although it had emerged amidst the university authors and performers of socially privileged backgrounds, the poetic message of social intervention spread beyond the bourgeoisie and it reached all levels of society, including "the associations of culture and recreation, to film clubs and even some parish halls" (Letria, 1981). The song went on to act as an effective vehicle for the dissemination of resistance poets and writers such as José Saramago, reinforcing the words of Fernando Namora of 1943: "The tradition of struggle is a constant in the modern history of the Academy of Coimbra" (Fortuna e Peixoto, 2000, p. 8).
In 1969, the strong opposition to the regime by the Coimbra university students led to the Academic Crisis of 1969, where students managed to close the University and decreed Academic Mourning, which meant the abolition of many student traditions and the suspension of the Queima das Fitas. By 1979, the serenades and other student forms of cultural protest had ceased to take place. The 1970s would be decisive in the political history of Portugal and, consequently, in the Fado of Coimbra. Following the death of Salazar in 1970, several strikes and demonstrations against the colonial war were held. In 1973, the first attempt by the Armed Forces to overthrow the regime took place and, in April 25th 1974, the military revolution occurred and democracy was established. It was during this period that Luiz Goes arose, the singer who best assimilated and assumed importance of Edmundo de Bettencourt in the redefinition of this genre , and led the genre into a new phase: the Neo-Modernism in Fado of Coimbra, which would go on to influence the generations of Postmodernism [1980][1981][1982][1983][1984][1985][1986][1987][1988][1989][1990].

INTANGIBLE HERITAGE IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD
For a long time, intangible cultural heritage received insufficient protection, due, in part, to the absence of an international instrument, as well as the lack of public awareness of this issue. It took some time before a legally binding multilateral instrument came into being that was capable of recognizing the importance of intangible cultural heritage. Once it did, it made noticeable progress towards gaining recognition for the intangible dimensions of heritage, rather than the previous view that had been limited to the material and particularly that associated with monuments. Blake (2001( cit. in Kono, 2009) went so far as to claim the "recognition of the intangible heritage as the object of protection [...] one of the most significant recent developments in international law of cultural heritage" (p.12).
In an increasingly globalized world, it is necessary to appreciate the cultures and traditions that are a unique expression of each place, each community. According to the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity issued by Unesco (1989), culture should be regarded as "the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional characteristics of a society or a social group and that includes, in addition to arts and letters, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs." In this sense, the Fado of Coimbra is an important identifying characteristic. Coimbra is of the few cities in the world with an indigenous musical genre: Tango was born in Buenos Aires, Jazz in New Orleans Jazz, Fado in Lisbon and Coimbra… Well, Coimbra is also home to a regional song and place -the Fado of Coimbra.
But how is it that this Coimbra genre qualifies as intangible heritage? Firstly, one of the assumptions of the intangible cultural heritage as a cultural practice is the transmission from generation to generation. A traditional practice needs to be repeatedly taken up by the community, while always protecting the memory that you want to project into the future. According to Kono (2009), the only way for future generations to meet community needs is to ensure that the intangible cultural heritage is transmitted from generation to generation as a living thing, where history is re-experienced and reconstituted. In the case of Fado of Coimbra, this dynamic process and safeguard of continuity is based on oral transmission. Those who pass the songs on serve as a repository of the accumulated knowledge of a lifetime; they are a sort of guardian of memory and play the role of the indivisible notion of the concept of immateriality.
Still on the subject of memory, we must stress the importance of song in the collective memory of those who attended university or have lived in the city of Coimbra. It is undeniable that the Fado of Coimbra has always had a very close relationship with the urban spaces where popular and academic performances are organized. Its themes are not only limited to love and defense, but also mention the monuments and specific locations of the city -Penedo da Saudade, Old Cathedral, Santa Cruz, Quinta das Lágrimas and the Mondego River, for example -making it an integral part of many manifestations of the metropolis, such as the Queima das Fitas. The identity of Coimbra is melded, to a certain extent, with the Fado of Coimbra. Simultaneously, the notion of the group is very present in the Fado of Coimbra, since the singers consist of groups of students and former students.
