Ei pi ira-tepi vem ai o badiciapoli
Get the hell out of here, man
Assa pi amanha
Henrique da Gloria Pato
I am Alfama's little duckling
This was very cool, this was really beautiful
Then, they opened a house
Which would be the first Fado Club in Alfama
Yes the first one, for Fado
Parreirinha de Alfama
It's true
Alfama
It was street corner Fado
I don't know if you know what that is
Musicians would come
Singers would come, I mean real singers, ones that sang really well
They would come with the musicians, they sang
The whole gang would be there
And we would place a guy here and a guy there
And we would speak
So the police would not know, we would speak in our own Alfama slang.
Ei pi ira-tepi vem ai o badiciapoli
If i wanted to speak to you, I would go like this
Abesi fali oncali...oni? And you would say "oni" and I would go, ok, you get me
Get the hell out of here, man
Assa pi amanha
Ulgasaji e aqui? What do you think it's going on here?
That's how it went and we got away with it
We often stood under a street lamp, where the older ones
The twenty year olds, would gamble and take bets
And I and other little ones like me, would keep watch to earn a few pennies
Ira-tepi vem ai o Badiciapoli
Or, "vem ai o Bandonomi"
The police had many names, we never called them men
We either called them policemen or monkeys
That's how it was
You again?
That's how it is
It's not hard to live, but knowing how to live, that's what's important
Until the next time
From the Hood
Have a good quarantine!
Hang on, are you going to be home?
I might give you a bell, I need help to lift the plasterboards for the ceiling
On the 24th, that's when we are going into lockdown-
No it's Today!
On the 24th, call me
Hang on, close the door, close the door
Call me
Ok then, if I need you, I'll give you a bell
I have spent decades in this place, I know it like the Back of my hand
And when you are devoted and passionate about something
You can really advance it, you can take it very, very far
I made so many changes in this club
And I don't even think people are aware of it
We won the Lisbon cup
For Boxing
And for...indoor soccer
Ah but you're talking about something
that happened years ago, that doesn't exist anymore
We have to talk about the present, about what's wrong...
With our neighborhood
In relation to our club also
It's all wrong...It's all wrong
Now the past can also bring a lot of Nostalgia
I really miss our old headquarters like I said to you earlier.
We would go in at eight at night and come out at 11.00
the next morning, still singing and playing Fado.
I remember that Amalia went and sang there, and she
gave a cheque for fifty contos to Mouraria
Because when she heard that Mouraria used to dress the kids
And that it took care of their schooling
She gave fifty contos, in those days, that was a lot of money
I think that the only person who wrote the Marcha da Mouraria for free was me
I was home for two days with no food, true or false?
With no food, all I did was smoke
Don't get me wrong, I don't regret doing it, I did it all with love
I did it all with love, no one was forcing me
But the motivation now Man, what's the motivation? We're old , for starters
And that's exactly the point, out of all those
stories, scenarios, situations that we created
So that we can instil the motivation...
We have to, at least...
There's so much motivation out there for so many things-
You can't motivate the youth, not you, not no one
According to you
Not only according to me, it's been proven
It has been proven, no one can motivate them.
We can all see it with our own eyes
You should forget about all that, and you should try harder to do it better
So this can...
Instead of this silence
We can hear children playing in the rings again, here, there...
That's pure utopia
Beautiful yes, but Utopia nonetheless
For a start we don't have children in the
neighborhood anymore, where are the children?
All we have is old people, lots of them
Because back in the day, the kids would still come to the clubs
Not anymore...they won't come anymore
And there's another thing, the neighborhood
has completely lost its character
The neighborhood has completely lost its character
Because of different cultures that are
here now, that don't have anything to do with ours
But if we call them in, if we welcome them, they will come
No they won't, they most certainly won't, they
come inserted in their own culture, they won't come
Why can't you have culture weeks? One week it's Antonio's
culture, the other week...successively, in the neighborhoods?
