Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues (1920–1999) was a Portuguese singer an… Read Full Bio ↴Amália da Piedade Rebordão Rodrigues (1920–1999) was a Portuguese singer and actress.

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.

Marcha de Lisboa
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Cidade assim tão bonita
Não há no mundo, eu aposto
A ninguém com isto iludo
Pois tem lá tudo do que eu mais gosto

Na viela mais antiga ou numa rua qualquer
Os versos duma cantiga são
Quantas vezes o pão que a gente quer

É de Lisboa a sé já tão velhinha
Onde o povo alfacinha reza por ela
É de Lisboa a tela de mil cores
Pintada com as flores que tem cada janela
É de Lisboa o pregão da varina
Que ao virar duma esquina alegre soa
E é verdade que salta tanto à vista
A saudade fadista também é de Lisboa

Num arraial popular
Ao som do vulgar harmónio
Quem não gosta de bailar
Sempre que chega o Santo António

A saltar uma fogueira na noite de São João
Fui sozinha, mas voltámos dois
Porque queimei depois meu coração

É de Lisboa a sé já tão velhinha
Onde o povo alfacinha reza por ela
É de Lisboa a tela de mil cores
Pintada com as flores que tem cada janela
É de Lisboa o pregão da varina
Que ao virar duma esquina alegre soa
E é verdade que salta tanto à vista
A saudade fadista também é de Lisboa

É de Lisboa o pregão da varina
Que ao virar duma esquina alegre soa

E é verdade que salta tanto à vista
A saudade fadista também é de Lisboa

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Amália Rodrigues's song "Marcha de Lisboa" celebrate the beauty and unique charm of the city of Lisbon. The singer expresses their deep affection for the city, declaring it to be the most beautiful in the world. They assert that Lisbon has everything they love, from ancient alleyways to bustling streets where the verses of songs echo, symbolizing the essence of the city and the culture that resonates in every corner.

The mention of Lisbon's old cathedral, the Sé, and the traditional neighborhoods like Alfama, known as "Alfacinha," highlights the deep-rooted history and sense of community in the city. The vibrant imagery of Lisbon as a colorful canvas painted with the flowers adorning every window captures the visual splendor and vibrancy of the surroundings. The reference to the cries of the fishwives, known as varinas, selling their goods evokes a sense of nostalgia and tradition that is quintessentially Lisbon.

The lyrics also depict the lively and joyous atmosphere of popular festivities in Lisbon, such as the celebrations for Saint Anthony and Saint John. The singer reminisces about dancing to the tune of the harmonium in a festive gathering, highlighting the sense of togetherness and shared jubilation during these cultural events. The imagery of jumping over a bonfire on the night of Saint John and the metaphorical burning of the heart suggest a passionate and transformative experience that is deeply linked to the traditions of the city.

Overall, "Marcha de Lisboa" is a heartfelt tribute to Lisbon, capturing the essence of the city through its rich cultural heritage, vibrant street life, and nostalgic melodies. The lyrics evoke a sense of longing and belonging, highlighting the enduring spirit of fado music that embodies the soul and longing of Lisbon. Through its poetic imagery and emotional resonance, the song celebrates Lisbon as not just a place but a feeling, where the beauty, traditions, and collective memories of the city come alive through the music and lyrics of Amália Rodrigues.

Line by Line Meaning

Cidade assim tão bonita
A beautiful city like no other

Não há no mundo, eu aposto
There is none like it in the world, I bet

A ninguém com isto iludo
I do not deceive anyone about this

Pois tem lá tudo do que eu mais gosto
Because it has everything I love the most

Na viela mais antiga ou numa rua qualquer
In the oldest alley or in any street

Os versos duma cantiga são
The verses of a song are

Quantas vezes o pão que a gente quer
Many times the bread that people desire

Num arraial popular
In a popular festival

Ao som do vulgar harmónio
To the sound of the ordinary harmonium

Quem não gosta de bailar
Who doesn't enjoy dancing

Sempre que chega o Santo António
Whenever Saint Anthony arrives