Amália Rodriguez. O-o-o-o-o-oh, yeah!!!

I heard fado, and Amália, for the first time when I took in a foreign film in the mid-Fifties called "Les Amants du Tage". Amália Rodriguez played herself, and much of the action in the movie (mystery, intrique, fugitives from the law, steamy love scenes [very steamy for the Fifties!]) takes place in a cabaret in Lisbon called "Chez Amália's." She's not a major character in the plot, but she does take part in some of the action. There is a lot of footage of her singing, and the dark melancholy of the music (fado) sets the mood of the whole movie. One of the songs she sang has haunted me for years, the tune playing in my head:   a persistent little scale-wise up-and-down run on the double-strung Portuguese guitar and that sweet, dark voice singing Barco Negro (the Black Boat). I have no idea what the words mean, but the song just stuck.

A few years ago, a young couple moved into the co-op apartment building my wife and I live in. He's American, she's Portuguese. I ran into her one afternoon as we were picking up our mail and we got to talking. I asked her if she had ever heard of Amália Rodriguez. Oh, yes! In fact, she had several CDs of fado, including one by Amália. She loaned them to me. Can't get them in this country, so Suzanna gave me permission to copy them with my CD burner. I still have her CDs, but when I give them back to her, I'm going to ask her if she'll translate Barco Negro for me.

I haven't a clue as to what Amália Rodriguez is singing, but I love the sound of the music and I love her voice.

Don Firth