Afonso, they won't go along with that
The Indians and the Bangladeshi-
It's not really like that
It's exactly like that
They are discriminate in the neighborhood, I'm sorry but they are
Now if you ask me, at government level
That it saddens me that in my neighborhood
Where I was born and raised, my granny was the midwife
It saddens me, that in our local shopping centre
Not one shop is owned by a Portuguese person, It does make me sad
We have to coexist with what we have
But they don't mix with us
They would, but there's a lack of dilogue
No they don't, you're as stubborn as a mule
So what do you do, when you see them, the Chinese guy, the Indians, what do you say?
I don't talk to them
You don't say good morning, you don't say anything?
You have to be friendly
Are you even listening to me?
They lock themselves in their own communities
So you only want to mix and associate, with the old habitat of Mouraria
would like me to shout from the rooftops then
"My neighborhood is the best, the best that I have
known, for here we grow, charlie, brown and blow"
There's pictures of them up there
Pictures of the father, of the son
Look there they are... there they are
Look...yep, there it is
Look...look above it's Tuina, you know Tuina
Pictures of all of them
I can see a tree from here, right in the middle like a monument
We could make a proposition to the local councillor and
suggest that it would be taken out and replaced with
A statue of Batalha instead, as he was born here, right?
But with a crown, not with no crown
That would not be a bad idea, but this...this palm tree, listen Fernando-
It's over a hundred years old
Batalha knows, that this is...actually they had to cut it as it was rotting at the top
You are talking about Carinhas, "That's my palm tree"
Yes, Carinhas, a guy who lived around here
And when he was, let's face it, the guy was an alcoholic
Drunk every day, and he would get here, hug the palm tree
And he would start shouting "The palm tree is mine, the palm tree is mine"
"No one is allowed to touch it, the palm tree is mine"
It's one for the history books, yes that was Carinhas
That was a good story...the palm tree is mine, there were a lot of characters here
There was that other one as well
Who was that one that always had the stones
The one who kept throwing stones, who was that Batalha?
That was Cat-Killer
The things I saw with that one
He was crazy
The things he would get up to...
You could be talking to him nicely and everything was fine
But as soon as you started messing with him...
He used to go around with his pockets full of stones
Full with stones of the foot path
You would start messing with him and he
Would throw you a stone, no matter the place
If there were cars or whatever
He would just throw it...anywhere
One time a policeman was hit with a stone and all
And the shop window, Cana Verde's shop window
One day Cali's brother, Alfredo was hanging around over there
And Cat-Killer happens to be passing by
Alfredo was leaning against the electricity meter...
"Hey Cat-Killer, you bastard!"
The other one picks up a stone and boom, there goes Cana Verde's shop window
We had such characters...typical figures that will go down in history.
Wasn't it Penalti, a guy who used to hang
around and got here early in the morning...
Penalti works in the museum...Penalti has a
very funny story, I don't know if you know it-
Penalti is the living dead
Penalti was pronounced dead and he woke up in the morgue, naked
And came home to Alfama, all the way from the Institute of forensic medicine
Wrapped around in a sheet
Stark naked
He gets home, knocks on the door
His mother opens the door, looks at him and falls flat on the floor
She fainted...that's right
And he came to Alfama, completely naked, wrapped around in a sheet
All the way from the institute of forensic medicine.
And wouldn't you've done the same?
Shit, as fast as I could, who would not leg it from a place like that
Shall we "wet" the conversation a little?
I don't want anything, I'm on antibiotics
Will I have to drink alone?
I have to tell you, that as far back as I can remember
Not even in the winter, nor during a bad winter
Can I remember seeing Alfama like this
I could walk these streets on different days
and not see anyone from the neighborhood
Why's that? Because, with that Airbnb thing, there
were a lot of people pushed out of this neighborhood
And right now, in this situation that we are living in
What happens? We don't have locals nor tourists
We have neither...because this neighborhood has been stripped naked
You don't see anyone
The clubs, some of them are still standing,
others have shut, like the Lusitano for example
The 21st of March, for example, that was a really good club, that has closed too
The only club that is still open during the day is the Boa Uniao
They have a snooker table, they've recently sublet the bar
It's the only one that still functions
The Marcha de Alfama was born on Boa Uniao, not on Magalhaes Lima
Boa Uniao, is the true mother of the Marcha de Alfama
It's funny, listen, are you listenin?
