Her greatest mystery is the definition of her soul as a Fado singer, given … Read Full Bio ↴Her greatest mystery is the definition of her soul as a Fado singer, given she grew up away from the "family" of Fado. That soul is revealed in her intelligent voice, in her rare timbre, in the way the words sound so organic, syllable by syllable, note by note… The poems, the music set a mood for the story that is being sung; the instrumental accompaniment further underscores the intuition of the Fado singer, shaping the voice to the meaning of the words, to the musical improvisation. Together, these elements make the Art of Fado. It only appears when there is a soul. If there is a soul. Aldina's personality is entirely within her performing abilities. Everything in her art becomes immediately original, in a shockingly simple way. Aldina Duarte believes. Aldina Duarte makes us believe. Aldina Duarte began working at 20 in a newspaper. Then she worked in radio. She was a backing singer in an art school band. She performed in a film, Manuel Mozos's Xavier, where she sang the only Fado she had ever known, Rua do Capelão, one of Amália Rodrigues' greatest hits. Later, she started listening to Fado in a venue where she first came across Beatriz da Conceição, one of the genre's classic divas. They spoke of Fado, of life as a Fado singer. Aldina became enamoured of all she heard; asked for her advice, heard her speak of everything that means anything in Fado. She wished to sing Fado. She spent her days listening to records, her nights listening to singers, her months reading and memorizing poems. She sang in a stage play. Later she sang live during Lisbon's June celebrations; then she accepted an invitation for a TV variety show where she only lasted three programmes, realising it wasn't the road she wanted to take. It all suddenly fit into place when she sang, in a residency at a prestigious Lisbon theatre. Once a month, they would invite their favourite Fado singers and actors who would do poetry readings. The residency was often favourably mentioned in the press, audiences flocked.
Then Aldina was invited to sing nightly in a Fado venue; it was as if she had passed a tough entrance exam into a Fado school. She respected and maintained the rituals she had always found distinctive and beautiful about Fado: a black shawl, a black dress, silence, diffuse lighting. Everything she had ever loved about Fado. Her success led to invitations to sing in other Fado venues, to guest in concerts. One day she was invited to sing abroad, in the Piccolo Teatro of Milan; to sing Fado in a play about poet Fernando Pessoa, written by novelist and essayist Antonio Tabucchi and directed by lead actor Giancarlo Dettori, director Lamberto Puggelli and the Master, Giorgio Strehler. The experience helped shape what was to become her attitude towards Fado, leading her to be more careful about what she sang, and how she sang it. Besides singing professionally at the Senhor Vinho venue, Aldina has worked in the the Portuguese Cinemathèque - Cinema Museum and is currently a researcher at EMI Music Portugal where she is organizing the company's immense archives of Portuguese music - much of which is made up of Fado recordings. Beginning 2004, Aldina Duarte released her debut album “Apenas o Amor”. Since then she has been performing concerts in Portugal, Spain, France, Morocco, Italy, Belgium, Austria and The Netherlands. “Apenas o Amor” since its release has been referred as one of the best albums of 2004 by the Portuguese press. Her second cd "Crua" was released in January of 2006.The album was produced by João Monge who was also responsible for writing the lyrics... And now, 2008, the third album "Mulheres ao Espelho"...

Casa-Mãe/Cidade
Aldina Duarte Lyrics

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Hora a hora dia a dia
P'las ruas encantada
Andei a ver se entendia
A cidade tão cansada
Casas tristes desoladas
Juntas soltam um queixume
Sobrevivem em fachadas
De abandono e de ciúme

Nas varandas enlaçadas
Pelas heras da saudade
Oiço rir às gargalhadas
Entre gritos de outra idade
Na calçada envelhecida
Faltam pedras pelo chão
Os canteiros são a vida
Dos becos na escuridão

Quer de noite quer de dia
Meu mistério decifrava
E se acaso me perdia
Mais de mim eu encontrava
Mesmo em frente à casa-mãe
Encontrei-me na distância

Ai de quem por si não tem
Na memória qualquer esperança

Overall Meaning

In Aldina Duarte’s song, Casa-Mãe/Cidade, the singer walks through the streets of a tired city, trying to understand its melancholic character. She observes the sad, deserted houses, lamenting together and surviving only in their facades, which are marked by neglect and jealousy. The intertwined balconies of the houses are covered with ivy, evoking a nostalgia for times past, full of laughter and screams. The cobblestone streets are worn down, and the life of the alleys is found in the planted gardens where the stones are missing. The singer deciphers the mystery of the city by day and by night, and even when she loses her way, she finds herself more deeply within it. She ends up in front of her "casa mãe," her childhood home, and finds herself in the distance, recognizing that anyone who does not have hope in their memory is lost.

This song has a powerful resonance with those who have experienced the melancholy of a city left behind, with abandoned buildings and a palpable sense of loss. The use of ivy as a symbol of nostalgia is particularly effective, as it evokes both beauty and decay, a sense of the natural world taking over the man-made. The image of the missing cobblestones creating life in the alleys is similarly arresting, suggesting that beauty can be found even in the neglected and discarded parts of a city.

Line by Line Meaning

Hora a hora dia a dia
Every hour, every day

P'las ruas encantada
Enchanted by the streets

Andei a ver se entendia
I walked around to try to understand

A cidade tão cansada
The city, so tired

Casas tristes desoladas
Sad, desolate houses

Juntas soltam um queixume
Together they let out a groan

Sobrevivem em fachadas
Surviving in facades

De abandono e de ciúme
Of abandonment and jealousy

Nas varandas enlaçadas
In the entwined balconies

Pelas heras da saudade
Covered in ivy of longing

Oiço rir às gargalhadas
I hear laughter ringing out