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.
Rondel Do Alentejo
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Mate
Bate
Leve
Verde neve
Minuete
De luar.
Do segredo
No penedo
Duma noite
De luar.
Olhos caros
De morgada
Enfeitada
Com preparos
De luar.
Rompem fogo
Pandeiretas
Morenitas,
Bailam tetas.
E bonitas,
Bailam chitas
E jaquetas,
São as fitas
Desafogo
De luar.
Voa o xaile
Andorinha
Pelo baile,
E a vida
Doentinha
E a ermida
Ao luar. Laçarote
Escarlate
De cocote
Alegria
De Maria
La-ri-rate
Em folia
De luar.
Giram pés
Giram passos
Girassóis
E os bonés,
E os braços
Destes dois
Giram laços
Ao luar.
O colete
Desta Virgem
Endoidece
Como o S
Do foguete
Em vertigem
De luar.
Em minarete
Mate
Bate
Leve
Verde neve
Minuete
De luar.
The lyrics of "Rondel Do Alentejo" by Amália Rodrigues paint a vivid picture of a festive night in the Alentejo region of Portugal. The song opens with a reference to a minaret, a slender tower usually located on mosques, perhaps setting the scene for the Middle Eastern-influenced music that follows. The beat of the music is described as "mate bate leve," indicating a gentle, steady rhythm that is reminiscent of rolling waves. The lyrics then describe the dancers, clad in colorful garb, gyrating and twirling in the moonlight.
As the night progresses, the festivities continue with more music, dance, and revelry. The eyes of a wealthy woman, adorned in jewelry and other fineries, are described as "caros" or "dear," suggesting her status as a matriarch in the community. The mood then shifts to a more raucous celebration with the entrance of a group of beautiful young women, who dance bare-chested in chitas and jaquetas, a traditional outfit consisting of a short skirt and vest. The dancers release their "fogos" or "firecrackers", and the revelers release their pent-up emotions and feelings under the light of the moon.
The final stanza brings the song full circle, as the swaying couples in the dance begin to resemble flowers turning their faces toward the sun. The Virgin Mary's vestment, meant to symbolize purity and chastity, is nearly consumed by the raucous energy of the celebration, much like the explosive S-shape of rockets ascending into the sky. In all, "Rondel do Alentejo" is a testament to the enduring spirit of the Alentejo and its people, captured in the timeless beauty of its traditional music and dance.
Line by Line Meaning
Em minarete
In a minaret tower
Mate
The sound of a gourd rattle
Bate
Beating time or rhythm
Leve
Lightly and melodically
Verde neve
Green snow, possibly referring to leaves or petals falling like snow
Minuete
A type of Baroque dance in 3/4 time
De luar.
In the moonlight
Meia-Noite
Midnight
Do segredo
Full of secrets or mystery
No penedo
On the rock
Duma noite
Of a night
De luar.
In the moonlight
Olhos caros
Precious eyes
De morgada
Of the mistress of a manor
Enfeitada
Adorned or decorated
Com preparos
With preparations or ornaments
De luar.
In the moonlight
Rompem fogo
Fireworks burst
Pandeiretas
Small tambourines
Morenitas,
Little brunettes
Bailam tetas.
They dance and shake their breasts
E bonitas,
And they're pretty
Bailam chitas
They dance in flat shoes
E jaquetas,
And jackets
São as fitas
These are the ribbons
Desafogo
Release or relief
De luar.
In the moonlight
Voa o xaile
The shawl flies
Andorinha
Swallow bird
Pelo baile,
Across the dance floor
E a vida
And life
Doentinha
A little sick
E a ermida
And the chapel
Ao luar.
In the moonlight
Laçarote
A decorative bow
Escarlate
Scarlet or bright red
De cocote
Coquette or flirtatious
Alegria
Joy or happiness
De Maria
Of Maria
La-ri-rate
An exclamation of joy or celebration
Em folia
In festivity
De luar.
In the moonlight
Giram pés
Feet spin
Giram passos
Steps spin
Girassóis
Sunflowers
E os bonés,
And the hats
E os braços
And the arms
Destes dois
Of these two
Giram laços
Ribbons spin
Ao luar.
In the moonlight
O colete
The waistcoat
Desta Virgem
Of this virgin
Endoidece
Drives one crazy
Como o S
Like the letter S
Do foguete
Of the rocket
Em vertigem
In a state of vertigo or dizziness
De luar.
In the moonlight
Em minarete
In a minaret tower
Mate
The sound of a gourd rattle
Bate
Beating time or rhythm
Leve
Lightly and melodically
Verde neve
Green snow, possibly referring to leaves or petals falling like snow
Minuete
A type of Baroque dance in 3/4 time
De luar.
In the moonlight
Contributed by Leo G. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Alicia Diaz
é UMA letra....um bocadinho mágica...não é?...pois é!
Inês Azeredo
Em que tom é tocado ?