Amália Rodrigues
Encyclopedia
Amália da Piedade Rodrigues, GCSE, GCIH, (July 23, 1920October 6, 1999), also known as Amália Rodrigues (ɐˈmaliɐ ʁuˈdɾiɡɨʃ) was a Portuguese singer and actress.
She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado") and was most influential in popularizing the fado
worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a 50-year recording and stage career. Amália' performances and choice of repertoire pushed fado's boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Amália wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female fadista — or fado singer — should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards. Amália enjoyed an extensive international career between the 1950s and the 1970s, although in an era where such efforts were not as easily quantified as today. She was the main inspiration to other well-known international fado and popular music artists such as Madredeus
, Dulce Pontes
and Mariza
.
Her personality and charisma, the beauty of her face and her extraordinary timbre of voice, gave depth and intense life to her chant: the impression she made on the public, her immediacy and the natural way she empathized with her public were tremendous and attracted more and more admirers throughout the world.
As of her death in 1999 Amália had received more than 40 decorations and honors from all over the world (mostly France, including the Légion d'Honneur, Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, Israel and Japan).
Most importantly Amália put fado as a musical genre on the map of world music, in dictionaries, libraries and musical essays. She paved the way for the generations that would follow, and that continue her legacy.
Despite official documents which give her date of birth as July 23, Amália always said her birthday was July 1, 1920. She was born in Lisbon
, in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), neighborhood of Pena. 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 14, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them.
She sang from the early age of 4 or 5, in the streets of Lisbon, playfully and naturally, and started singing as an amateur as early as 1935.
Her miserable childhood in Lisbon, almost destitute and having to do odd jobs (one of which included selling fruit in Lisbon's quays), gave her a very important outlook on life, which would always be present in soulfulness of her chant.
After a few years of amateur performances, Amália's 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, recognizing the potential in such a voice, wrote expansive melodies custom-designed for Amália’s voice, breaking the rules of fado by adding orchestral accompaniment. Among those fados were 'Fado do Ciúme', 'Ai Mouraria', 'Que Deus Me Perdoe', and 'Não Sei Porque Te Foste Embora.'
In the meantime Amália became Portugal's most renowned singer, and she became first the toast of Lisbon and then the toast of Portugal, attracting friends and admirers both from the people, then from the aristocracy. Artists, poets, politicians, former Kings and bankers were attracted by her personality and charisma.
At the same time Amália began an interesting career in the movies: her box office power was a major asset, and she debuted in the movies in 1946 with 'Capas Negras', followed by a major success, which is still Amália's most known movie, 'Fado' (1946).
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
(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 acclaimed Portuguese poet David Mourão-Ferreira
marked the beginning of a new phase: Amália sang with many of the country's greatest poets, and some wrote lyrics specifically for her. Though Amália came from an extremely poor family, she had an intuitive intelligence which made her admire the arts and made her choose with increasing criteria and taste her own songs and their words. Her relationship with poetry would once again contribute to major changes in traditional fado: not only popular poets produced words for the songs, but the so-called great poets started contributing and writing specifically for her. The 'grand poetry' crossed its paths with those of fado.
She refused a proposal to appear in the movies in 1954, partly because of her shy nature and partly because allegedly she missed home.
But Amália would become a truly international name in 1954.
In 1954, Amália's international career skyrocketed through her presence in Henri Verneuil
’s film The Lovers of Lisbon
(Les Amants du Tage), where she had a supporting role. By the late 1950s the USA
, Britain
, and France
had become her major international markets; Japan and Italy followed suit in the 1970s. In France especially, her popularity rivaled her Portuguese success, and she graduated to headliner at the prestigious Olympia theatre within a matter of months. This led to the release of the album Portugal's Great Amália Rodrigues Live at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, in 1957, on Monitor Records (now under Smithsonian Folkways
). Over the years, she performed nearly all over the world — going as far as the Soviet Union
and Israel
.
In France she performed on television and became a well-known figure and artist and a much admired singer. Charles Aznavour even wrote a fado in French especially for her 'Aie Mourir Pour Toi' and she created versions of her own songs (Coimbra became Avril au Portugal, among others). She would perform at the prestigious Olympia for 10 seasons between 1956 and 1992, a feat almost unequaled by any other artist. From France she became a truly international star. Her voice, however, demanded more of the music and the words she sang.