This is funny
And actually fits the conversation
I was born here
Yeah , we know
I started singing when I was little
When I was 8 years old I used to go and sing in Lame Joe's place
And I kept singing and going around singing
Until it was time for them to invite me to the big Fado night competition
I did go on to win the big Fado night in 70
around fifty years ago, can't remember exactly when
But I did it representing Alges
Because the neighborhood, where i was born...
Didn't take you...
No...but there are more stories like that
I was Padrinho to three Marchas, from big neighborhoods
Mouraria, Bairro Alto and Madragoa
But the neighborhood where I was born, never saw fit to ask me
There's, something in it alright
I feel that
As we walk down, I'm nervous
But when we come back, it's that big relief-
That it's done
That it's all over and done
That's in God's hands
It's such a good feeling
And as soon as they play the music, as soon as they play the Marcha
We all sing, we all dance
You all come along
And the party goes on
Yes...that's it and then it's an all nighter
Until the results come in
But I think the day when we march down the avenue is a tense one
Because we get to the end and all of that, but we can't say it's over
Because it's not
We spend all night, thinking and wondering
Waiting to find out if it's done or not
Then of course comes that sense of it not always being fair, isn't that right
Amalinha and the costumes
The costumes, that was lovely for me, from the very beginning
We did it two years
The same theme, Fado and Amalia
Some very beautiful costumes that I made with Susana
And it was emotional and it was special, because
It was one of the jobs that I had dreamt of doing for such a long time
And it became a reality
I always say, I marched
My children marched...and still do
And now I'm their seamstress
I marched two years with the adult group, and three years with the little Severas
It was special, it was really special
One day I'll sew with you... make the costumes
That's right, I have a new apprentice here
Who in the future is going to make the costumes for Mouraria
The uniform for Mouraria
But it has to be with you
Yes, only me and you
It's settled, then, I'll sew the costumes with you
I was not born in Mouraria, but I moved here when I was twelve
And from that day onwards, I have lived it, all of it
The Marchas, the neighborhood and the neighborhood spirit
All of it, straight away
Then they asked me to go on the Marcha, so I did
The first year, still Single, and then, already married with my husband
And it has stolen your heart all these years
Well, and 50 years have already gone by
And it's a time when we all get together, we meet
We are united, every night when we come home from work, and rush over here
To see the rehearsals, to see you and to listen to you, you get addicted to it
When I was a kid, it wasn't easy to get my mother to let me go and see it
She wanted to lock me up
I used to have to beg to go and watch the rehearsals
Back in the day, they used to go and ask our
mothers to let us join the Marcha, it was very sweet
In those days, you were picked, we were so
many, dying to do it, that we had to be picked
We were hand picked
You either made the cut or you didn't
We still have the same passion, those of us that are still here
But it's nothing like it used to be, not like in
my time, nothing like when you started either,
Mainly because a lot of people moved, others died
I am still from the time when the arcs were lit with candles
With candles
In those days the arcs weighed 60 kilos
30 kilos each arc, 30 Kilos... oftentimes more
Not like now, everything is so light
A few adorned bits of metal, they are still
beautiful, but it's completely different now
We would spend the night here, we would go to school
and we would come home from school and race down the street
Pestering Felismino to make our arcs
And we would time it out exactly like them
We would decorate the doors, we would decorate
the Windows, We would make a throne for St Antonio
Mr José, who is now passed, would make the most beautiful
throne, with water running through it and lights and all
And...and who does it now?
Who does it?
