So a simple fado in A has four chords: Dm, A, A7, and C. You get the melancholy from the minor chord and the dissonance from the 7th, but you are really relying a lot on the tonic and the C which is what: subdominant? I think of it as a “fourth” but that is not right, the fourth for A would be D. (I really need to work on this, and I wish I had a piano.)
Meanwhile the fado I like, Mariza’s “Chuva,” actually has eight chords and it’s the 9th chord that gets the true fado feel. I’ve seen it in F# and E, but what’s key is that 9th chord. In E it’s a C9, and in this F# version there’s a B9 and a C#9, and these are the harmonies that interest me.
Axé.
coldhearted scientist وداد 