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.
Verde
Amália Rodrigues Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Sempre de verde cantei
De verde cantei ao povo
E fui de verde vestido
Cantar à mesa do rei
Verde, verde, verde, verde, verde
Verde em vão cantei!
Verde moço, disse el rei!
Tive um amor, triste sina!
Amar é perder alguém
Desde então ficou mais verde
Tudo em mim, a voz, o olhar
E o meu coração também!
Verde, verde, verde, verde, verde
Verde em vão cantei!
Coração, por que és tão verde
Por que és verde assim também?
É uma vida além do luto
Amor à margem da lei
Amigos são inimigos
Larga-me, disseram todos
Só eu de verde fiquei!
Verde, verde, verde, verde, verde
Verde em vão cantei!
Ai, canção, por que és tão verde
Ai, por que és verde? Não sei!
The song "Verde, Verde" by Amália Rodrigues is a poignant reflection on loss and unrequited love, using the color green as both a symbol and a recurring motif. The singer declares that their song is always "verde," and that they have always sung in green to the people. They even dressed in green when performing at the king's table. However, despite their devotion to the color, they sing that it has been in vain. The people called them a "verde moço," or a "lovely lad in green," but the king only saw their outfit as a fashion statement.
The second verse reveals the reason behind the singer's obsession with green. They have experienced a great loss in love, and since then, everything about them has been tinged with green. Their voice, their gaze, and their heart have all been transformed by this tragedy. The use of the color green here seems to represent both grief and jealousy, as if the singer feels as if they are surrounded by a green fog of sadness and envy. The chorus repeats, with the singer questioning their own heart: "why are you so green?"
In the final verse, the singer reveals that they have experienced more than just loss in love. They have lived a life that is at odds with the law, and their friends have turned into enemies. Everyone has abandoned them, except for the green color that continues to signify their sorrow and longing. The song becomes a meditation on the transformative power of grief, and how it can color everything we do and everything we are.
Line by Line Meaning
A minha canção é verde
My song is imbued with nature and life, symbolized by the color green.
Sempre de verde cantei
I have always sung of the vitality and beauty of the world around me, represented by the color green.
De verde cantei ao povo
I sang of the natural world to the people, hoping to share its beauty and wonder.
E fui de verde vestido
I dressed in green to show my connection to the natural world and its life-affirming power.
Cantar à mesa do rei
Even when singing for royalty, I remained true to myself and the things I hold dear, such as the color green and the beauty of nature.
Verde em vão cantei!
Despite my efforts to share the beauty and vitality of the natural world through my music, it seems that my message was lost on many.
Lindo moço, disse o povo
Despite the lack of understanding of my message, the people recognized the beauty in me, and saw me as a symbol of life and vitality.
Verde moço, disse el rei!
Even the king recognized the beauty and vitality that I represented, evidenced by his acknowledgment of me as a 'green youth'.
Tive um amor, triste sina!
I had a love, but it ended tragically, showing the fragility of love and the pain it can cause.
Amar é perder alguém
To love is to risk losing that person, which can be a tragic and heart-wrenching experience.
Desde então ficou mais verde
Ever since that loss, I have felt even more connected to the natural world and its life-affirming power, symbolized by the color green.
Tudo em mim, a voz, o olhar
Every part of me, from my voice to my gaze, is infused with the vitality and beauty of the natural world, represented by the color green.
E o meu coração também!
Even my heart is imbued with the power and beauty of the natural world, symbolic of the connection between love and life.
É uma vida além do luto
My life has moved beyond mere grief, and I have found a new purpose and vitality in my love for the natural world and its beauty.
Amor à margem da lei
My love is unconventional and not easily understood by others, but it sustains me and gives me life, like the natural world itself.
Amigos são inimigos
Even those closest to me do not always understand or appreciate my love for the natural world, and may even turn against me because of it.
Larga-me, disseram todos
My love for the natural world has caused others to abandon me or push me away, but I remain steadfast in my beliefs and my love for the world around me.
Só eu de verde fiquei!
Despite the opposition and abandonment of others, I remain true to myself and my connection to the natural world, represented by my continued use of the color green.
Ai, canção, por que és tão verde
Even I struggle to understand why my love for the natural world and my music is so intertwined with the color green, but it is a mystery that sustains me and gives my life purpose.
Ai, por que és verde? Não sei!
Despite the many questions that remain about the connection between my music, my love for the natural world, and the color green, I remain committed to this mystery and the life-affirming power it represents.
Contributed by Alexandra M. Suggest a correction in the comments below.