At the end of the 1950s, Amália took a year off. Amália had been briefly married (1940–43) to a guitarist, whom she would later divorce, and fell in love with the son of a Portuguese immigrant in Brazil, an engineer, César Seabra (1922–1997) and they married in 1961. She then said she would sing only once in a while, but after a year's absence, she was no longer able to resist the appeal of the music she loved. 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 Frederico Valério, before him, Oulman wrote melodies for her that transcended the conventions of fado.
In fact Alain Oulman (1929–1990), created in that album, also known as 'Busto' (Bust), a different kind of fado, with more extensions and which introduced aspects attributed traditionally to opera: the legatos, the extension of the voice, which adapted and fitted perfectly Amália's voice. She sang with renewed power, and became a true enchantress of the song. Also in that record she sang her own poems ('Estranha Forma de Vida') and poems written by great Portuguese poets, like Pedro Homem de Mello, David Mourão-Ferreira and others. She created longlife successes, which became classics and immortal songs in Portugal, like 'Povo Que Lavas no Rio', 'Maria Lisboa' and 'Abandono'.
She resumed her stage career singing all over the world, including Israel, the UK, France, and returning to the USA for Promenade Concerts in Hollywood at the Hollywood Bowl, and New York City, accompanied by Andre Kostelanetz, both in 1966 and 1968, achieving an extraordinary success. She also sang in Russia and Rumania, among other countries.
She continued her acting career, in films like 'Sangue Toureiro' (1958), and 'Fado Corrido' (1964).
Amália 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 won a number of international awards.
Having been given Portugal's Film Award for Best Actress for 'Fado' in 1947, once again she was awarded as Portugal's Best Film Actress in 1965, in a movie where she didn't sing.
In between she extended her talents to other kinds of songs: she recorded some of her old songs with an orchestra, recorded an extraordinary album with jazz saxophonist Don Byas 'Encontro' (1968), and recorded an album of American songs with Norrie Paramor's orchestra, 'Amália On Broadway' which includes a sensitive and powerful rendition of 'Summertime', 'The Nearness of You' among others.
Meanwhile, Alain Oulman, who was by heart a left-wing intellectual, was arrested by Portugal's political police in 1966, and forced into exile, but he continued to contribute with his music to Amália's voice, leaving behind many compositions which would enable her to record his music.
But her most important album in the 60s was indeed 'Com Que Voz', (1969), reprising many of her successes and adding a few more, all poems by great Portuguese-speaking poets, and music by Alain Oulman. Amália was at the height of her vocal and performing powers during the 60s. But the 70s would bring more countries, more success and an array of awards all over the world.
period 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, Amália had been an occasional financial supporter of some communists in need. At the same time she had occasionally expressed some admiration for Salazar himself. But as a singer she always remained above politics, before or after the Revolution. The democratic regime would in fact decorate her far more than the dictatorship. During the 70s Amália had a tremendous success and following in two countries: Italy and Japan. Wherever she went there she was the toast of town. She would record an album of Italian traditional songs 'A Una Terra Che Amo' (1973) and again created versions of her own songs in Italian. And would record her live performances in an album called 'Amália In Italia' (1978). Her return to the recording studio in 1977 with Cantigas numa Língua Antiga
was received as a triumph. Soon after, however, Amália suffered her first health troubles which caused her to be away from the stage for a short period again, and forced her to concentrate on performing especially in Portugal, though she still traveled abroad. Those problems were followed by a period of depression, and an introspection which led to the recording of two very personal albums: 'Gostava de Ser Quem Era' (1980) (literally 'I Wish I Were whom I Was')and 'Lágrima' (1983): all these songs were written by her own hand, since she used the poems she herself wrote. They were both successes, and in between she sang Frederico Valerio's songs again, in an album called 'Fado' (1982). 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.
In fact, increasingly away from the stage on a regular basis, Amália found herself ill again in 1984, and went to New York in order to attempt suicide, but she couldn't go through with it and instead sought and got medical care. Upon her return home, and after a year of interruption, she was invited by a French journalist and admirer, Jean-Jacques Lafaye, back on stage. She then returned to the Olympia in Paris in 1985, for a series of concerts, and again from Paris she retook the world. The years 1985-1994 were of great and renewed international success, especially up until 1991. She again sang all over the world, being paid tributes and being celebrated as one of the world's major voices and singers: she sang all over France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, and major concerts in Portugal in 1985 and 1987, and so many others, being decorated and paid regular tributes.
