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.
Una Casa Portuguesa
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
pão e vinho sobre a mesa.
Quando à porta humildemente bate alguém,
senta-se à mesa co'a gente.
Fica bem essa fraqueza, fica bem,
que o povo nunca a desmente.
A alegria da pobreza
está nesta grande riqueza
Quatro paredes caiadas,
um cheirinho á alecrim,
um cacho de uvas doiradas,
duas rosas num jardim,
um São José de azulejo
sob um sol de primavera,
uma promessa de beijos
dois braços à minha espera...
É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!
É, com certeza, uma casa portuguesa!
No conforto pobrezinho do meu lar,
há fartura de carinho.
A cortina da janela e o luar,
mais o sol que gosta dela...
Basta pouco, poucochinho p'ra alegrar
uma existéncia singela...
É só amor, pão e vinho
e um caldo verde, verdinho
a fumegar na tijela.
Quatro paredes caiadas,
um cheirinho á alecrim,
um cacho de uvas doiradas,
duas rosas num jardim,
um São José de azulejo
sob um sol de primavera,
uma promessa de beijos
dois braços à minha espera...
É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!
É, com certeza, uma casa portuguesa!
The lyrics to Amália Rodrigues's song "Una Casa Portuguesa" describe the beauty and simplicity of life in a typical Portuguese household. The opening lines set the scene for a welcoming home, where bread and wine are always on the table, and any visitors are always invited to sit down and share a meal with the family. The lyrics suggest that the humble nature of the people who occupy this home is never questioned, and the joy that comes with living simple and contented lives is something that is deeply valued.
The chorus repeats the phrase "É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!", which translates to "It's certainly a Portuguese house!" This phrase reinforces the idea that the home described in the song is a quintessentially Portuguese one, with classic features like whitewashed walls, the scent of rosemary, golden grapevines and a statue of Saint Joseph. Despite the simple furnishings, the home is portrayed as a place of great richness and warmth, where love, good food and wine are always present. The lyrics celebrate the beauty of a life lived modestly, finding joy in small pleasures and the simple act of sharing a meal with loved ones.
Line by Line Meaning
Numa casa portuguesa fica bem
It is fitting in a Portuguese home
pão e vinho sobre a mesa.
bread and wine on the table.
Quando à porta humildemente bate alguém,
When someone humbly knocks at the door,
senta-se à mesa co'a gente.
they sit at the table with the family.
Fica bem essa fraqueza, fica bem,
That weakness is just fine, is just fine,
que o povo nunca a desmente.
for the people never deny it.
A alegria da pobreza
The joy of poverty
está nesta grande riqueza
lies in this great wealth
de dar, e ficar contente.
of giving, and being content.
Quatro paredes caiadas,
Four whitewashed walls,
um cheirinho á alecrim,
a hint of rosemary,
um cacho de uvas doiradas,
a bunch of golden grapes,
duas rosas num jardim,
two roses in a garden,
um São José de azulejo
a St. Joseph in blue tile
sob um sol de primavera,
under a springtime sun,
uma promessa de beijos
a promise of kisses
dois braços à minha espera...
two arms waiting for me...
É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!
It's a Portuguese house, for sure!
No conforto pobrezinho do meu lar,
In the humble comfort of my home,
há fartura de carinho.
there is an abundance of love.
A cortina da janela e o luar,
The window curtain and the moonlight,
mais o sol que gosta dela...
plus the sun that likes it...
Basta pouco, poucochinho p'ra alegrar
Just a little, little bit to cheer up
uma existéncia singela...
a humble existence...
É só amor, pão e vinho
It's just love, bread and wine
e um caldo verde, verdinho
and a green, green soup
a fumegar na tijela.
smoking in the bowl.
É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!
It's a Portuguese house, for sure!
Contributed by Alice B. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@yaneasalgueiro
Numa casa portuguesa fica bem
pão e vinho sobre a mesa.
e se à porta humildemente bate alguém,
senta-se à mesa co'a gente.
Fica bem esta franqueza, fica bem,
que o povo nunca desmente.
A alegria da pobreza
está nesta grande riqueza
de dar, e ficar contente.
Quatro paredes caiadas,
um cheirinho á alecrim,
um cacho de uvas doiradas,
duas rosas num jardim,
um São José de azulejos
mais o sol da primavera,
uma promessa de beijos
dois braços à minha espera...
É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!
É, com certeza, uma casa portuguesa!
No conforto pobrezinho do meu lar,
há fartura de carinho.
e a cortina da janela é o luar,
mais o sol que bate nela...
Basta pouco, poucochinho p'ra alegrar
uma existência singela...
É só amor, pão e vinho
e um caldo verde, verdinho
a fumegar na tigela.
Quatro paredes caiadas,
um cheirinho á alecrim,
um cacho de uvas doiradas,
duas rosas num jardim,
um São José de azulejo
sob um sol de primavera,
uma promessa de beijos
dois braços à minha espera...
É uma casa portuguesa, com certeza!
É, com certeza, uma casa portuguesa!
@OCicrano
A portuguese house
In a portuguese home, it looks good
to have bread and wine on the table.
and if someone humildly knocks at the door,
we invite them to sit at the table with us
This frankness looks good, so good ,
the frankness which people never deny
the joy of poverty
is this great richness
of being generous and feeling happy
Four whitewashed walls,
a sweet smell of rosemary,
a bunch of golden grapes
two roses in a garden,
a statue of St. Joseph in ceramics
and the sun of the spring in addiction ...
a promise of finding kisses
two open arms waiting for me
This is a portuguese home, certaily!
This is, surely, a portuguese home!
In the humild comfort of my home,
there is the plenty of affection.
and the curtain of the window is the moonlight,
and also the sun, that shines on it ...
Just a little is enough to cheer
such a simple existence
It's simply love, bread and wine
and the cabbage soup, so greenish
smoking from the bowl.
@rodrigolima6356
Isso é tão português que o misto-quente que eu tava comendo virou um pastel de Belém. Adorei a canção, amo fado. Abraços de São Paulo
@ishiva9926
Rodrigo Lima kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
@CanaldaShinobz
😂
@tanialiguori7453
Tambem sou de Sao Paulo, apaixonada por Portugal e o portugues de Portugal. Moro em Ansterdam e trabalho aqui com muitos portugueses!💖💖
@mariaseriset9426
Kkkkkk kkkkkk 😂
@carlosluisleonjimenez436
Mire no falo portugués que carayo
@edsonmorais5025
Impossível não amar essa mulher
O coração de Portugal
Camões invejou 😢
@renantrotti5787
Minha avó se foi hoje. Obrigado Jesus por ter crescido em uma casa portuguesa
@mjones6894
🌷 a minha avó foi se há uns anos, estou aqui para lembrar como sempre me recebia de braços abertos. Saudades
@tabularasa_br
Meus avós eram portugueses. Meus pesames, meu amigo. Que Deus Pai conforte a sua família.