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 das Tamanquinhas
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Vive esta linda Lisboa!
Faz loucuras e maldades,
Mas, no fundo, pura e boa
Nas suas leviandades!
Burguesinha no Chiado
No seu pátio, costureira,
No mercado é regateira
E o Tejo é seu namorado.
Faz das cantigas pregões,
Gosta do sol e da lua,
Vai com fé nas procissões,
Doida nas marchas da rua,
Tem ciúmes e paixões.
Viva esta linda Lisboa
Diferente de outras cidades.
É vaidoso o Madragoa,
Defeitos e qualidades,
Tudo tem esta Lisboa.
The lyrics of "Fado das Tamanquinhas" by Amália Rodrigues paint a picture of the city of Lisbon, Portugal, and its people. The song speaks of the city's art and culture, as well as its flaws and virtues. Amália sings of the city's lively spirit, its love for music and the sea, and its people's passion and jealousy.
The first stanza of the song states that Lisbon is a city of songs and longing. The city may do reckless things and commit wrongs, but at its core, it is pure and good. This may refer to the city's turbulent past, including its history of poverty and political unrest, but also to its resilience and prolonged love of music and art.
The second and third stanzas capture the essence of Lisbon's society. The lyrics describe a bourgeois lady who enjoys sewing in her courtyard and singing Fado in her spare time. They also mention the market, where the lady works as a vendor and the river Tagus, which holds a special place in her heart. The verse speaks to the regional pride that people in Lisbon have, a common trait due to their city’s historical significance.
The pre-chorus and the chorus talk about the ways in which Lisbon’s diverse population celebrates and loves their city. They express admiration for the city's natural beauty, such as the sun, moon, and river, and celebrate traditional festivals and processions. In one translation of the song, the line "Tem ciúmes e paixões" (she has jealousy and passions) is translated as "She has her fits of envy and desire," which underscores the idea that Lisbon is a city full of human flaws.
Overall, Fado das Tamanquinhas is a tribute to Lisbon, its people, and its culture - a portrayal that combines the city's background, its traditions, and its people's way of life.
Line by Line Meaning
De cantigas e saudades
This beautiful Lisbon lives through songs and nostalgia.
Vive esta linda Lisboa!
This lovely Lisbon exists with all its beauty and charm.
Faz loucuras e maldades,
It may seem like Lisbon is prone to madness and mischief,
Mas, no fundo, pura e boa
but deep down, it is pure and good.
Nas suas leviandades!
Despite its frivolities and trivialities.
Burguesinha no Chiado
A bourgeois in Chiado,
No seu pátio, costureira,
a seamstress in her courtyard,
Nos retiros, canta o fado,
singing fado in hideaways,
No mercado é regateira
haggling in the market,
E o Tejo é seu namorado.
and the Tejo river is its beloved.
Faz das cantigas pregões,
Converting songs into announcements,
Gosta do sol e da lua,
appreciating the sun and the moon,
Vai com fé nas procissões,
participating in religious processions with great faith,
Doida nas marchas da rua,
going crazy in street marches,
Tem ciúmes e paixões.
having jealousy and passions like any other person.
Viva esta linda Lisboa
Long live this beautiful Lisbon,
Diferente de outras cidades.
different from other cities.
É vaidoso o Madragoa,
Madragoa is proud of itself,
Defeitos e qualidades,
with its flaws and qualities,
Tudo tem esta Lisboa.
Lisbon has everything.
Contributed by Lila N. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Luis Alves
lindo....grande Amália vai ser sempre a maior
John Neves
A nossa saudosa AMALIA...
Manuel Seixas
Continuo adorar ouvir cantar.Esta mágica vós que não há igual , desta grande senhora que já não está entre nós. De nome Amália Rodrigues.opiniao de Manuel Seixas.