Ze zeggen wel eens dat muziek de enige taal is die overal gesproken wordt. Hoe kan het dan dat bijvoorbeeld een artiest enorm populair is in Noorwegen en totaal niet in Zweden. Wat zijn de verschillen in de muziekmarkt? Ik sprak André, een Portugese muziekliefhebber die het één en ander uitlegt over de muziekcultuur in Portugal. Volgende maand: Duitsland.

> Traditional Portugese music is Fado, can you explain what fado is?
I believe the first thing people here associate Fado with is...sadness. It´s often about sad matters, all the trials and tribulations of life and a feeling called "saudade" which means "to miss something/someone". Very sentimental music!

> You say often, so Fado can also be happy as well?
Yes, there is some happy Fados with good stories and happy endings. It´s not the essence of it but they exist and they are also nice.

> Is Fado still populair in the charts?
Yes, very much. In the charts and in the concerthalls. It Really helped that in the last years a lot of "new faces" appeared to sing Fado. A lot of them quite attractive (and young) ladies, which I think helped a bit. It refreshed a bit of the image that Fado is only for old people. Two of them went to the Jools Holland live program and did collaborations with big names in musicworld (Rolling Stones, Prince, etc), quite an achievement for such a specific kind of music.

> How's the music culture? Do you have loads of concerts and festivals or do people just like it on the radio and tv?
Tough one... In a sense that it´s a bit of a mix. We just had an Elvis Costello concert cancelled due to "Logistic problems"... read; "we didn't sell enough tickets". I think it's not a good sign on our music culture although it's always risky to schedule concerts in halls during summer because people spend all their money on the festivals. And yes, those are usually well packed. But with young people... say less than 30 years old. Often people older than that are there to "look cool". I'm not saying all of them but I think my parents generation is not so open to culture as mine is (has to do a bit with the history of the country). I say it in a way that while you and me would 1. buy an album 2. listen to the whole thing 3. love the thing. Most people go to concerts because they know that one hit from the radio or the tv ad... but I guess it's all around the world like that.

> In the albumcharts there are loads of Portuguese/Spanish albums. In the Singlecharts almost none. Why do you think that is? Do you think Portuguese people are really supportive for their own artists? Or do they just don't buy singles that much?
Yup. First, the singlesmarket here is really not a thing. Maybe if we give some time to iTunes and other services that can become relevant but as for now it's basically irrelevant.
Then, yes I can say we support our artists relatively well. Most of the time it's those very popular artists that housewives love (Google Tony Carreira, even if you don´t understand a thing) that are on top of the chart. It helps that kind of public have no "knowledge" on how to download an album because they are older generations but sure there also is the feeling of "he/she is Portuguese, he/she makes good music, I don't mind give some money for the album". Also the concerts are usually full. Even if they sing in English.
Also, those Spanish albums you might find there, are those "phenomenons" that happen from time to time of some artists that get some air play, people like him, he comes here give some concerts and after a few years the hype fades away (that Pablo Alboran you might find there is an example, it's either Spanish or Brazilian phenomenons)

> Any Portuguese artists you would like to recomend?
Rita Redshoes, who sings in English and Ana Moura for some Fado.