In the beginning was Amalia Rodrigues. That singer so dominates the modern history of the fado, Portugal’s soulful, guitar-based national music, that during a 60-year career brought to an end only with her death in 1999, her name became virtually synonymous with the genre, leaving precious little room for others to flourish.

But during the past decade or so there has been an explosion of new voices, most of them female . A socalled novo fado, or new fado, has catapulted the genre into the 21st century .

Outside Portugal the fadista most evident of late is the 31-year-old Ana Moura, whose smoky contralto has drawn the attention of the Rolling Stones and Prince .

At home, she is just one of a large crop that includes Misia, Mariza, Mafalda Arnauth, Dulce Pontes, Cristina Branco, Joana Amendoeira, Raquel Tavares, Yolanda Soares and Katia Guerreiro.

“We all have one thing in common, and that is the desire to renew the fado,” said Ms. Moura, who will tour California and Canada this summer .

Fado, which means fate or destiny in Portuguese, dates to the 1820s and began, Mariza said , “as the music of a port, a place where mixtures take place, with sailors bringing influences from Brazil, Africa, the Arab world and even China” to the bars, taverns and bordellos they frequented. From the beginning the essence of the music was contained in the word saudade, which can be rendered as longing, yearning, nostalgia or melancholy.

Traditionally played by small ensembles that featured a standard guitar and the Portuguese guitar, a round 12-string instrument with a sound that is distinctly bright, delicate and chiming, it became associated with the fascist dictatorship that ruled Portugal from 1926 to 1974.

“It was a symbol of that unhappy time,” said Misia, who, at 55, can claim to be a pioneer of the fado revival.

The end of Portugal’s cultural isolation, symbolized by the country’s entry into the European Union in 1986, made it possible for singers to encounter what Ms. Arnauth, 36, calls “accidental fadistas.” By that she means foreign musicians that have the fado spirit.

Nontraditional influences seep into the work of the “novo fado” singers.

Ms. Moura’s repertory includes the Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations,” which she was invited to perform with them after they saw her sing in a traditional tavern in Lisbon . Misia included Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt” on her 2009 double CD, “Ruas.”

Another characteristic of the new wave of fadistas is their willingness to write their own songs. And many singers are fiddling with the instrumental lineup typical of the genre. Even the traditional fado singer’s severe black dress and shawl are being challenged.

“I simply refuse to dress in black or use a shawl,” said Ms. Arnauth. “ That kind of attire conveys the image of a victim, of the poor little thing, and that’s something I’ve been trying to get away from. I want to impose a new and different image of women.”

In the non-Portuguese-speaking world fado also has recently developed a bit of a foothold, influencing groups like Clannad in Ireland and the Durutti Column in Britain. Prince last year performed onstage with Ms. Moura and has recorded with her. In the United States, the band Judith & Holofernes plays a style that has been dubbed fadocore, a mixture of fado (sung in English) with punk and indierock elements .

“Fado is evolving, ” said Ms. Amendoeira. “ Like a lot of people I’ve got one foot in the past and one in the future, because I think that’s the best place to be.”


By LARRY ROHTER