A 1000-Year Lineage: "Foi Deus/It Was God" by Amália

Fado makes Leonard Cohen sound like the Laughing Policeman. Steer clear of it unless it is in your blood, i.e. you are Portuguese and can trace your cultural lineage back at least a 1,000 years.

It does not travel.

Think Brazil - samba and fun! Think Portugal - fado and self imposed melancholy!

If you really want to ruin a holiday in Lisbon, visit the Fado museum at the bottom of the Alfama district.

If you want to go down this rabbit hole, rest assured the Queen of Fado was Amália, she was the genius, she invented it all: the addition of the bass guitar, the black dresses, the love for Portuguese music. Her taste was impeccable. It's just frigging unexplainable the genius of Amália. To me, Amália ranks very high, up there with Sinatra and Callas.