In her home country she was an icon and a symbol of Portugal. In 1990 the celebrations of her 50th career anniversary started with a major concert in Lisbon's Coliseu dos Recreios, appearing at the age of 69, to an overwhelmed public. She was decorated by the President of the Republic on stage, and started a series of concerts all over the world, including a comeback to New York in late 1990, as described below. Her voice had changed: it was lower but intense, and her on stage presence overwhelmed everybody, her beauty and charisma untouched.
Despite a series of illnesses involving her voice, Amália 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 TV series documenting her fifty-year career featuring rare archival footage (later distilled into the 90-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 The Town Hall
.
Amália launched a final album of originals in 1990, 'Obssessão', and from 1991 to 1994 it was felt that she was saying good-bye to her public, who still attended her performances. However, new health problems and difficulties took their toll: in December 1994 she gave her last concert, within the Lisbon European Capital of Culture concerts: she was 74, and was operated on a lung soon after in 1995. She would never again return to the stage. She was however much celebrated in the country and abroad. Television specials, interviews and tributes were held. She released a new album with original recordings from the 60s and 70s, 'Medo' (1997), and a book of her poems, including the ones she had sang: 'Amália: Versos' (1997).
In 1998 Amália was paid a national tribute at Lisbon's Universal Exhibition (Expo '98), and in February 1999 was considered one of Portugal's 25 more important personalities of the democratic period. Soon after she recorded what would become her last interview for television and the Cinématheque in Paris paid her a tribute in April 1999, with a showing of some of her movies.
On October 6, 1999, Amália Rodrigues died at the age of 79 in her home in Lisbon. Portugal's government promptly declared three days of national mourning. Her house, in Rua de São Bento, is now a museum. She is buried at the National Pantheon
alongside other Portuguese notable
In fact she was given a State Funeral, attended by thousands, and was later transferred to the Pantheon in 2001, the only woman to be so, after the Parliament decided to honor her with that dignity.
Upon her death and by will, she created the Foundation Amália Rodrigues, which manages her legacy and assets, except her copyright, willed to two of her nephews. Amália's estate was never exactly valued, but she left two houses, (one mansion in Lisbon), antiques, works of art, a collection of jewels and other important items, decorations, and an amount of money.
In 2007, she came in 14th in Portugal
's election of Os Grandes Portugueses
(The Greatest Portuguese). One year later, in 2008, a film about her life Amália
was released, with Sandra Barata portraying her.
Amália, who was once considered by Variety one of the voices of the century, remains to this day as the most international of Portuguese artists and singers, and in Portugal, a national icon.
Her cultural relevance is shown by the fact that she put fado on the world map as a form of chant and music, and her steps were followed by an array of performers and singers, whom, in their own right, achieved success and worldwide fame, following in her path and many of whom sing her repertoire, under it's classic form or under a new look. Amália's repertoire continues to be a major one, allowing for new performer's renewed success and international breakthough.
, she married César Seabra, a Brazilian engineer; they remained married until his death in 1997. She had no children.
EP's
LP's and CD's
She was known as the "Rainha do Fado" ("Queen of Fado") and was most influential in popularizing the fado
Fado
Fado is a music genre which can be traced to the 1820s in Portugal, but probably with much earlier origins. Fado historian and scholar, Rui Vieira Nery, states that "the only reliable information on the history of Fado was orally transmitted and goes back to the 1820s and 1830s at best...
worldwide. She was one of the most important figures in the genre's development, and enjoyed a 50-year recording and stage career. Amália' performances and choice of repertoire pushed fado's boundaries and helped redefine it and reconfigure it for her and subsequent generations. In effect, Amália wrote the rulebook on what fado could be and on how a female fadista — or fado singer — should perform it, to the extent that she remains an unsurpassable model and an unending source of repertoire for all those who came afterwards. Amália enjoyed an extensive international career between the 1950s and the 1970s, although in an era where such efforts were not as easily quantified as today. She was the main inspiration to other well-known international fado and popular music artists such as Madredeus
Madredeus
Madredeus is a Portuguese band. Their music combines traditional Portuguese music with influences of modern folk music...
