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.
Fado De Cùime
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
O que era o fado eu quis saber
E tanto andei e perguntei a quem sabia
Que finalmente pude aprender
Certo dia, ao passar numa rua em Lisboa
Um amigo poeta e cantor
Murmurou-me ao ouvido e a medo o segredo
Do fado em Lisboa é o amor!
O fado veio a Paris alfama veio a Pigalle
E até o Sena se queixa de pena
Que o Tejo não quis sair de Portugal
O fado veio a Paris alfama veio a Pigalle
E até San Germain des Prés
Já canta o fado em francês!
Vim a Paris para cantar e ser fadista
Por certo não pensa ninguém
Quea mesma história de Lisboa e do fadista
Aconteceu aqui também
Certo dia ao entrar num bistrot
Pra ouvir a Java, alguém disse "bonjour
Amalia, c'est fini, tu l'as trouvé, le secret
De la chanson de Paris est l'amour!"
These lyrics are from the song "Fado De Cúime" by Amália Rodrigues. The song revolves around the theme of fado, a traditional Portuguese music genre known for its melancholic and nostalgic tones. The lyrics describe the singer's journey to discover the essence of fado and how it represents love.
In the first paragraph, the singer tells us that in Lisbon, the people were not familiar with fado, so they set out to learn more about it. They asked around and sought the advice of those who were knowledgeable about the genre. Finally, the singer learned the secret of fado being love from a poet and singer in Lisbon. This suggests that love is at the core of the fado style.
The second paragraph continues by stating that fado has spread beyond Lisbon to Paris. Alfama, a traditional neighborhood in Lisbon associated with fado, has made its way to Pigalle, a famous neighborhood in Paris. The lyricist even mentions that the Seine river complains because the Tagus river, which flows through Lisbon, did not leave Portugal. The idea here is that fado, with its roots in Lisbon, has transcended borders and now finds expression in Paris. The French seem to have adopted fado, with even the famous neighborhood of Saint-Germain-des-Prés embracing the genre and singing it in French.
The third paragraph takes a personal turn as the singer explains their own experience in Paris. They came to the city to sing and be a fado singer but no one expected the same story of Lisbon and a fadista (female fado singer) to unfold in Paris. The singer tells us how one day, while entering a bistrot (bar), someone greeted them in French, saying "Bonjour, Amália, it's over, you have found the secret of the Parisian song, it's love!" This implies that just as love is central to fado in Lisbon, it also holds significance in the chanson (French song) tradition in Paris.
Overall, these lyrics celebrate the universal nature of fado, showcasing its ability to transcend borders and find hold in different cities. The significance of love in fado is emphasized throughout, highlighting its emotional and timeless nature. Amália Rodrigues, often considered the queen of fado, uses this song to express the universality of fado and its connection to the human experience.
Line by Line Meaning
Quando em Lisboa, o povo mal me o conhecia
When in Lisbon, the people hardly knew me
O que era o fado eu quis saber
I wanted to know what fado was
E tanto andei e perguntei a quem sabia
And I walked and asked those who knew
Que finalmente pude aprender
Until I finally could learn
Certo dia, ao passar numa rua em Lisboa
One day, while passing by a street in Lisbon
Um amigo poeta e cantor
A poet and singer friend
Murmurou-me ao ouvido e a medo o segredo
Whispered to me, afraid, the secret
Do fado em Lisboa é o amor!
That love is the essence of fado in Lisbon!
O fado veio a Paris alfama veio a Pigalle
Fado came to Paris, Alfama came to Pigalle
E até o Sena se queixa de pena
And even the Seine River laments with sorrow
Que o Tejo não quis sair de Portugal
Because the Tagus River didn't want to leave Portugal
O fado veio a Paris alfama veio a Pigalle
Fado came to Paris, Alfama came to Pigalle
E até San Germain des Prés
And even in Saint-Germain-des-Prés
Já canta o fado em francês!
Fado is already being sung in French!
Vim a Paris para cantar e ser fadista
I came to Paris to sing and be a fado singer
Por certo não pensa ninguém
Certainly, no one thinks
Que a mesma história de Lisboa e do fadista
That the same story of Lisbon and the fado singer
Aconteceu aqui também
Happened here as well
Certo dia ao entrar num bistrot
One day, upon entering a bistro
Pra ouvir a Java, alguém disse 'bonjour'
To listen to a Java song, someone said 'bonjour'
Amalia, c'est fini, tu l'as trouvé, le secret
Amalia, it's over, you've found the secret
De la chanson de Paris est l'amour!
Of the song of Paris, love!
Lyrics © MUSIC SALES CORPORATION
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@user-sk8ej8pm6y
Amalia ! A maior cantora do mundo !❤
@josesimaorente470
Amália sem comentário uma voz sem Igual
@ivonegomes9835
Eu. Adoro. Esse. Fado
@basiliocompositor
AMALIA: VOCÊ NÃO MORREU, VOCÊ FEZ A PASSAGEM PARA A OUTRA DIMENSÃO. VOCÊ VIVE NO MEU CORAÇÃO. Basílio compositor. ❤
@robin2000
Este es mi fado favorito, el que siemore ha estado en mi mente desde el Verano de 1994 en que descubrí el Fado
@elsamendescampelo6055
Oh meu Deus tanto sentimento
Oh Amália Rainha dos corações portugueses .ate da pra chorar mas de alegria de ser portuguesa...
@nandaalmeida1716
Depois de tantos anos, ouço esta voz e choro de saudade, de tristeza!!!
@mariaemiliavieirarodrigues116
Não houve nem nunca haverá outra igual
@ricardobiancardi9719
Esse é o meu fado predileto, não que os outros não sejam bons, mas esse....tem algo a mais em sua letra.
@joaquimbarros5218
A SRA.D.AMALIA FOI REALMENTE UMA GRANDE ARTISTA BEM DITO DONA DE UMA VOZ INIGUALÁVEL.