Coimbra Fado (Portuguese: ''Fado de Coimbra'') is a genre of fado originating in the city of

Coimbra Coimbra (, also , , or ) is a city and a concelho, municipality in Portugal. The population of the municipality at the 2011 census was 143,397, in an area of . The fourth-largest urban area in Portugal after Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Lisbon, Por ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of the ...

. While adopted by students at the

University of Coimbra The University of Coimbra (UC; pt, Universidade de Coimbra, ) is a public research university in Coimbra, Portugal. First established in Lisbon in 1290, it went through a number of relocations until moving permanently to Coimbra in 1537. The ...

, and sometimes known as Student Fado (''Fado de Estudante''), it is usually considered the typical music of Coimbra itself. Developed from the Iberian lyric style of trovadorismo popular during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

, the genre shares roots with

Occitan Occitan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania territory in parts of France, Italy, Monaco and Spain. * Something of, from, or related to the Occitania administrative region of France. * Occitan language, spoken in parts ...

troubadors A troubadour (, ; oc, trobador ) was a composer and performer of Old Occitan lyric poetry during the High Middle Ages (1100–1350). Since the word ''troubadour'' is etymologically masculine, a female troubadour is usually called a '' trobairi ...

. Performed with the traditional ''Guitarra de Coimbra'' (a kind of

Portuguese guitar The Portuguese guitar or Portuguese guitarra ( pt, guitarra portuguesa, ) is a plucked string instrument with twelve steel strings, strung in six courses of two strings. It is one of the few musical instruments that still uses watch-key or Pres ...

originating in Coimbra), a modified version of Lisbon's fado guitar allegedly created by Artur Paredes, it is usually accompanied by classic acoustic guitar and male voices. Guitarists Artur Paredes and his son Carlos Paredes are considered the pioneers and masters of this musical genre. Among its most renowned singers were Edmundo Bettencourt and António Menano, in the 1930s and 1940s, and José Afonso, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Luís Goes and

João Maria Tudela João Maria Tudela (August 27, 1929 in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique – April 22, 2011 in Cascais), was a Portuguese singer, musician and entertainer. History João Maria Tudela was born in Lourenço Marques, the capital of the Portuguese ...

, in the 1950s and 1960s, the two so called "golden ages" of the genre. Other noted names in the genre include Loubet Bravo and Fernando Machado Soares. The Coimbra Academic Association (Associação Académica de Coimbra) has a fado section, teaching the genre to musically inclined students and promoting musical projects and events related to it. Its fame throughout Portugal has led to the creation of similar structures in other cities, such as Lisbon and Porto, where there are also ''Fado de Coimbra'' groups organized by students and local people.

See also