, Dulce Pontes
Dulce Pontes
Dulce José Silva Pontes is a Portuguese songwriter and singer who performs in many musical styles, including pop, folk and classical music. She is usually defined as a world music artist...
and Mariza
Mariza
Mariza is the stage name of a popular fado singer. She was born Marisa dos Reis Nunes on 16 December 1973 in Lourenço Marques, Mozambique. At the time, Mozambique was known as the Portuguese Overseas Province of Mozambique....
.
The early years
Amália Rodrigues remains today as Portugal's most famous artist and singer, a woman who was born into an almost destitute family and who grew to become not only Portugal's major star but also an internationally acclaimed artist and singer, whose career spanned 55 years of activity, recording songs in several languages (specially Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and Italian), versions of her own songs, most famously 'Coimbra' (April In Portugal), and performing all over the world, achieving tremendous success in countries like France, Italy, Spain, the USA, Mexico, Brazil, Romania, Japan and The Netherlands, among many others.Her personality and charisma, the beauty of her face and her extraordinary timbre of voice, gave depth and intense life to her chant: the impression she made on the public, her immediacy and the natural way she empathized with her public were tremendous and attracted more and more admirers throughout the world.
As of her death in 1999 Amália had received more than 40 decorations and honors from all over the world (mostly France, including the Légion d'Honneur, Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, Israel and Japan).
Most importantly Amália put fado as a musical genre on the map of world music, in dictionaries, libraries and musical essays. She paved the way for the generations that would follow, and that continue her legacy.
Despite official documents which give her date of birth as July 23, Amália always said her birthday was July 1, 1920. She was born in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
, in the rua Martim Vaz (Martim Vaz Street), neighborhood of Pena. 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
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
environment until she was 14, when her parents returned to the capital and she moved back in with them.
She sang from the early age of 4 or 5, in the streets of Lisbon, playfully and naturally, and started singing as an amateur as early as 1935.
Her miserable childhood in Lisbon, almost destitute and having to do odd jobs (one of which included selling fruit in Lisbon's quays), gave her a very important outlook on life, which would always be present in soulfulness of her chant.
After a few years of amateur performances, Amália's 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, recognizing the potential in such a voice, wrote expansive melodies custom-designed for Amália’s voice, breaking the rules of fado by adding orchestral accompaniment. Among those fados were 'Fado do Ciúme', 'Ai Mouraria', 'Que Deus Me Perdoe', and 'Não Sei Porque Te Foste Embora.'
In the meantime Amália became Portugal's most renowned singer, and she became first the toast of Lisbon and then the toast of Portugal, attracting friends and admirers both from the people, then from the aristocracy. Artists, poets, politicians, former Kings and bankers were attracted by her personality and charisma.
At the same time Amália began an interesting career in the movies: her box office power was a major asset, and she debuted in the movies in 1946 with 'Capas Negras', followed by a major success, which is still Amália's most known movie, 'Fado' (1946).
Her Portuguese popularity began to extend abroad with trips to Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, a lengthy stay in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
(where, in 1945, she made her first recordings on Brazilian label Continental) and Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(1949). In 1950, while performing at the Marshall Plan international benefit shows, she introduced 'April in Portugal
April in Portugal (song)
"April in Portugal" is a popular song, also named "The Whisp'ring Serenade." The music and lyrics were written by Raul Ferrão as a fado named "Coimbra", about the city of that name. In 1947. English lyrics written by Jimmy Kennedy were set to the music, though many of the most popular versions of...
' to international audiences, under its original title "Coimbra".
In the early fifties, the patronage of acclaimed Portuguese poet David Mourão-Ferreira
David Mourão-Ferreira
David de Jesus Mourão-Ferreira, GCSE was a Portuguese writer and poet from Lisbon.He was a son of David Ferreira and wife Teresa de Jesus Ferro Mourão...
marked the beginning of a new phase: Amália sang with many of the country's greatest poets, and some wrote lyrics specifically for her. Though Amália came from an extremely poor family, she had an intuitive intelligence which made her admire the arts and made her choose with increasing criteria and taste her own songs and their words. Her relationship with poetry would once again contribute to major changes in traditional fado: not only popular poets produced words for the songs, but the so-called great poets started contributing and writing specifically for her. The 'grand poetry' crossed its paths with those of fado.
