The voice of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the “Queen of Fado” and Portugal’s most celebrated diva, was extraordinary for its interpretive power, soul wrenching timbre, and international reach. Amalia à l’Olympia (1957) is an album made from recordings of her first performances at the fabled Olympia Music Hall in Paris in 1956. This album, which was issued for multiple national markets (including: France; USA; Japan; Britain; the Netherlands) catapulted Amália Rodrigues into the international limelight. During its time, this album held the potential for international listeners, outside of Portugal, to represent Portugal, while also standing in for cosmopolitanism, the glamorous city of Paris, and to present a sonorous voyage in sound.
This book introduces readers to the voice of Amália Rodrigues and to the genre of the Portuguese fado, offering a primer in how to listen to both. It unpacks this iconic album and the voice, sound, style, and celebrity of Amália Rodrigues. It situates this album within a historical context marked by cold war Atlanticist diplomacy, Portugal’s dictatorial regime, and the emergence of new forms of media, travel, and tourism.
In so doing, it examines processes that shaped the internationalization of peripheral popular musics and the making of female vocal stardom in the mid-20th century.
By:
Prof Lila Ellen Gray (Dickinson College USA)
Edited by:
Fabian Holt
Imprint: Bloomsbury Academic USA
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 197mm,
Width: 127mm,
Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781501346194
ISBN 10: 1501346199
Series: 33 1/3 Europe
Pages: 176
Publication Date: 19 October 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments Notes on the Text Track List Preface: A Yearning for Liveness Part I: Setting the Stage 1. Dresses, Acrobats, and the Sound of Moonlight 2. Biographies of Her Voice 3. A Fado Primer 4. Listening to Amália Interlude I: Mid-century Representations: NATO: “Introducing Portugal” Part II: Listening to Amalia à l’Olympia Prelude: On Love and Longing 5. Presentation and “Uma Casa Portuguesa” 6. “Perseguição” 7. “Barco Negro” 8. Fados about Fado: “Tudo Isto É Fado” and “Que Deus me Perdoe” Interlude II: Mid-Century Representations: Simone de Beauvoir’s Les Mandarins 9. Diva Constellations Coda: “Fado Amália” Notes References Index
Lila Ellen Gray is a cultural anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and interdisciplinary scholar of music and sound. She is currently Associate Professor of Music at Dickinson College, USA. Her book Fado Resounding: Affective Politics and Urban Life (2013), was the recipient of the 2014 Woody Guthrie Award of the International Association for the Study of Popular Music (IASPM-US).
