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 alfacinha
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
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[0:08]
Faz da noite confidente
A noite é sempre calada
Faz da noite confidente
A noite é sempre calada
Escuta o que diz a gente
Escuta o que diz a gente
E nunca repete nada
Teus olhos são passarinhos
Que ainda não podem voar
Teus olhos são passarinhos
Que ainda não podem voar
Cuidado que andam aos ninhos
Os rapazes do lugar
Cuidado que andam aos ninhos
Os rapazes do lugar
Teus olhos, quem é que, ao vê-los
Tão doces na tua face
Teus olhos, quem é que, ao vê-los
Tão doces na tua face
Não lhe apetece comê-los
Como dois olhos d'alface
Não lhe apetece comê-los
Como dois olhos d'alface
O fado tem tal encanto
É diverso em cada hora
O fado tem tal encanto
É diverso em cada hora
Suspira, guitarra, chora
Cada hora tem seu pranto
Suspira, guitarra, chora
Cada hora tem seu pranto
…
The lyrics of Amalia Rodrigues's Fado alfacinha depict the night as a confidant, always silent and never repeating what it hears. The singer urges the listener to be careful, as the young boys of the place are lurking around and causing trouble. The singer likens the listener's eyes to young birds that have yet to spread their wings and warns them to mind the neighborhood boys who are up to no good. The lyrics go on to praise the sweetness of the listener's eyes, likening them to lettuce leaves that are ripe for the taking. The song speaks of the alluring power of Fado music and how it can move people to tears with its varying emotions.
The imagery in the lyrics highlights the night as a silent witness to people's secrets and intentions. The young boys of the place represent a threat to the listener, and the lyrics caution them to stay out of harm's way. The lyrics also use metaphors to describe the listener's eyes, making them appealing to others and urging them to protect their innocence. Overall, the song portrays the ambiance of Fado music and its ability to move people to different emotions depending on the hour.
Line by Line Meaning
Faz da noite confidente
The night becomes a close friend
A noite é sempre calada
The night is always quiet
Escuta o que diz a gente
Listen to what people say
E nunca repete nada
And never repeats a word
Teus olhos são passarinhos
Your eyes are like little birds
Que ainda não podem voar
That cannot yet fly
Cuidado que andam aos ninhos
Beware, boys are lurking
Os rapazes do lugar
In the local area
Teus olhos, quem é que, ao vê-los
Whoever sees your eyes
Tão doces na tua face
So sweet on your face
Não lhe apetece comê-los
Will want to eat them
Como dois olhos d'alface
Like two lettuce leaves
O fado tem tal encanto
Fado has such charm
É diverso em cada hora
It is different every hour
Suspira, guitarra, chora
The guitar sighs and cries
Cada hora tem seu pranto
Each hour has its own tears
Contributed by Lila S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Ali Reza Falahat
Fado Alfacinha
Amália Rodrigues
"Faz da noite confidente
A noite é sempre calada" (2)
"Escuta o que diz a gente
E nunca repete nada" (2)
"Teus olhos são passarinhos
Que ainda não podem voar" (2)
"Cuidado que andam aos ninhos
Os rapazes do lugar" (2)
"Teus olhos, quem é que, ao vê-los
Tão doces na tua face" (2)
"Não lhe apetece comê-los
Como dois olhos d'alface" (2)
"O fado tem tal encanto
É diverso em cada hora" (2)
"Suspira, guitarra, chora
Cada hora tem seu pranto" (2)
Саша Петровић
Ненадмашна Амалиа!