Art of Amalia

Amalia Rodrigues is the unchallenged queen of fado--the Portuguese equivalent of flamenco or blues--and one of the greatest singers on record. Her voice is rich and sinuous, with the soulful intensity of a Billie Holiday or Edith Piaf, but a warmth and sense of phrasing all her own. This retrospective ranges from her first recordings in 1952 up to 1970 and gives a superb picture of her work. The instrumentation is simple guitar and Portuguese mandolin, perfectly framing her aching laments and flowing melodies, like a gentler version of flamenco or a continental cousin of Cesaria Evora's morna. The songs include folk and popular material, but the emphasis is on the deep, passionate fado, and it doesn't get any better than this. --Elijah Wald more

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From: Amazon
Posted: Feb-09-2008

The sadness deep in one's heart

Fado is really special music I've ever listened to. It is sad but full of strength,shake the darkness and fragile deep in one's heart. Amalia is the earliest singer famous for singing Fado.This album collected all the traditional songs which you can learn the soul and essence of Fado. If sometime...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Dec-23-2007

The voice that gets to you in a nice way

Mariza was my first intro to fado. Then I went to Portugal and all they talked about was Amalia. Still I thought I liked Mariza's voice better with that deeper and huskier and at times playful voice. But I had to pay my respect to Amalia and after listening to her whole album twice, I was already...

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From: Amazon
Posted: May-07-2007

A lovely overview of the preeminent fadista

While I'm no expert on Portuguese fado music, for the last few years I have been buying and listening to CDs from some of the most notable international performers. Many of them, especially Misia, draw inspiration from the late Amália Rodrigues--the most famous and adored singer of fado in the...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Mar-15-2006

amalia

What can I say about this magnificent fadista that hasn't already been said. As far as I'm concerned no one can ever even come close to this fantastic artist. She puts so much feelings into every song that I can not help but to get teary eyed.

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From: Amazon
Posted: Aug-03-2005

The voice of the "Iberian Blues"

Fado is a traditional portuguese music that has many meanings that cannot be found in a dictionary. It deals with fate and "saudade", a feeling best described as a melancholic reminescence of times past, but can also deal with day to day life, its joys and sadnesses. It often is described as the...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Mar-09-2005

Poor quality sound

The sound quality of this CD is so poor that I can't bear to listen to it. There is a lot of distortion. If I try to listen to the CD using headphones, then the channel separation becomes a problem; I hear one guitar and the singer's voice in one ear, and the other guitar (too loud) in the other...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Jan-28-2005

The Queen of Fado

To listent to Am?lia Rodrigues is to be hynotized by the sheer parodxical nature of life's eternal beaty and never-ending sadness. Never have I heard such a hauntingly beautiful voice. Her talent is unmatched. You may not understand her language, but the beauty is, you don't have to understand...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Jan-11-2005

Too wonderful for words

This collection, spanning 1952-1970, has the best of the legendary Amalia Rodrigues and her Portuguese fado songs of love, longing, sadness and the sea.Amalia's voice is incredibly expressive; rich, pure, poetic, tender, mysterious and aching with feeling. The songs have such romantic depth and...

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From: Amazon
Posted: Jan-06-2005

A unique artist, a voice for the ages.

It's easy to see how 'review inflation' can take over on Amazon. People can praise an artist too highly - a new artist who has just arrived might be compared to one who has a lifetime of achievment behind them, or people simply have their favorites, regardless of quality. With Amalia Rodrigues,...

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From: Amazon
Posted: May-31-2004

UNFORGETABLE AMALIA!...

This CD or any other Amalia's CD show us that AMALIA is FADO and FADO is AMALIA.It's absolutelly impossible another AMALIA.God give me the pleasure of see and listen AMALIA !We pray now for AMALIA'S DVDs.Please, URGENTLY.

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