The middle years
Amália had indeed taken a few steps outside of Portugal, the above mentioned appearances in Spain (1943), Brasil, (1945) with her first recordings, and Berlin (1950). Her success wherever she went paved the way for further appearances abroad: she was the first Portuguese artist to ever appear on American television on ABC in 1953, and later to appear in Hollywood singing at the Mocambo, among others, in 1954. She also appeared on Mexican television. Wherever she went, a new group of admirers followed her.She refused a proposal to appear in the movies in 1954, partly because of her shy nature and partly because allegedly she missed home.
But Amália would become a truly international name in 1954.
In 1954, Amália's international career skyrocketed through her presence in Henri Verneuil
Henri Verneuil
Henri Verneuil was a French-Armenian playwright and filmmaker, who enjoyed a successful career in France.-Biography:...
’s film The Lovers of Lisbon
The Lovers of Lisbon
The Lovers of Lisbon is a 1955 French drama film directed by Henri Verneuil and starring Daniel Gélin, Françoise Arnoul Trevor Howard and Betty Stockfeld. Two French exiles in Lisbon fall in love after both have murdered their spouses. It was based on a novel by Joseph Kessel. Its French title is...
(Les Amants du Tage), where she had a supporting role. By the late 1950s the USA
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
had become her major international markets; Japan and Italy followed suit in the 1970s. In France especially, her popularity rivaled her Portuguese success, and she graduated to headliner at the prestigious Olympia theatre within a matter of months. This led to the release of the album Portugal's Great Amália Rodrigues Live at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, in 1957, on Monitor Records (now under Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
). Over the years, she performed nearly all over the world — going as far as the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
.
In France she performed on television and became a well-known figure and artist and a much admired singer. Charles Aznavour even wrote a fado in French especially for her 'Aie Mourir Pour Toi' and she created versions of her own songs (Coimbra became Avril au Portugal, among others). She would perform at the prestigious Olympia for 10 seasons between 1956 and 1992, a feat almost unequaled by any other artist. From France she became a truly international star. Her voice, however, demanded more of the music and the words she sang.
At the end of the 1950s, Amália took a year off. Amália had been briefly married (1940–43) to a guitarist, whom she would later divorce, and fell in love with the son of a Portuguese immigrant in Brazil, an engineer, César Seabra (1922–1997) and they married in 1961. She then said she would sing only once in a while, but after a year's absence, she was no longer able to resist the appeal of the music she loved. 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
Alain Oulman
Alain Oulman was a Portuguese composer. He was responsible for some of the biggest hits of Amália Rodrigues....
, her main songwriter and musical producer throughout the decade. As Frederico Valério, before him, Oulman wrote melodies for her that transcended the conventions of fado.
In fact Alain Oulman (1929–1990), created in that album, also known as 'Busto' (Bust), a different kind of fado, with more extensions and which introduced aspects attributed traditionally to opera: the legatos, the extension of the voice, which adapted and fitted perfectly Amália's voice. She sang with renewed power, and became a true enchantress of the song. Also in that record she sang her own poems ('Estranha Forma de Vida') and poems written by great Portuguese poets, like Pedro Homem de Mello, David Mourão-Ferreira and others. She created longlife successes, which became classics and immortal songs in Portugal, like 'Povo Que Lavas no Rio', 'Maria Lisboa' and 'Abandono'.
She resumed her stage career singing all over the world, including Israel, the UK, France, and returning to the USA for Promenade Concerts in Hollywood at the Hollywood Bowl, and New York City, accompanied by Andre Kostelanetz, both in 1966 and 1968, achieving an extraordinary success. She also sang in Russia and Rumania, among other countries.
She continued her acting career, in films like 'Sangue Toureiro' (1958), and 'Fado Corrido' (1964).
Amália 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
Herman Melville
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. He is best known for his novel Moby-Dick and the posthumous novella Billy Budd....
, and her 1965 recording of poems by 16th century poet Luís de Camões
Luís de Camões
Luís Vaz de Camões is considered Portugal's and the Portuguese language's greatest poet. His mastery of verse has been compared to that of Shakespeare, Vondel, Homer, Virgil and Dante. He wrote a considerable amount of lyrical poetry and drama but is best remembered for his epic work Os Lusíadas...
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 won a number of international awards.
Having been given Portugal's Film Award for Best Actress for 'Fado' in 1947, once again she was awarded as Portugal's Best Film Actress in 1965, in a movie where she didn't sing.