It's not any Marcha
It's the Marcha from Mouraria
Fucking hell, it's always up to me to sort this out
João will you check if this "erdami" it's already working
Ok
This used to be a bakery
This is where we used to make the throne to
St Antonio, they would go up the stairs to see the throne
People would go in one way, they would pay to go in
10 cents in, or something like that
They would go up the stairs one way
Drink a ginja sitting on the throne
and would come down the stairs from the other side
It was great man, it was great because we all had neighborhood spirit
There was nothing else to do
The Adicense club played a big part in all of it, that street
Was practically a village, from the top of
Norberto Araujo street, where the viewpoint is
All the way down to São João da Praça street
Everyone used to go to the Adicense club in the evening, it was the neighborhood caffe
Everyone would go up there for their coffee
The kids would go, to check the board for any weekend matches
However, before the revolution, the situation was very difficult
The women sat on the little stools outside
For real? They couldn't get in the clubs?
No, that's how the system worked, and also, we had two top clubs
That were
Quote Unquote
The communist party headquarter, inside the neighborhood
All the information was quietly passed over there, prior to the revolution
And not so quietly after it
But anything like, "there's going to be a rally,
there's going to be this and there's going to be that"
That's where it was all divulged
And rightly so, rightly so
Alfama was, prior to the April 25th revolution,
like a bunker for some people on the left wing
They came here if they wanted to lay low
On the run from the police
There was a network of people, especially
amongst the left wing, who helped each other
And the clubs played a big part in providing a safe place to stay
For the people who lived underground
People had no bathrooms back then, they used to go to the clubs to take a bath
Right?
The old ladies would go in the morning, Saturdays and Sundays...
the old ladies and the women
Then in the afternoon, the layabouts, with a few beers
"Give us a ticket for the bath and whatever"
There was a public bath here, wasn't it?
There were, there still is, there are still two
The Mouraria Club in the Terreirinho street,
bought my clothes when I was a child.
Nowadays, I am sorry that, that provision was not there for my own children
And for my grandchildren
Because there are no suitable people to do it
There are no sponsers, there aren't a lot of things
But it was a privilege to be dressed by the Mouraria Club
That club always kept kids off the streets
We had Wrestling, we had boxing, now they have Zumba, etc.
It gets them of the streets and that stops them from frequenting places they shouldn't
In relation to sport, the Adicense was in my opinion
The club that did more for Alfama, that did more for Alfama, yes, I really think so
They had soccer teams
blind soccer, in those days, that's what it was
Wrestling, swimming
They still do, they still have all of that
They have a gym, they have athletics, boxing, they have...
I don't know if they still have table tennis
Yes we do, It's still on
But do you have anyone competing?
No, at this moment in time, we don't have anyone competing
Do you know what sport kids practice nowadyas?
Kids go home and play FIFA 19 or FIFA 20
Table tennis? I play with the thing
Listen Pedro, there's only a few living here
Idalecio knows that there are very few kids still living in Alfama
For the vast majority of them now, playing sport is getting their scooters to start
"Got it to Start, zumba!"
Have you forgotten how we used to go scutting off the trams in our day?
You're right, ah, the little cart that was great fun too
Jesus Man, going down street Maria Pia in that little cart
Speaking on behalf of the Adicense
I am part of its board of management
Even when the management team comes up with
initiatives to bring sport into the neighborhood
So that the youth won't go down in other directions
It's still a hard task for the clubs, as currently
only a handful of young people live in Alfama
And there is a lot more available for the kids to do
You have to be very brave, to try and
organise anything in Alfama, not only in sport
But when we achieve it, it's always wonderful
You tell me, when I joined the Adicense, nine
years ago, and on top of it I was an outsider
Listen Artur when we were kids, all we wanted was to go to the club to play cards-
Do you know why that was? because at home
back then, we didn't have the comforts they have now
The clubs
That fostered Fado, that promoted the Marchas
Were social retreats
There was no AXN
There was no Hollywood channel, there was none of that
So people got together to have social interaction
The clubs today
They survive
Because of some exeptions
And of some people like us, who have not really adapted
And even feel a certain rejection for the modern times.
