Search - Amalia Rodrigues :: Fado

The true soul of Fado

Fernando Forte | Lisbon, Portugal | 06/07/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I am so happy to see this record among the selling list, and so proud as a Portuguese citizen and a great fan of Amália. Fado was released in 1982, when Amália was going on 62, and it comprises recordings of old hits that she had recorded first in the 1940s, and later reproduced accompanied with an orchestra in the 1950s. The melodies were all composed by Amália's first great composer, Frederico Valério, who wrote most of them to be sung on stage, when Amália was the guest star or main star of several music-halls and revues in Portugal, before becoming an internationally known singer. But if the early recordings show a frensh, powerful voice, already full of feeling and interpretaion, this later recording shows why Amália is the undying soul of Fado, its outstanding representative as an art form, and one of the best singers of the world. If the voice had changed, it was perhaps even more powerful, and surely more soulful and its various tones and unforgettable colour comes through as one listens to this true virtuoso singing. The feeling also comes through clean, and straight to the heart. For those who don't speak portuguese, this best-selling record (in Portugal), the words are mostly about desperate love, passion and longing (the portuguese saudade), for the loved one, (Ai Mouraria,-the title of which takes us to the alleyways of Amália's birthplace in Lisbon-, Fado do Ciúme, Confesso, Não Sei Porque Te Foste Embora), and also one theme about one of Portugal's great painters (Fado Malhoa), and finally a beautiful song about destiny (Sábe-se Lá), another about herself, (Amália), and a soulful theme about the love for Fado itself (Que Deus Me Perdoe-May God Forgive Me, if it is a crime or sin, but I'm made this way, and running away from Fado, I'd run away from me, when I sing I make a success, and nothing hurts, if then it is a sin to love Fado, May God forgive me). This one you should also buy, and immerse yourself in the love for Amália."