2011's Other Stories

A number of sites have been posting their lists of newsworthy events of 2011.  In fact, I've just finished reading Portugal Daily View's article on the biggest news events in Portugal during 2011.  In that spirit, I present my own list with links to some other stories that captured my attention during the past year.

Architect Eduardo Souto da Moura was named 2011 Pritzker Prize winner in March. The Pritzker is the most prestigious architecture prize available. It is awarded to a living architect whose career has established and maintained a particular vision over a number of years.

Fado was one of the biggest cultural stories in 2011. The inclusion of this musical genre on UNESCO's list of Intangible Cultural Heritage made global headlines. I viewed this as the culmination of the year of the Fado, starting from Mariza's inclusion in a PBS music series in late 2010 to Ana Moura's world tour that included a performance at Montreal's Jazz Festival (one of the world's largest jazz fests) and from Brooklyn Academy of Music's Tudo Isto é Fado to an Oscar pre-nomination for "Já Não Estar" by Camané. It appears that the Fado is set to grow even more popular.

Architect Pedro Gadanho was recently named as the new Curator of Architecture and Design at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. Earlier in the year, Miguel Amado was named as a curator at the Tate Gallery, St. Ives.

The end of the year saw economic news of a different sort: that Brasil's economy has overtaken the U.K.'s as the world's sixth largest. How does this affect Portugal? There is a ripple effect in a few ways. For example, Portugal Telecom buying a stake in Oi at the beginning of the year shows an interest in an increasingly competitive telecom market. Another effect is through migration: by the end of the year, tens of thousands of young and educated Portuguese  had emigrated to Brasil (50,000 in the last 6 months alone, according to the linked news report).

One of the more oddly intriguing stories that caught my eye was the Spanish version of Rolling Stone magazine announcing that their Rockstar of 2011 was none other than...José Mourinho?!

Another notable story is the continued rise of the Douro Boys as the wine ambassadors for northern Portuguese wines. In less than 10 years, the Douro Boys have managed to raise consciousness for quality Portuguese wines (and Portuguese grape varieties) without succumbing to out of date clichés. By the end of the year, Wine Spectator  had named three of their wines among the best of 2011(including one in the top ten).