In between she extended her talents to other kinds of songs: she recorded some of her old songs with an orchestra, recorded an extraordinary album with jazz saxophonist Don Byas 'Encontro' (1968), and recorded an album of American songs with Norrie Paramor's orchestra, 'Amália On Broadway' which includes a sensitive and powerful rendition of 'Summertime', 'The Nearness of You' among others.
Meanwhile, Alain Oulman, who was by heart a left-wing intellectual, was arrested by Portugal's political police in 1966, and forced into exile, but he continued to contribute with his music to Amália's voice, leaving behind many compositions which would enable her to record his music.
But her most important album in the 60s was indeed 'Com Que Voz', (1969), reprising many of her successes and adding a few more, all poems by great Portuguese-speaking poets, and music by Alain Oulman. Amália was at the height of her vocal and performing powers during the 60s. But the 70s would bring more countries, more success and an array of awards all over the world.
The later years
During the 1970s, Amália concentrated on live work, and embarked upon a heavy schedule of worldwide concert performances. During the frenetic post-April 25, 1974Carnation Revolution
The Carnation Revolution , also referred to as the 25 de Abril , was a military coup started on 25 April 1974, in Lisbon, Portugal, coupled with an unanticipated and extensive campaign of civil resistance...
period she was falsely accused of being a covert agent of the PIDE
PIDE
In 1969, Marcello Caetano changed the name PIDE to DGS . The death of Salazar and the subsequent ascension of Caetano brought some attempts at democratization, in order to avoid popular insurgency against censorship, the ongoing colonial war and the general restriction of civil rights...
, causing some trauma to her public life and career. In fact, during the Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar
António de Oliveira Salazar, GColIH, GCTE, GCSE served as the Prime Minister of Portugal from 1932 to 1968. He also served as acting President of the Republic briefly in 1951. He founded and led the Estado Novo , the authoritarian, right-wing government that presided over and controlled Portugal...
years, Amália had been an occasional financial supporter of some communists in need. At the same time she had occasionally expressed some admiration for Salazar himself. But as a singer she always remained above politics, before or after the Revolution. The democratic regime would in fact decorate her far more than the dictatorship. During the 70s Amália had a tremendous success and following in two countries: Italy and Japan. Wherever she went there she was the toast of town. She would record an album of Italian traditional songs 'A Una Terra Che Amo' (1973) and again created versions of her own songs in Italian. And would record her live performances in an album called 'Amália In Italia' (1978). Her return to the recording studio in 1977 with Cantigas numa Língua Antiga
Cantigas numa Língua Antiga
Cantigas numa Língua Antiga is an album by the Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues. Recorded in 1977 and released by Columbia, it was her first album of original material for three years...
was received as a triumph. Soon after, however, Amália suffered her first health troubles which caused her to be away from the stage for a short period again, and forced her to concentrate on performing especially in Portugal, though she still traveled abroad. Those problems were followed by a period of depression, and an introspection which led to the recording of two very personal albums: 'Gostava de Ser Quem Era' (1980) (literally 'I Wish I Were whom I Was')and 'Lágrima' (1983): all these songs were written by her own hand, since she used the poems she herself wrote. They were both successes, and in between she sang Frederico Valerio's songs again, in an album called 'Fado' (1982). 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.
In fact, increasingly away from the stage on a regular basis, Amália found herself ill again in 1984, and went to New York in order to attempt suicide, but she couldn't go through with it and instead sought and got medical care. Upon her return home, and after a year of interruption, she was invited by a French journalist and admirer, Jean-Jacques Lafaye, back on stage. She then returned to the Olympia in Paris in 1985, for a series of concerts, and again from Paris she retook the world. The years 1985-1994 were of great and renewed international success, especially up until 1991. She again sang all over the world, being paid tributes and being celebrated as one of the world's major voices and singers: she sang all over France, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Israel, and major concerts in Portugal in 1985 and 1987, and so many others, being decorated and paid regular tributes.
In her home country she was an icon and a symbol of Portugal. In 1990 the celebrations of her 50th career anniversary started with a major concert in Lisbon's Coliseu dos Recreios, appearing at the age of 69, to an overwhelmed public. She was decorated by the President of the Republic on stage, and started a series of concerts all over the world, including a comeback to New York in late 1990, as described below. Her voice had changed: it was lower but intense, and her on stage presence overwhelmed everybody, her beauty and charisma untouched.