As to the issue of practical identity concerns, although Fado of Coimbra has both a popular and an academic wing, it belongs to the Sociedade Académica de Coimbra and has a peculiar set of rules, one of which, for example, prohibits applause following a performance. Speaking of cultural identity in terms of Fado of Coimbra implies relating this musical genre with its own urban space where popular and academic lives take place. This is to say that the cultural identity of Fado of Coimbra is intimately linked to the imagination that characterizes and envelopes it. We believe that the preservation of both material and immaterial cultural heritage is essential and the literature calls explicitly for more joint efforts.
Reconciling all these perspectives of heritage means recognizing that it consists not only of buildings and artifacts deposited in museums, written and audiovisual documents stored in libraries and archives. Heritage also encompasses interpretations and institutions, together with legends, myths, rituals, knowledge and techniques. All of these can be considered examples of cultural heritage. In fact, we would question the theoretical and practical utility of the polarized debate between tangible and intangible heritage. Heritage exists only when it is recognizable within a certain set of cultural or social values, which are in and of themselves intangible. As Munjeri (2004, cit in Kono, 2009) said: "the tangible can only be understood and interpreted through the intangible" (p. 29). Any object or local property can only be recognized and understood as assets when they are assigned value by individuals or by organizations such as Unesco. Without that recognition, they have no inherent value that marks them as heritage.
Similarly, it is necessary to consider the production of cultural heritage not only as a selection of buildings, sites and works of art that now have special protection of the state, but as a narrative process, 'a verb instead of a noun', suggested by Santos (1992), borrowing the formulation of Michel Foucault, the production of heritage has a 'discursive formation' which that you to map symbolic content and to build cultural identity. In an increasingly globalized world, it is necessary to appreciate the cultures and traditions that are an expression of each place, each community. According to the Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, issued by Unesco, Culture should be regarded as "the set of distinctive spiritual, material, intellectual and emotional characteristics of a society or a social group and that includes, in addition to arts and letters, lifestyles, ways of living together, value systems, traditions and beliefs".
Fado of Coimbra is an important identifying characteristic of not only the local and regional culture but the national as well. Coimbra is one of the few cities in the world with an indigenous musical genre: Tango was born in Buenos Aires, Jazz in in New Orleans, Fado in Lisbon and Coimbra ... Well, Coimbra is also home to a regional song and place -the Fado of Coimbra. It is a sign of positive evolution that the University included the intangible heritage represented by Fado of Coimbra in their 2011 World Heritage Site application to Unesco. It is essential that the awareness of cultural diversity and historical heritage of Fado of Coimbra is at the core of all conservation and promotion projects.
For years, listening to Fado of Coimbra meant visiting Diligência Bar, a venue that has been in existence for 40 years and that is closely linked to this musical genre. Even today, Fado sessions take place daily and are heavily attended. Another venue, the À Capella opened in 2003 in a small abandoned chapel near Corpo de Deus Street. It filled in the gaps, providing more space where Fado of Coimbra could be promoted, released and heard. These are places that are marking the transition from the old, informal venues to professional and paid spots capable of attracting tourists.
Recently two new venues have been set up in the old town, Café Santa Cruz and Fado ao Centro, and they target Spanish, Brazilian and German clientele. These tourists who choose Coimbra as a tourist destination are the most assiduous admirers of the stunning Fado of Coimbra and are largely responsible for the success of these. It should be noted that music in its different genres and forms has quickly become an important tourist attraction in a rapidly expanding industry. The dissemination of Fado of Coimbra has contributed to increasing the attractiveness of the city and these tourist spots, along with the emergence of a growing number of vocal and instrumental performers that have arisen during this century to ensure the continuity and renewal of Fado of Coimbra. Today, Fado is one of the major touristic attractions of Coimbra.
