Amália Rodrigues - Biography
By J Poet
On her death in 1999, Antonio Guterres, the Prime Minister of Portugal declared, “Amália Rodrigues was the voice of Portugal’s soul.” Rodrigues sang fado, an Afro-Portuguese form of “blues” marked by meditative tempos and poetic lyrics. In Portuguese “fado” means “fate,” and expresses the untranslatable quality of “saudade,” an almost obsessive yearning for old lovers and a happier, more innocent past. Fado songs convey a deeply pessimistic view of happiness and life in general. Modern fado blends its folkloric form with highly poetic lyrics and Rodrigues became the music’s first international superstar. Her rich alto was suffused with a broken hearted yearning and a subtle vibrato that gave everything she sang a deep sense of saudade. She once famously said “I don’t sing fado, it sings me,” and her dedication to the form is legendary.
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues was born in Lisbon in 1920 to a poor family who left her in the care of her grandparents. At that time, Portugal was one of the poorest nations in the developed world. By the time she was three, Rodrigues was singing for neighbors to earn extra money for her grandparents. When she sang by the open window of her grandparents’ apartment, people on the street would stop to listen. When she got out of grammar school, she had a job in an embroidery shop for two escudos a day, then in a bakery where she cleaned and sliced fruit for six escudos.
In 1934, she moved back into her parents’ apartment with her five brothers and sisters. Her older brother made her stop singing for a time and punished her when he caught her singing. Her mother was a fruit vender and while delivering fruit to taverns, Rodrigues hears fado and falls in love with it. When she was 18, she entered an amateur talent contest. She didn’t win, but got enough applause to fuel her ambition of becoming a professional singer.
In 1939, Rodrigues was singing at a fado house, the Retiro da Severa with her sister Celeste; she also appeared in a play Ora vai tu, as a fado singer. Songwriter Frederico Valério began writing songs for he, including the famous “Fado do Ciúme” included on Fado Lisboeta (1996 Sounds of the World UK.) By 1942, Rodrigues was famous, loved for the emotional depth of her singing. The next year she made her debut in Madrid and in 1944 she toured Brazil and made her first 78-RPM singles. At the suggestion of her manager, Rodrigues made no more records until 1951, when Melodia signed her. Her early sides are collected on A Rainha do Fado: Complete Recordings 1945-1952 (2004 Blue Moon UK.) The Portuguese film Capas Negras, with Rodrigues in a starring role, won the Portuguese “Oscar” in 1947, making her an international star.
In 1949, Rodrigues toured England and France, in 1950 she represented Portugal at a concert in Berlin to benefit the Marshall Plan. She did a brief American tour and in New York, Danny Kaye asked her to be in a Broadway show, but she declined. In 1952, the Valentium de Carvalho label signed her. The poet David Mourão-Ferreira started writing lyrics for her around the same time, elevating fado to new artistic heights. In 1954 she toured Mexico, the American west coast and appeared on The Eddie Fisher Show on NBC. She was offered an American record deal, but she declined. In 1955, Rodrigues had an international hit with "Coimbra (April in Portugal”) included on Coimbra (2006 Sounds of the World UK) which includes 18 remastered songs from her early 78s.
On her Mexican tour of 1957, she appeared in the film Música de Sempre with Edith Piaf and after a concert at the Olympia, in Paris, she began singing in French. Portugal's Great Amália Rodrigues: Live at the Olympia Theatre in Paris (1957 Monitor, 2001 EMI UK) captures the magic of that performance. Afterward, Charles Aznavour wrote her a song “Ai, Mourir por Toi.” In 1958, Rodrigues asked Portuguese poets to write lyrics for her songs and made her Portuguese TV debut.
In the 60s, Rodrigues expanded the parameters of fado with complex arrangements and songs with lyrics protesting the military dictatorship including Pedro Homem de Mello’s “Povo que lavas no rio (You, People, Who Wash in the River),” which was banned. She also cut the protest fado “Trova do vento que passa (The Ballad of the Passing Wind)” by Manuel Alegre. It later appeared on Com que Voz (1970 Valentium de Carvalho Portugal, 2001 EMI) considered by many her best album. Amália Rodrigues (1962 Valentium de Carvalho Portugal) saw her collaborating with songwriter and composer Alain Oulman and pushing the boundaries of what was considered proper for a fado singer.
In 1966 she toured America again and performed at Lincoln Center with a symphony orchestra conducted by André Kostelanetz. Later that year, she helped move the poet Alain Oulmain, who had been arrested by the Portuguese Secret Police, into exile in France. In 1969, she made her first Russian tour and in 1970 received a MIDEM Gold Disc award honoring the artist who sells the most records in their own country. (The Beatles won it in England.) She also took home the MIDEM Gold Disc in 1971 and 72.
In 1974, the dictatorship finally fell, and Rodrigues publicly performed “Mãe Negra, embalando o filho branco do senhor (Black Nanny, Rocking Her Master’s White Child to Sleep)” which had been banned and “Fado de Peniche,” a popular anti-Fascist song. Cantigas numa Língua Antiga (1977 Valentium de Carvalho Portugal, 2006 Celluloid France) was another blockbuster, recorded during the country’s heady post-revolutionary atmosphere. In 1980 she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Santiago, Portugal’s highest honor. Lágrima (1983 Valentium de Carvalho Portugal) showed her continuing her upward arch. Live in Japan (2001 Musica Latina) is a 26 cut set from her 1986 Japanese tour.
She continued to record and tour the world and had her debut at Lisbon’s Coliseu dos Recreios, in Lisbon in 1989 to a sold out house. On the occasion of her 50th year of performing in 1990, the Museu do Teatro staged an exhibit of Rodrigues memorabilia. She also appeared at New York’s Town Hall for a performance that appears on the CD/DVD Amália, Live in New York City (2000 DRG, DVD 2005 Immortal.)
The European Union declared Lisbon the Capital of Culture in 1998 and Rodrigues sang at the ceremony, her last public appearance. She finished her last album For the First Time (1998 Valentium de Carvalho Portugal) and was in hospital to have a tumor removed from her lungs. She died of multiple heart attacks at her home on October 6, 1999. The prime minister of Portugal, Antonio Guterres, declared three days of national mourning and more than 200,000 people filled the streets for her funeral procession. Rodrigues was given France's highest honors: Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1970 and Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1985 and Spain awarded her its Orden de Isabel, la Catolica in 1968.
Most of the albums Rodrigues made were never released in the US while she was alive, and any that were are now out of print. Worthwhile best of collections include: This is Gold (2005 Disky UK), a three CD set of career spanning music; Art of Amalia (1998 EMI Hemisphere), an 18 song overview that spans 1952 – 1970; The Very Best of Amália Rodrigues (2001 Very Best UK) a two disc retrospective; American Songs (2006 Celluloid France) a brief eight song set of tunes in English heavy on 40s standards, and Fados e Guitarradas (1995 Accord France) 15 recordings from the 50s. There are many bootlegged CDs of Rodrigues available with poor sound quality and many redundant greatest hits albums with the same basic set list, so shop carefully.