It's a pity that they don't get together
that they don't organise any tournaments
Sueca, Dominoes
That's been more than talked about...sueca tournaments
You have to sow before you reap
I am not playing any sueca, I've already lost twice
Now, Mouraria, Castelo, Alfama that's, quote unquote, all Santa Maria Maior
We won't make it in name and reputation alone,
we have to contribute, we have to come together
It seems impossible for Alfama and Mouraria
to get on, for starters, they just don't get along
No, not at all, it is easy, it is
Oh yes, it's super easy
At the moment, we are one of the best neighborhoods in Lisbon
No, it's not that, it's the rivalry between Mouraria and Alfama
It just won't come together
I was just remembering
The old feuds between the neighborhoods
There was rivalry about every single thing
About soccer, about the Marchas
Because our dances were better than theirs
It was a litany of things
To give you an example, in the Carlos Lopes
pavilion, back in the day, during Marchas season
The rivalry was off the scale, everybody trying to bring one more person
So their group could be the bigger one, and that was always Alfama
Rivalries never really end
They can simmer down, they calm down
And today you will see
Girls from Mouraria with guys from Alfama
Alfama young man, together with guys from Mouraria
Folks from Alfama who were rehoused in Mouraria
And always say how happy they are and how well they settled in
That's of great benefit to all the neighborhoods
As we belong to the same parish, we can work and fight for common causes
And it's our parish Santa Maria Major that benefits
That one is preparing a salad for the birds
He does it so they won't choke
He chops everything up
Yesterday he was saying, "I am going to cut up all these greens"
And I said "Yes, chop them all up"
God grant me patience
It's nothing to do with patience
He enjoys doing it
And yet he always said he did not want to keep any animals back home
His father kept a lot of animals
He had big roosters who used to bite
We couldn't even walk around freely in the yard
There's pheasants too
Yes there's pheasants too, and doves
There's doves
The most interesting thing is that
Cats
Roosters
I used to have a rabbit who roamed freely
And they would all eat together side by side
It's so cute to see the ducks minding their little ones
I think children these days miss out a lot on that
Mama duck following her little ducklings, "This way...come this way...this way"
What's wrong with you old dog? What is it?
What is it, you old thing?
Very well, it's beautiful
Country life is beautiful
Country life in the city of Lisbon
One of the things that we lost, one of the most
beautiful things that we had inside our neighborhood
Was our very own language, it was a language that was very specific to us
Our very own slang that was known as the Badoncali
People, the same way we stare at foreigners
speaking German, English, Swedish, or whatever
They used to stare at us
Having no idea, about what we were talking about
The technique behind Alfama's slang was
To remove the first letter in a word
And stick it at the end
So, the word "camisa", we take the "C" in "camisa"
And put it in the end, with an "i"
So you get "amisaci"
And there you have it, "camisa"
The slang in Mouraria is different from ours in Alfama
Because amongst us here, we never added a "B"
The "B" started being used in Mouraria
Because if you see here, "amosvi", over there is "badamosvi"
In Mouraria, is "badamosvi"
It's different but it's basically the same thing, we add an "i"
In Mouraria, they use a "b"
That was really interesting, it's one of the things that we lost
that i would like to revitalise in this neighborhood
The most important links that we had between the people and the clubs
Were Fado and the Marchas
We had great names in Fado from all the neighborhoods
I think It's important to note that
We always favour our own and I fully accept that, but we have to acknowledge
"Ah, Mouraria, Mouraria", there's no doubt that they gave great names to fado
And it also has its very own tradition
in Lady Severa, who's still a myth, to us all
There are no recordings, there's nothing
There are some old paitings, made by who knows who.
In concrete...in concrete, we can't really know if-
Yes, but it gave us great names, we had The King, after all
In 1990, Campos started putting together these Fado sessions on Saturday afternoons
And that's when things really took off
the crème de la crème of Fado started coming, too
"When this room is all refurbished, we are going to have a Fado session"
He wanted a single session and he ended up with one every Saturday.
