Fado

My cousin is in town for a week, and last night I joined her and two of her friends at a Portugese restaurant in the Village, called Alfama .

Cecilia, one of my cousin's friends, is Portugese herself, and joked with the waiters and gave us suggestions on what to order. When the old women in their pearls and black shawls started singing the traditional Fado--music that is both melancholy and mischievious--Cecilia sang along, and soon all of us at the table were joining in a chorus we didn't understand.