Portugal is a
country with a rich culture, but you will find out that each region has
its own particularities. This is certainly the case with the Algarve,
where you can see people’s way of living through their arts and music
and confirm how different they are from other Portuguese regions.
Nowadays, one can still see the Moorish influences and the legacy of
five centuries of Arab rule. Just look for the narrow streets and
chimneys with the most varied shapes and designs.
Also not to be missed are the flat baskets made of palm tree leafs, the
ceramics, the typical hampers and the many churches and castles built
in previous centuries. The local culture and many of its representing
works are preserved in museums in the major coastal centres and in
smaller inland towns.
Music and dance are the cultural expressions that best reflect the soul of a people.
In the Algarve the tourist flag is the “Corridinho” a cheerful version
of folklore that, according to several testimonies, was born from the
polka and from the mazurka. With the introduction of the accordion to
these saloon dances on the end of the 19th century, players invented
and reinvented the songs until the “corridinho” was born.
The
tinkle of the triangle and the sound of the accordion give way to the
dancers that come on scene with a bright eye under the black felt hat
ready to show how the Algarve dances the “corridinho”.
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