It started at four and it finished at midnight
But by that time, when it was supposed to end,
he still had 80 people waiting their turn to sing
The big Fado singers, would show up to the clubs in the afternoon
Which was, how can I put it
It was a tremendous source of pride for them to show up
Nowadays, if you think about it, not so much
The big names we have, don't come to the clubs like they used to
That's what's wrong
Not us, because we started in clubs like those
to us it's always a pleasure and an honour
Even to this day, when the clubs
the ones that still exist, put on a Fado session, we show up
It must be gratifying for you all, to sing in the clubs
Personally it is, for me it really is
That's how I learned my craft
And it's thanks to that, that I now have an understanding
Of what I sang then
And what I sing now, It was a real education, all those clubs
Do you all think, that one day in the future, I don't know exactly when
We'll once again take part in those gatherings
That are, from my own perspective, essential for our own personal growth?
I Don't Think so
I don't think there's still people who'd do that, not like our old gatherings.
Not like our old gatherings in the fado houses.
People are not humble
I don't think there is the same camaraderie around, like the one we had
The way life is now, all we have is stimulation
Nowadays you have two hundred television channels that you might like
And those that don't watch Television? It's all on their mobiles
Let me finish...that's even worse, that's the greatest virus of modern times.
And nowadyas, people are led
I don't know if intentionally, or trough life circumstances
They're led to an isolation, that keeps them from growing
These days, not many people will come to a Fado house
Because that was a lot more common before, inclusively in the clubs
Where you would go and get your roasted chorizo
sausage, bread, a jug of wine and whatever
In the old days, it was the clubs that made the big Night of Fado event happen
They would choose their singer, and take him to the coliseum
And they would be all represented, it was a real party
A neighborhood reunion
It was the cup of Portugal, It was the cup of Portugal
Great night of Fado dies, quote, unquote
When it starts being picked up by professor Edgar Nogueira, by Carvalhinho
Right? Because people stop being interested.
That was interesting, when the victory
Was, not only the Singer, but also the neighborhoods competing.
We would all go there rooting for our neighborhood to win, for our club to win
It's was true neighborhood spirit
You haven't even died yet, and I've already
been to thirty thousand parties in your honor.
Hey Batalha, hey Batalha, you haven't even died,
and they've made you thirty homages, already
That's a lie, it's all lies
Listen man, I'm not going to die in a hurry
Fado is no more than a slice of life
Of course there was a more lyrical component to it
But maybe that's not the one that we breathe
through our skin, what stays in our souls
What touches us are people's stories
A lot of Fado singers had a political overtone
"You who digs the earth, don't enter the church...
That mob, who worships a false God...
With their worthless saints made of wood...
Only those who labour, have true worth"
Therefore Fado also has a social consciousness side to it
I have searched everywhere in fado
And I have never found, anything in Fado lyrics
That transmits an image attached to dictatorships or fascism
I have never found it
Because in those days, Fado was written by street poets
Not by intellectuals
I journeyed into the past, in the streets of Mouraria
No parties nor Fados to be seen
From Graça to Guia
I saw no parties nor Fados
From Amendoeira to Guia
Footsteps on the street
Bringing with them the past
Footsteps on the street
Bringing with them the past
Maybe it brings a menace
Or maybe it's just the silence in Fado
Maybe it brings a menace
Or maybe it's just the silence in Fado
Houses nestling, full of faith and virtue
Around the chapel
Of our Lady of good health
Around the chapel of our lady of good health
It was in Alfama
That my mother was born
I would never swap Alfama for another, as she has fame and fortune
And to continue this song, I want to remind you
That Graça and Campo d'Ourique are not to be forgotten
Alfama, will always be Alfama
It was here that Severa lived and sang her Fado
But the day she died, with her was buried her Fado
And all these neighbourhoods are loved, by all of us every day
No neighborhood will deny their love for Fado singers and Fado
The time has come for us to continue our journey
This fado it's so big, it'll be a feature film
Fadista!
And from the old traditions, only a few have stayed
Our bygone days, won't come back to Mouraria
My precious Alfama
I'll give you a few digs on your way out...
The best neighborhood in Lisbon
And the most beautiful
This film is dedicated to the memory of our friend Afonso Cabral