Despite a series of illnesses involving her voice, Amália 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 TV series documenting her fifty-year career featuring rare archival footage (later distilled into the 90-minute film documentary, The Art of Amália
The Art of Amália
The Art of Amália is a documentary by Bruno de Almeida on the life and career of Amália Rodrigues , the celebrated Portuguese fado singer...
). Its director, Bruno de Almeida
Bruno de Almeida
Bruno de Almeida was born in Paris in March 1965. Of Portuguese origins, he has lived between New York City and Lisbon since 1985.-Career:In 1993 his first film, The Debt, won the award for best short at the Cannes Film Festival Critic's Week and had a long run playing in 85 film festivals and...
, has also produced Amália, Live in New York City, a concert film of her 1990 performance at The Town Hall
The Town Hall
The Town Hall is a performance space, located at 123 West 43rd Street, between Sixth Avenue and Broadway, in New York City. It seats approximately 1,500 people.-History:...
.
Amália launched a final album of originals in 1990, 'Obssessão', and from 1991 to 1994 it was felt that she was saying good-bye to her public, who still attended her performances. However, new health problems and difficulties took their toll: in December 1994 she gave her last concert, within the Lisbon European Capital of Culture concerts: she was 74, and was operated on a lung soon after in 1995. She would never again return to the stage. She was however much celebrated in the country and abroad. Television specials, interviews and tributes were held. She released a new album with original recordings from the 60s and 70s, 'Medo' (1997), and a book of her poems, including the ones she had sang: 'Amália: Versos' (1997).
In 1998 Amália was paid a national tribute at Lisbon's Universal Exhibition (Expo '98), and in February 1999 was considered one of Portugal's 25 more important personalities of the democratic period. Soon after she recorded what would become her last interview for television and the Cinématheque in Paris paid her a tribute in April 1999, with a showing of some of her movies.
On October 6, 1999, Amália Rodrigues died at the age of 79 in her home in Lisbon. Portugal's government promptly declared three days of national mourning. Her house, in Rua de São Bento, is now a museum. She is buried at the National Pantheon
Church of Santa Engrácia
The Church of Santa Engrácia is a 17th century monument of the city of Lisbon, in Portugal. In the 20th century the church has been converted into the National Pantheon , in which important Portuguese personalities are buried...
alongside other Portuguese notable
In fact she was given a State Funeral, attended by thousands, and was later transferred to the Pantheon in 2001, the only woman to be so, after the Parliament decided to honor her with that dignity.
Upon her death and by will, she created the Foundation Amália Rodrigues, which manages her legacy and assets, except her copyright, willed to two of her nephews. Amália's estate was never exactly valued, but she left two houses, (one mansion in Lisbon), antiques, works of art, a collection of jewels and other important items, decorations, and an amount of money.
In 2007, she came in 14th in Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
's election of Os Grandes Portugueses
Os Grandes Portugueses
Os Grandes Portugueses was a public poll contest organized by the Portuguese public broadcasting station RTP and hosted by Maria Elisa. Based on BBC's 100 Greatest Britons, it featured individual documentaries advocating the top ten candidates...
(The Greatest Portuguese). One year later, in 2008, a film about her life Amália
Amália (film)
Amália is a 2008 Portuguese biographical film directed by Carlos Coelho da Silva and starring Sandra Barata, Carla Chambel and José Fidalgo. Barata portrays legendary Portuguese fado singer Amália Rodrigues; songs used in the film are recordings of Amália. The film has been criticised by some...
was released, with Sandra Barata portraying her.
Amália, who was once considered by Variety one of the voices of the century, remains to this day as the most international of Portuguese artists and singers, and in Portugal, a national icon.
Her cultural relevance is shown by the fact that she put fado on the world map as a form of chant and music, and her steps were followed by an array of performers and singers, whom, in their own right, achieved success and worldwide fame, following in her path and many of whom sing her repertoire, under it's classic form or under a new look. Amália's repertoire continues to be a major one, allowing for new performer's renewed success and international breakthough.
Family
Amália's parents had nine children: Vicente and Filipe, José and António (who both died in childhood), Amália, Celeste, Aninhas (who died at sixteen), Maria da Glória (who died shortly after birth), and Maria Odete. In 1940, she married Francisco Cruz, a lathe worker and amateur guitar player from whom she separated in 1943 and whom she divorced in 1946. In 1961, in Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
, she married César Seabra, a Brazilian engineer; they remained married until his death in 1997. She had no children.
Discography
SinglesEP's
LP's and CD's