In fact, a major threat to Fado of Coimbra, as intangible cultural heritage, is its commercial exploitation. The globalization of the world we inhabit, there are moments of profound social imbalance that lead to a breakdown of regional and local spaces, contributing to the loss of identity of traditional cultural forms of expression. On the other hand, sales of traditional cultural practices often result in the adaptation of tradition in order to fit the taste of potential consumers, whether tourists or the general public. The forms of expression and the traditional cultural knowledge surrounding them, such as the Fado of Coimbra, risk the loss of authenticity and are replaced by a dominant, culture that is standardized and global. Due to the fragility of the relationship between communities and their intangible cultural heritage, the Convention for the Safeguarding of Intangible Heritage stresses the importance of enabling the continuous transmission of knowledge between generations for their protection, as noted above.
Another obstacle to the study and development of the Fado of Coimbra is the tendency to mythicize its story with adulterating facts and narratives. Cultural identity and the authenticity of the intangible asset in question can only be founded on knowledge of the city of Coimbra and the analysis of various artistic constraints -aesthetic, musical, human and urban -that led to the song. It is necessary to raise awareness of the dissemination, enjoyment and scientific study of historical and musical memory of this musical genre. As the manifestations of this particular musical culture are trivialized, Fado of Coimbra loses its identity, references, rituals and imagery, so that it becomes necessary to reinvent the genre from its historical and musical memory, its ritual and its traditions in order to overcome the crisis of identity and creativity that it is currently suffering from.
Cultural tourism entails visits to physical spaces, buildings and monuments, but those which include intangible products. This new paradigm translates into a growing investment in intangible resources -traditions, music, food, legends, among others -as a promotional factor conferring competitive advantage on tourist destinations, highlighting, wherever possible, the historic areas of cities. The greatest growth in current cultural tourism seems to be taking place in new niches such as musical tourism, gastronomic tourism, literary tourism and creative tourism.
There is no doubt that heritage -tangible and intangible -is deeply rooted in contemporary urban complexity and continues to attract many tourists. However, visitors' experience of this heritage can be and enriched in innovative ways Unique and customized sensations -like watching a Serenata, for example -leave a mark of quality and reliability in consumers' minds. There is no single way to recount the past. It can be told in a more interactive and less expository way, without sacrificing the integrity of the interpretation process. The word 'heritage' generally pertains to something that passes from one generation to the next. Thanks to this transmission of historical values of the past, heritage is seen as part of the cultural tradition of a society. The concept of travel, on the other hand, is a modern form of consciousness. The fundamental nature of tourism is dynamic and its interaction with heritage usually results in a sort of interpretation of the past.
In essence, the relationship between heritage, culture and tourism can be seen as a parallel to the internal debate within a society as its tradition is contrasted with its modernity, 'the link between tradition and modernity'. From this perspective, Fortuna (2012) reminds us that the reflection on heritage and tourism is currently under renewal. Reflecting on the relationship between these two areas of culture leads us not only to put into perspective the ways in which they feed each other, but also the arrangements under which they interfere with behavior and beliefs about society.
Fado of Coimbra promises to be an asset to Coimbra at the economic level. It may potentially attract increased revenue, which, in turn, may contribute to raising awareness on the part of school students, tourists, visitors and the various partners involved, about the importance of conserving the material and immaterial heritage of Coimbra, encouraging cultural rapprochement between visitors and those visited and heightening their mutual understanding.

CONCLUSION
Fado of Coimbra is one of the privileged sounds of 'the city of Fado and the Mondego' as it is often described in touristic brochures. It is a song that marks the tradition and history of the city, as we discussed above, and it is easily recognizable both by inhabitants and visitors. As intangible heritage, it can devise, in conjunction with material heritage, new ways of discovering and enjoy the city. As Ribeiro (2013) stated, "it's time to hear Coimbra and analyze its sounds as identity ingredients, generating knowledge and feelings" (p.46). There is still much untapped potential in Fado of Coimbra and, with due support from civic and academic authorities and the foundation of an appropriate communication plan, this potential may serve to increase the sustainable promotion of cultural tourism.