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.
Nome de Rua
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Deste-me um Nome De Rua
Duma rua de Lisboa.
Muito mais Nome De Rua,
Do que nome de pessoa.
Um desse nomes de rua
Nome De Rua quieta,
Onde à noite ninguém passa,
Onde o ciúme é uma seta,
Onde o amor é uma taça.
Nome De Rua secreta,
Onde à noite ninguém passa,
Onde a sombra do poeta,
De repente, nos abraça!
Com um pouco de amargura,
Com muito da Madragoa.
Com a ruga de quem procura,
E o riso de quem perdoa.
Deste-me um Nome De Rua,
Duma rua de Lisboa!
The song "Nome De Rua" by Amália Rodrigues talks about a street in Lisbon that was named after the person she loves. She sings about how the name of the street is more significant than the name of a person. The name of the street is almost like the name of a boat, representing how the street is a journey that both the poet and the loved one embark on.
The lyrics talk about the quietness of the street, where nobody passes by at night, leaving the poet and their lover alone to experience the love and jealousy that come with being in a relationship. The street is a secret place where the shadow of the poet can embrace the loved one suddenly. The last stanza talks about the melancholy tone of the poem, as the poet is still searching for something in the street, but also is willing to forgive.
Overall, the song expresses the intensity of a love affair and highlights the street as a space where the poet and the loved one can be themselves without any judgment. It creates a vivid picture of a place where emotions run high and the street itself becomes an important character in the tale of the poet's love story.
Line by Line Meaning
Deste-me um Nome De Rua
You gave me the name of a street
Duma rua de Lisboa.
In Lisbon's streets.
Muito mais Nome De Rua,
More of a street name,
Do que nome de pessoa.
Than a person's name.
Um desse nomes de rua
One of those street names
Que são nomes de canoa.
That are canoe names.
Nome De Rua quieta,
Quiet street name,
Onde à noite ninguém passa,
Where no one passes at night,
Onde o ciúme é uma seta,
Where jealousy is an arrow,
Onde o amor é uma taça.
Where love is a cup.
Nome De Rua secreta,
Secret street name,
Onde à noite ninguém passa,
Where no one passes at night,
Onde a sombra do poeta,
Where the poet's shadow,
De repente, nos abraça!
Suddenly embraces us!
Com um pouco de amargura,
With a little bitterness,
Com muito da Madragoa.
With a lot of Madragoa.
Com a ruga de quem procura,
With the wrinkle of someone seeking,
E o riso de quem perdoa.
And the laughter of someone who forgives.
Deste-me um Nome De Rua,
You gave me the name of a street,
Duma rua de Lisboa!
In Lisbon's streets!
Writer(s): alain bertrand, alain oulman, robert oulman
Contributed by Elizabeth H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@lurdeszuzarte2755
Deste-me um nome de rua
Duma rua de Lisboa
Muito mais nome de rua
Do que nome de pessoa
Um desse nomes de rua
Que são nomes de canoa
Nome de rua quieta
Onde à noite ninguém passa
Onde o ciúme é uma seta
Onde o amor é uma taça
Nome de rua secreta
Onde à noite ninguém passa
Onde a sombra do poeta
De repente, nos abraça!
Com um pouco de amargura
Com muito da Madragoa
Com a ruga de quem procura
E o riso de quem perdoa
Deste-me um nome de rua
Duma rua de Lisboa!
@MariaVentura-nq1bt
2023 alguém ouvindo? Esta senhora foi única ninguém foi capaz da substituir até hoje. Obrigada
@Pod170
Claro que sim, Amália vai sempre se ouvir para sempre.
Não se trata de substituições, ou coisa parecida.
Amália Rodrigues foi,é ,e sempre será ÚNICA
@user-sk8ej8pm6y
Amália ! Joia rárae unica!❤
@user-sk8ej8pm6y
Vamos ter aulas de Português ! Ou vamos ouvir a raínha? Ouçao!😮Amalia! Silêncio ,vamos ouvir o Fado!!❤❤❤
@rodriguesyvonne7122
Tudo que. Amália Canta é. Lindo !!!Obrigado por nos. Brindar com estes Fados Maravilhosos !!!!🍃🌹🍃
@rosasilva6760
Minha saudosa fadista nome de rua nome de um País nome do Mundo ficas para sempre como o Sol Deus te fés com luz para não seres esquecida e para sempre es uma estrela Amália
@rosasilva6760
Que posso dizer quando se ouve A nossa Amália linda fados divinos nos Portugueses devemos de dizer com toda a Honra Amália e nossa e do mundo que Deus te de uma guitarra para um dia noutra vida Ouvimos Amália porque a outra vida e essa val para toda a eternidade Deus e Rei bem dito seja Pai eu áureo Amem
@josealexgandum7630
Estes versos de David Mourão-Ferreira na voz de Amália são um autêntico hino. Pura magia!
@itss__priscilla4077
Q❤
😂🎉❤😅
@pecosv4843
Agradezco al excelente interprete lusitano don AMERICO PEREIRA por ocuparse de difundir a nuestra admirada Amalia Rodrigues, la reina del fado!!!.