Original artwork description:

Amalia Rodrigues was a Portuguese fado singer. Known as the Rainha do Fado (“Queen of Fado”), Rodrigues helped popularize fado worldwide and traveled internationally between the 1950s and 1970s. She also became one of the most important figures in the genre’s development, becoming the pre-eminent female fadista during a 50-year recording and stage career

Amália Rodrigues remains today Portugal’s most famous singer, an internationally acclaimed artist and singer, whose career spanned 55 years, recording songs in several languages (especially Portuguese, Spanish, French, English and Italian), versions of her own songs, most famously “Coimbra” (“April In Portugal”) and performing all over the world.

Her personality and charisma, her beauty and her extraordinary timbre of voice gave depth and intense life to her singing.
By the time of her death in 1999, Amália had received more than 40 decorations and honors from all over the world (mostly France, including the Légion d’Honneur, Lebanon, Portugal, Spain, Israel and Japan).

Most importantly Amália put fado as a musical genre on the map of world music, in dictionaries, libraries and musical essays. She paved the way for the generations that would follow, and that continue her legacy.

Materials used:

Acrylic and collage with silk paper

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