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.
Interior triste
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Horas cansadas sem fim
Silêncio por toda a casa
Horas cansadas sem fim
Lentas canções murmuradas
Tristezas longas de mim
Lentas canções murmuradas
Pinheiros altos erguidos
Ao céu que nunca terei
Pinheiros altos erguidos
Ao céu que nunca terei
Silêncios interrompidos
Por saudades que não sei
Silêncios interrompidos
Por saudades que não sei
Um corredor longo e escuro
Uma porta por abrir
Um corredor longo e escuro
Uma porta por abrir
Fica tão longe o futuro
Porquê sonhar sem dormir
Fica tão longe o futuro
Porquê sonhar sem dormir
The lyrics of Amália Rodrigues's song "Interior Triste" depict a sense of loneliness, solitude, and longing. The repeated lines of "Silêncio por toda a casa" (Silence throughout the house) and "Horas cansadas sem fim" (Tired hours without end) create an atmosphere of emptiness and weariness. These lines suggest a feeling of being trapped in a monotonous and uninspiring existence where time seems to drag endlessly.
The following lines, "Lentas canções murmuradas, Tristezas longas de mim" (Slow murmured songs, Long sorrows of mine), deepen the introspective tone of the lyrics. It portrays the singer as someone who carries deep sorrows within them, expressing them through gentle songs murmured quietly. These sorrowful melodies reflect the emotions and struggles faced in life.
The reference to "Pinheiros altos erguidos" (Tall pine trees lifted) and "Ao céu que nunca terei" (To the sky I'll never have) seems to symbolize a desire for something unattainable or out of reach. The tall pine trees reaching towards the sky represent aspirations and dreams that may never be fulfilled. It reflects a sense of yearning for a different life or a longing for something beyond one's grasp.
The line "Silêncios interrompidos, Por saudades que não sei" (Interrupted silences, For longings I don't know) suggests the sudden intrusion of nostalgia or longing into the quietness. This line conveys a sense of melancholy as the singer is taken by surprise with longing or nostalgia for things they cannot fully comprehend or articulate. It implies a deep-seated yearning for something undefined yet significant.
The final verse depicts "Um corredor longo e escuro, Uma porta por abrir" (A long and dark corridor, A door yet to be opened) which represents an uncertain path ahead. This imagery represents the journey of life as a daunting and mysterious corridor, with a door waiting to be opened. The line "Fica tão longe o futuro, Porquê sonhar sem dormir" (The future is so far away, Why dream without sleeping) emphasizes the distance and uncertainty of the future. It questions the purpose of dreaming or having hopes for a future that seems unreachable or too distant to grasp.
In summary, "Interior Triste" is a contemplative and introspective song that conveys a sense of loneliness, longing, and the struggle of the human condition. The lyrics present the listener with an atmosphere of silence, weariness, and unfulfilled desires, while also exploring the mystery and uncertainty of the future. Amália Rodrigues's emotive delivery brings forth the deeply felt emotions expressed in these lyrics.
Line by Line Meaning
Silêncio por toda a casa
The stillness that permeates every corner of the house
Horas cansadas sem fim
Endless weary hours
Lentas canções murmuradas
Softly whispered slow songs
Tristezas longas de mim
My long-lasting sorrows
Pinheiros altos erguidos
Tall upright pine trees
Ao céu que nunca terei
To the unreachable sky
Silêncios interrompidos
Interrupted silence
Por saudades que não sei
Due to longings I cannot explain
Um corredor longo e escuro
A long and dark corridor
Uma porta por abrir
A door yet to be opened
Fica tão longe o futuro
The future seems so far away
Porquê sonhar sem dormir
Why dream without sleeping
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
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