Album Review
Amalia Rodrigues and The History of Fado.
(2 CD set)
Amalia Rodrigues + Various
Recording Arts SA
[Joseito Fernandez is reading the newspaper when Compay Segundo comes in.]
Compay Segundo: Joseito, have you heard of Amalia Rodrigues, the Portuguese fado singer who became known to the world just before 1940? I think she died a few years ago.
Joseito Fernandez: I have heard of her yes, but as for hearing her sing, I have not had the pleasure. Her voice with myself is not intimate.
Compay: My friend, nor was it with me until I found this, Amalia Rodrigues and The History of Fado, two CDs for a very cheap price.
Joseito: [reading the cover as he starts the music] "2 CD deluxe edition: 20 page booklet with rare photographs."
C: Oh, tch, the booklet is worth nothing. There are only a few photographs and the printing is big, so that it takes up a lot of room and does not say very much at all. Look, this whole page is one little quote. "Amalia Rodrigues was the voice of the Portuguese soul." Portuguese Prime Minister Guterres, 1999. Another whole page is this one: "When I first heard Amalia Rodrigues it was as if this explosion of emotion burst out of my speakers ... as if she was expressing the sadness of existence ... I was swept away by what this person and her music were about." David Byrne. There are two pages in the middle that give you history of fado very quickly and something about the lady into the bargain, but even so, it is not what you expect from their 'twenty page booklet.'
J: Hm. The recording sounds pleasantly old.
C: Sometimes too old. A few of these are bad quality recordings indeed. Her tone overwhelms the old recording instrument and there is a harsh noise as she goes off the edge of the scale. Wait until you hear 'Perseguicao.' It is particularly bad.
J: Perhaps that's why the set was cheap.
C: It is possible. I wonder about the recordings of her that are not on this album. I wonder if they're better because to tell you the truth, she did not affect me strongly until the seventeenth song, which is called 'Ave Maria Fadista.' At that moment her voice came forward clearly and I thought, "Ah, this is what the fuss is about." (Because as you know she is famous, this Ms Rodrigues.) Before 'Ave Maria' her voice had a tinny quality, very annoying because you know it is only the recording equipment having problems and not the voice itself. Afterwards she sounds firmer and more rounded, with a more flexible sound and more timbre. By the time we reach 'Fado Amalia' you can hear the little trills and twiddles curling around like the whirls in a dog's coat. 'Que Deus Me Perdoe' is rich, like a big purple grape popping out of its skin.
J: I am reading the booklet. Their summary is not bad for something so short. "At the heart of the fado, which literally means 'fate,'there is the quiet acceptance of an ineluctable fate which rules our lives. It comes as no surprise, then, that the favourite subject of the fado is life's harsh reality and that, as a result, the music becomes a sort of cathartic medium. With its urban cafe style, the fado is usually described as a working-class blues ..."
C: What do you think of the comparison with Blues?
J: I have seen it in other places as well when fado is discussed. I think it is misleading. In both cases the music is not, mm, happy, but in the case of fado the sadness is different and the tune of course is very different indeed. The comparison they make here with Greek rembétika is more profitable because the guitar in these recordings has a high sound like a bouzouki. You can hear an Arab influence in both fado and rembétika, but not in blues. Blues guitars are startling and low and gruff and they ask for your attention. Here it is the voice - very much the voice - the voice is the centrepiece of the song and the guitar is simply an instrument.
C: On page nine a quote compares her to Edith Piaf.
J: That is profitable as well. A resigned and sorrowing sparrow!
C: The second CD makes an interesting partner to the first. It gives us a range of voices to choose from, listen -
J: I like this one. She sounds like a chicken. Who is she?
C: Madaleno de Meres. And here is Maria Teresa de Noronha who has a richer sound and a fine control over her unhappiness.
J: What happens to fado singers when they feel cheerful and excited, I wonder? Can they perform?
C: It is a mystery. One day we will find one and ask her. Oh - Maria de Carmo singing 'Os Beijos Sao Commo As Rosas' - she's most dramatic! Like Carmen. She almost goes off the machine-scale when she comes to her highest notes, but the recording quality in this second disc is better than it is on Amalia Rodrigues and she holds on with only the slightest burr.
J: These women are not as well known as Rodrigues; it must have been easier to find good cheap recordings. I wish they had given us some information about them in the 'twenty page booklet.' It's useless to call an album The History of fado if you do not tell us why these singers should be considered historical. Does one represent a style popular in 1940 and another, a style popular in 1950? In the 1930s did everyone like their singers to sound like chickens and is this why we have Madaleno de Meres? Why is it important that Adelina Fernandes carries her voice formally, like a soprano in an opera house?
C: Etcetera!
J: Etcetera. However if we are talking about an introduction to fado I think this disc is more valuable than the first one because it demonstrates to me a range of different vocal styles. I would not want to walk away from fado thinking that everybody sounds like Amalia Rodrigues. It would be nice if they had taken the best ones from the first disc and added them to The History of Fado and released it as a single album. Now that I have heard their version of Ms Rodrigues singing 'Perseguicao' I would only listen to it again if I wanted to savour the nostalgia of terrible old recordings.
C: And yet, two CDs for less than the price of one. It's not bad!
