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.
Covilhã Cidade Neve
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Fiandeira alegre e contente
És o gesto que descreve
O passado heróico e valente
És das beiras a rainha
O teu nome é nome de povo
És um beiral de andorinha
Covilhã tu és sangue novo "Refrão"
Que briosa vais para o tear
E os hermínios tu encantas
Vestem lã para te namorar
E o pastor nos montes vagueia
Dorme à noite em lençol de neve
Ao serão teces longa teia
Ao tem bem que de longe te escreve
Covilhã cidade flor
Corpo agreste de cantaria
Em ti mora o meu amor
E em ti nasce o novo dia
Covilhã és linda terra
És qual roca bailando ao vento
Em ti aura quando neva
Covilhã tu és novo tempo
The lyrics of "Covilhã Cidade Neve" by Amália Rodrigues praise the city of Covilhã, located in the Beiras region of Portugal. The song describes Covilhã as a lively and contented city, which represents a heroic and brave past. The city is portrayed as the queen of the Beiras, with a name that is synonymous with its people. It is compared to the delicate dance of a swallow on a rooftop, symbolizing the grace and beauty of the city. Covilhã is described as the embodiment of new life and energy.
The song also highlights the industriousness and talent of the people of Covilhã. In the morning, as they wake up, they confidently go to work at the loom, captivating those who admire them. The shepherds roam the mountains, spending the night under a blanket of snow, while the people of Covilhã weave their intricate tapestries by the fire. The song emphasizes the connection between the city and its surroundings, portraying it as a place where creativity and tradition coexist.
Overall, "Covilhã Cidade Neve" celebrates the beauty, strength, and cultural heritage of Covilhã, capturing its essence as a city that merges the old with the new, and where the past and present intertwine.
Line by Line Meaning
Covilhã cidade neve
Covilhã, city of snow
Fiandeira alegre e contente
Joyful and content spinner
És o gesto que descreve
You are the gesture that describes
O passado heróico e valente
The heroic and valiant past
És das beiras a rainha
You are the queen of the Beiras region
O teu nome é nome de povo
Your name is the name of the people
És um beiral de andorinha
You are a swallow's wing
Covilhã tu és sangue novo
Covilhã, you are fresh blood
De manhã quando te levantas
In the morning when you wake up
Que briosa vais para o tear
How proud you go to the loom
E os hermínios tu encantas
And you enchant the hermits
Vestem lã para te namorar
They wear wool to court you
E o pastor nos montes vagueia
And the shepherd wanders in the hills
Dorme à noite em lençol de neve
Sleeps at night in a sheet of snow
Ao serão teces longa teia
In the evening, you weave a long web
Ao tem bem que de longe te escreve
And love writes from afar
Covilhã cidade flor
Covilhã, city of flowers
Corpo agreste de cantaria
Rugged body of stone carving
Em ti mora o meu amor
My love resides in you
E em ti nasce o novo dia
And the new day is born in you
Covilhã és linda terra
Covilhã, you are a beautiful land
És qual roca bailando ao vento
You are like a spinning wheel dancing in the wind
Em ti aura quando neva
In you, there is an aura when it snows
Covilhã tu és novo tempo
Covilhã, you are a new time
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Milva Cerqueira
Letra
Covilhã cidade neve
Fiandeira alegre e contente
És o gesto que descreve
O passado heróico e valente
És das beiras a rainha
O teu nome é nome de povo
És um beiral de andorinha
Covilhã tu és sangue novo
De manhã quando te levantas
Que briosa vais para o tear
E os hermínios que tu encantas
Vestem lã para te namorar
E o pastor nos montes vagueia
Dorme à noite em lençol de neve
Ao serão teces longa teia
Ao tem bem que de longe te escreve
Covilhã cidade flor
Corpo agreste de cantaria
Em ti mora o meu amor
E em ti nasce o novo dia
Covilhã és linda terra
És qual roca bailando ao vento
Em ti aura quando neva
Covilhã tu és novo tempo
De manhã quando te levantas
Que briosa vais para o tear
E os hermínios que tu encantas
Vestem lã para te namorar
E o pastor nos montes vagueia
Dorme à noite em lençol de neve
Ao serão teces longa teia
Ao tem bem que de longe te escreve
Milva Cerqueira
Letra
Covilhã cidade neve
Fiandeira alegre e contente
És o gesto que descreve
O passado heróico e valente
És das beiras a rainha
O teu nome é nome de povo
És um beiral de andorinha
Covilhã tu és sangue novo
De manhã quando te levantas
Que briosa vais para o tear
E os hermínios que tu encantas
Vestem lã para te namorar
E o pastor nos montes vagueia
Dorme à noite em lençol de neve
Ao serão teces longa teia
Ao tem bem que de longe te escreve
Covilhã cidade flor
Corpo agreste de cantaria
Em ti mora o meu amor
E em ti nasce o novo dia
Covilhã és linda terra
És qual roca bailando ao vento
Em ti aura quando neva
Covilhã tu és novo tempo
De manhã quando te levantas
Que briosa vais para o tear
E os hermínios que tu encantas
Vestem lã para te namorar
E o pastor nos montes vagueia
Dorme à noite em lençol de neve
Ao serão teces longa teia
Ao tem bem que de longe te escreve
Isaque Oliveira
Linda música 👏🏼 cidade maravilhosa que estou adorando.
Rui Portugal
Lindo de verdade! Linda Amália! Saudades!😥😥😥
Ayanne
Linda canção
Joao Marques
Uma música de características tipicamente populares mas com uma interpretação soberba, como só a Amália sabe. Com a sua interpretação tudo ganha uma nova dimensão. Letra e música ganham um outro sentido e parece que a ouvimos pela primeira vez. Passei a amar Covilhã a Amália já amava há muito.
Carlos Freitas
Tu és Covilhã és uma cidade de Amor com a sua juventude estudantil ❤❤
Emilia Pardal
Tudo o que vem de AMÁLIA É LINDO SEM PALAVRAS, COMO QUE A PRESENTEAR NOS COM A SUA MAGIA, CONTINUAS ENTRE NOZ.AGORA E SEMPRE...
Deolinda Oliveira
Simplesmente lindo
Gonçalo Guedes Marques
Magistral!!
A N
Sublime!