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.
Tudo isto é fado
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Se eu sabia o que era o fado
Disse-te que não sabia
Tu ficaste admirado
Sem saber o que dizia
Eu menti naquela hora
Disse-te que não sabia
Mas vou-te dizer agora
Almas vencidas
Noites perdidas
Sombras bizarras
Na Mouraria
Canta um rufia
Choram guitarras
Amor ciúme
Cinzas e lume
Dor e pecado
Tudo isto existe
Tudo isto é triste
Tudo isto é fado
Se queres ser o meu senhor
E teres-me sempre a teu lado
Não me fales só de amor
Fala-me também do fado
E o fado é o meu castigo
Só nasceu pra me perder
O fado é tudo o que digo
Mais o que eu não sei dizer
In Amália Rodrigues's classic song "Tudo isto é fado," the singer is asked if they know what "fado" is. At first, they say no, but later reveal the true nature of this musical genre. Throughout the lyrics, the singer presents the essence of fado as being about "vencidas almas" (defeated souls), "noites perdidas" (lost nights), "sombras bizarras" (strange shadows), and other melancholic and tragic elements. The song describes the genre as being steeped in feelings of love, jealousy, pain, and sin.
The chorus encapsulates the theme, with the singer singing, "Tudo isto existe, tudo isto é triste, tudo isto é fado" (All of this exists, all of this is sad, all of this is fado). The second half of the lyrics reveal a personal connection to the genre, with the singer labeling fado as their "castigo" (curse) and acknowledging that it was created only to make them suffer.
Overall, the song presents fado as a genre that is not meant to be enjoyed, but rather a form of expression for those who have experienced heartache, despair, and disappointment. It reflects the struggles of people living in the Mouraria neighborhood in Lisbon, where fado originated and where it is still performed to this day.
Line by Line Meaning
Perguntaste-me outro dia
One day you asked me
Se eu sabia o que era o fado
If I knew what fado was
Disse-te que não sabia
I told you that I didn't know
Tu ficaste admirado
You were surprised
Sem saber o que dizia
Not knowing what I was saying
Eu menti naquela hora
I lied at that moment
Disse-te que não sabia
I told you that I didn't know
Mas vou-te dizer agora
But I'm going to tell you now
Almas vencidas
Defeated souls
Noites perdidas
Lost nights
Sombras bizarras
Bizarre shadows
Na Mouraria
In Mouraria
Canta um rufia
A scoundrel sings
Choram guitarras
Guitars cry
Amor ciúme
Love jealousy
Cinzas e lume
Ashes and fire
Dor e pecado
Pain and sin
Tudo isto existe
All of this exists
Tudo isto é triste
All of this is sad
Tudo isto é fado
All of this is fado
Se queres ser o meu senhor
If you want to be my lord
E teres-me sempre a teu lado
And have me always by your side
Não me fales só de amor
Don't just talk to me about love
Fala-me também do fado
Talk to me about fado too
E o fado é o meu castigo
And fado is my punishment
Só nasceu pra me perder
It was only born to lose me
O fado é tudo o que digo
Fado is all that I say
Mais o que eu não sei dizer
Plus what I don't know how to say
Lyrics © OBO APRA/AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@danielklemm8446
L’autre jour tu m’as demandé
Si je savais ce que c’est, le Fado,
Je t’ai dit que je ne le savais pas
Tu étais surpris.
Sans savoir ce que je disais
Je t’ai menti à ce moment-là
Je t’ai dit que je ne savais pas
Mais je te le dis maintenant :
Des âmes vaincues, des nuits perdues
Des ombres bizarres
Dans la Mouraria
Un voyou chante
Des guitares pleurent
De l’amour, jalousie, des cendres, de la fumée
De la douleur, du pêché
Tout ceci existe
Tout ceci est triste
Tout ceci, c’est du Fado.
Si tu veux être mon maître,
Que je sois toujours à tes côtés
Ne me parle que d’amour !
Parle-moi aussi du Fado !
Le Fado, mon châtiment
Né pour me perdre
Le Fado, c’est tout ce que je dis,
Et tout ce que je ne sais pas dire...
@user-se1qh7si6j
"Tudo isto é Fado"
Perguntaste-me outro dia
Se eu sabia o que era o fado
Disse-te que não sabia
Tu ficaste admirado
Sem saber o que dizia
Eu menti naquela hora
Disse-te que não sabia
Mas vou-te dizer agora
Almas vencidas
Noites perdidas
Sombras bizarras
Na Mouraria
Canta um rufia
Choram guitarras
Amor ciúme
Cinzas e lume
Dor e pecado
Tudo isto existe
Tudo isto é triste
Tudo isto é fado
Se queres ser o meu senhor
E teres-me sempre a teu lado
Não me fales só de amor
Fala-me também do fado
A canção que é o meu castigo
Existe pra me prender
O fado é tudo o que digo
E o que eu não sei dizer.
Rua estreitinha,
casas branquinhas
povo a passar
bocas que beijam
e desejam algo mais
Gente que resa
candeia acesa
grito calado
Tudo isto existe
Tudo isto é triste
Tudo isto é fado
...
Gente que resa
candeia acesa
grito calado
Tudo isto existe
Tudo isto é triste
Tudo isto é fado
@lucasnepomuceno2436
Sou brasileiro e amo o fado. Amália Rodrigues é incontestavelmente a rainha do fado.
@brisa-leve-369
Que letra linda ! Poema incrível! Profundo..sou bisneta de portuguesa. Trago a melancolia do fado na alma. O sabor da ausência, da partida, da solidão. Da fé. O caminhar como navegando, na certeza de chegar ao porto e a terra firme. A insegurança do viver, a certeza do morrer e a alegria do reencontro. Tudo isto é fado !
@paulopaulino3344
A Mónica não é só bisneta de portuguesa. É portuguesa tbm. Além do sangue que lhe corre nas veias, tbm a sua alma é portuguesa.
@brisa-leve-369
@Paulo Paulino Obrigada Paulo. Sou mesmo. Tanto que "sonho" em morar nos Açores. Acho lindo. Minha bisavó se vestia com trajes típicos portugueses, segundo relata minha mãe, já com 91 anos ! Chamava a lua de luma e o sal de sale, em português antigo. Lindo, não? Tinha um nome bem português Maria Lourença do Prazeres. Tudo isto é fado!
@paulopaulino3344
@Monica Tenorio
Pegue no sonho de morar nos Açores - que é lindíssimo - e transforme-o no objetivo de uma vida.
Acredite a Mónica que só nessa altura se sentirá completa.
Desde Lisboa, um abraço do tamanho do oceano.
@brisa-leve-369
@Paulo Paulino ah que lindo ! " sei que há águas a nos separar....Tanto mar, tanto mar.....sei que é preciso pá: navegar....navegar..." . Esta é parte de um letra de uma canção do Chico Buarque de Holanda para homenagear a Revolução dos Cravos de Portugal. É linda, mesmo para quem não é socialista. Um abraço do Brasil.
@manuelregalado1426
Monica, você acaba de construir um poema!
@ntavares540
Eu choro emocionada. Penso em minha mae que cantava pra mim quando eu era menina (Amapa', Brasil). Um dia, se nao morrer quero poder conhecer Portugal.
@muana13
@Nila ..Abraços meus e de PORTUGAL !!
@ntavares540
@muana1313 <3