Amalia Rodrigues

I’ve been listening to her for years, but I just watched a documentary about her – so much raw emotion ! And free of so many complications that music has sometimes. The music is just very direct, simple and strong, free of filigree. She’s direct to the heart. Her intimate collaboration with Portugal’s poets is admirable. She definitely stuck by her rifles. And it’s good to know that she was part of making the fado style. I first came across it, I would guess, 15 years ago. It has the same rawness as flamenco but it’s less flamboyant, and more stern and stark somehow.

The Art of Amália, de Bruno de Almeida, 2000

The Guardian