Genre: Fado
Date acquired: 2025
Gift: No
I just love fado, and I’m so happy that the first fado vinyl I ever picked up was by Amália Rodrigues! I found this album at the médiathèque as a donation, and it’s been such a treat to listen to. The songs are beautiful, and her voice is as powerful and emotional as I imagined it would be.
After reading a couple of bandes dessinées (BDs) about Portuguese people, I now understand a bit more about why this album was recorded in Paris, and why that was so important. In the 1960s, many Portuguese artists, including Amália, had to leave Portugal due to the political situation under the dictatorship. Paris was a place where they could express themselves freely, and for Amália, it became a space to keep fado alive and share it with the world. Now that I know the context, it adds so much more meaning to the album.