Born in Lisbon, Portugal, official documents have her date of birth as the 23rd July, but Rodrigues always said her birthday was the 1st July 1920. She was born in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), freguesia of Pena, Lisbon. Her father was a trumpet player and cobbler from Fundão who returned there when Amália was just over a year old, leaving her to live in Lisbon with her maternal grandmother in a deeply Catholic environment until she was fourteen, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them.
She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado"), and was most influential in popularising fado worldwide. She was unquestionably the most important figure in the genre’s development, by virtue of an innate interpretive talent carefully nurtured throughout a forty-year recording and stage career. Rodrigues' performances and choice of repertoire pushed fado’s boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Rodrigues wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female singer - or fadista - should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards.
After a few years of amateur performances, Rodrigues’ first professional engagement in a fado venue took place in 1939, and she quickly became a regular guest star in stage revues. There she met Frederico Valério, a classically-trained composer who, recognising the potential in such a voice, wrote expansive melodies custom-designed for Rodrigues’ voice, breaking the rules of fado by adding orchestral accompaniment.
Her Portuguese popularity began to extend abroad with trips to Spain, a lengthy stay in Brazil (where, in 1945, she made her first recordings on Brazilian label Continental) and Paris (in 1949). In 1950, while performing at the Marshall Plan international benefit shows, she introduced "April in Portugal" to international audiences (under its original title "Coimbra"). In the early fifties, the patronage of the acclaimed Portuguese poet David Mourão-Ferreira marked the beginning of a new phase; Rodrigues sang many of the country's greatest poets, and some wrote lyrics specifically for her.
In 1954, Rodrigues' international career skyrocketed through her presence in Henri Verneuil’s film The Lovers of Lisbon, where she had a supporting role and performed on-screen. By the late 1950s the USA, England, and France had become her major international markets (Japan and Italy followed in the 1970s); in France especially, her popularity rivalled her Portuguese success, and she graduated to headliner at the prestigious Olympia theatre within a matter of months. Over the years, she performed nearly all over the world, going as far as the Soviet Union and Israel.
At the end of the 1950s, Rodrigues took a year off. She returned in 1962 with a richer voice, concentrating on recording and performing live at a slower pace. Her comeback album, 1962's Amália Rodrigues, was her first collaboration with French composer Alain Oulman, her main songwriter and musical producer throughout the decade. As Valério had before him, Oulman wrote melodies for her that transcended the conventions of fado. Rodrigues did not shy away from controversy: her performance in Carlos Vilardebó’s 1964 arthouse film The Enchanted Islands was better received than the film, based on a short story by Herman Melville, and her 1965 recording of poems by 16th century poet Luís de Camões generated acres of newspaper polemics. Yet her popularity remained untouched. Her 1968 single "Vou Dar de Beber à Dor" broke all sales records, and her 1970 album Com que Voz, considered by many her definitive recording, won a number of international awards.
During the 1970s, Rodrigues concentrated on live work, and embarked upon a heavy schedule of worldwide concert performances. During the frenetic period after the 25th April 1974 she was falsely accused of being a covert agent of the PIDE, causing some trauma to her public life and career. (In fact, during the Salazar years, Rodrigues had been an occasional financial supporter of some communists in need.) Her return to the recording studio in 1977 with Cantigas numa Língua Antiga was received as a triumph. The 1980s and 1990s brought her enthronement as a living legend. Her last all-new studio recording, Lágrima, was released in 1983. It was followed by a series of previously lost or unreleased recordings, and the smash success of two greatest hits collections that sold over 200,000 copies combined.
Despite a series of illnesses involving her voice, Rodrigues continued recording as late as 1990. She eventually retreated from public performance, although her career gained in stature with an official biography by historian and journalist Vítor Pavão dos Santos, and a five-hour television series documenting her fifty-year career, featuring rare archival footage (later distilled into the ninety-minute film documentary, The Art of Amália). Its director, Bruno de Almeida, has also produced Amália, Live in New York City (a concert film of her 1990 performance at New York City Hall).
Rodrigues died on the 6th October 1999 at the age of seventy-nine in her home in Lisbon. Portugal's government promptly declared a period of national mourning. Her house (in Rua de São Bento) is now a museum. She is now buried at the National Pantheon alongside other Portuguese notables.
