There was a time when it seemed that groups like Frederic Galliano presents Kuduro Sound System and Buraka Som Sistema would do for kuduro what groups like Diplo and Bonde do Role did for Funk Carioca: make it popular with hipsters in the United States. But it hasn't happened yet. Why?
posted by billtron on Feb 16, 2008 - 19 comments

You Are Cordially Invited To A Night Of Fados. It's Saturday night; you're hidden deep down in one of Lisbon's fado houses; so pour yourself another glass of thick, blood-red wine; cast your mind back to loves lost and the memory of joys that will never return; take out your most tear-absorbent handkerchief and prepare to indulge in the most melancholy, poetical and maudlin of all urban songs: Lisbon's Fado... [More inside.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Apr 26, 2003 - 32 comments

If You Could Choose But One Photograph Or Picture of the place where you live, unadorned and true to its spirit, capable of giving those who had never been there a shadow of what it feel like to actually live there and see there, what image, whether oblique or direct, moody or humorous, would you show and stand by? This photograph, by Luiz Carvalho, is most definitely my own city, Lisbon. [I found him through American Photo Journalist's outstanding website, which I highly recommend as a starting point for those who wish to join in the fun. The "Analyzed" feature, incidentally, is well worth browsing.]
posted by MiguelCardoso on Feb 28, 2003 - 64 comments