Tudo isto é fado

A random ajeossi I met at a bar in Seoul last summer tried to convince me that the only non-Koreans who truly understand han as a cultural concept are the Irish and Portuguese. Listening to fado, I'm starting to think he may have been on to something.

What is fado, you ask? For starters, it's number six on my list of reasons to learn Portuguese. More descriptively, "Tudo isto é fado (All this is fado)," at least according to Amália Rodrigues:

Perguntaste-me outro dia se eu sabia o que era o fado.

You asked me once if I knew what fado was.

Eu disse que não sabia, tu ficaste admirado,

I told you I did not know, you were surprised,

Sem saber o que dizia. Eu menti naquela hora,

Not knowing what I said. I lied at the time,

Disse-te que não sabia, mas vou-te dizer agora:

I told you I did not know, but I am going to tell you now:

Almas vencidas, noites perdidas, sombras bizarras,

Defeated souls, lost nights, bizarre shadows,

Na Mouraria canta um rufia, choram guitarras,

In Mouraria (neighborhood in Lisbon) a rascal sings, guitars weep,

Amor, ciúme, cinzas e lume, dor e pecado,

Love, jealousy, ashes and flame, pain and sin,

Tudo isto existe, tudo isto é triste, tudo isto é fado.

All this exists, all this is sad, all this is fado.

Se queres ser o meu senhor e teres-me sempre a teu lado,

If you want to be my husband and have me always by your side,

Não me fales só de amor, fala-me também do fado.

Do not speak only of love, speak to me also of fado.

E o fado é o meu castigo, só nasceu pr'a me perder.

Fado is my punishment, only born to make me lost.

O fado é tudo o que digo, mais o que eu não sei dizer.

Fado is everything I say, and everything I do not know how to say.