1946.
Canção do Mar
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará
(Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará)
Ah-rará, rarai, rará
Lalá, lará
(Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará)
Aí-ara
Bravo
The lyrics to Amália Rodrigues's song Canção do Mar are mostly nonsensical and consist of repetitive syllables and sounds such as "Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará" and "Lalá, lará." However, despite the lack of traditional lyrics with a clear meaning, the song is still very powerful and emotional. The use of vocalizations rather than specific words allows the listener to connect with the song in a more visceral and instinctual way. The combination of Amália Rodrigues's haunting voice and the repetitive, hypnotic melody create a sense of longing and melancholy that transcends language and speaks to a universal human desire for connection and understanding.
One interpretation of the lyrics could be that they are a representation of the natural world and its power. The "Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará" could be the sound of the wind or the waves, while "Lalá, lará" could represent the sounds of birds or other creatures. The repetition of these sounds throughout the song creates a sense of endlessness and timelessness, reminding us of the vastness and wonder of the natural world.
Line by Line Meaning
Ah-ralá, rará
Starting off the song with a lilting and melodious tune.
Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará
Continuing with the beautiful and soothing tune.
(Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará)
Repeating the tune to create an enchanting atmosphere.
Ah-rará, rarai, rará
Still keeping up with the captivating melody of the song.
Lalá, lará
Adding to the harmony of the tune through some vocalizations.
(Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará)
Repeating the tune once again, solidifying its ethereal quality.
Aí-ara
A beautiful phrase that doesn't really have a concrete meaning, but still adds to the song's charm.
(Ah-rará, rará, rará, rará)
Repeating the tune yet again, emphasizing its hypnotic appeal.
Bravo
Ending the song on a high note, appreciating the wonderful music that has just been experienced.
Writer(s): Joaquim Brito, Francisco Trinidade
Contributed by Liliana Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Mario Imori
Maravilhosa - essa é a letra original - gravada em disco em 1955!
Solidão de quem tremeu á tentação
Do céu e dos encontrões que o céu me deu
Serei bem eu sobre este véu de pranto
Sem saber se choro algum pecado
A tremer imploro o céu fechado
Triste amor o amor de alguém
Quando outro amor se tem
Abandonada e não me abandonei
Por mim ninguém já se detém na estrada
Solo
Triste amor o amor de alguém
Quando outro amor se tem
Abandonada e não me abandonei
Por mim ninguém já se detém na estrada
Teresa Nery
O conjunto de guitarras do meu Pai, Raul Nery. A Amália era minha madrinha. Uma honra!
Vanderlei D. da Luz
Que legal!!! Você é uma felizarda em ter conhecido e ainda ser afilhada da Rainha do Fado!!! Sou filho de Português. Meu pai nasceu em Vieira de Leiria. Veio ao Brasil em 1947 e faleceu sem nunca poder ter voltado a sua terra natal!!!
Luis Roberto Arthur de Faria
Uaaaaau, que maravilha!!! Amália Rodrigues é um patrimônio de Portugal e acho que da humanidade!!!
Ashton Wing
@Luis Roberto Arthur de FariaSem dúvida! Patrimônio da humanidade!
Tio Paulo
@Ashton Wing com certeza PATRIMONIO DA HUMANIDADE...
Thonevath Pou
I am Cambodian or Khmer and live so far away from Portugal: I am glad that Portugal has got Fado and Amalia R. My great and humble respect for BOTH !!
José Carlos
Original por Amália Rodrigues. A letra é diferente: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89JbzIhIwlE
MARIAN SIRBU
Sou Romena, não sei português, mas sendo uma língua latina como a minha língua materna, gosto muito de como soa, e gosto das canções imortais de Amália Rodrigures. Trabalhei durante anos com portugueses no Dubai e gostava de os ouvir falar a sua língua e por vezes até compreendia algumas palavras, compreendia a ideia base.
Fábio Domingos Marins
Que legal Marian, o português é fácil, o seu idioma deve ser difícil.
MARIAN SIRBU
@Fábio Domingos Marins Sim, eu entendo cerca de 50% quando o português fala, o português também é uma língua de origem latina como a língua romena, até na frase escrita por você eu entendi a princípio, mas não palavra por palavra.