Amália at the Olympia

Abstract

The voice of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the “Queen of Fado” and Portugal’s most celebrated diva, was extraordinary for its interpretive power, soul wrenching timbre, and international reach. Amalia à l’Olympia (1957) is an album made from recordings of her first performances at the fabled Olympia Music Hall in Paris in 1956. This album, which was issued for multiple national markets (including: France; USA; Japan; Britain; the Netherlands) catapulted Amália Rodrigues into the international limelight. During its time, this album held the potential for international listeners, outside of Portugal, to represent Portugal, while also standing in for cosmopolitanism, the glamorous city of Paris, and to present a sonorous voyage in sound. This book introduces readers to the voice of Amália Rodrigues and to the genre of the Portuguese fado, offering a primer in how to listen to both. It unpacks this iconic album and the voice, sound, style, and celebrity of Amália Rodrigues. It situates this album within a historical context marked by cold war Atlanticist diplomacy, Portugal’s dictatorial regime, and the emergence of new forms of media, travel, and tourism. In so doing, it examines processes that shaped the internationalization of peripheral popular musics and the making of female vocal stardom in the mid-20th century. The voice of Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the “Queen of Fado” and Portugal’s most celebrated diva, was extraordinary for its interpretive power, soul wrenching timbre, and international reach. Amalia à l’Olympia (1957) is an album made from recordings of her first performances at the fabled Olympia Music Hall in Paris in the spring of 1956. This album, re-issued for multiple national markets (including: USA; France; Italy; The Netherlands; Great Britain; South Africa; Japan), catapulted Amália Rodrigues into the international limelight. The venue of the Olympia was key to the shaping of international musical stardom during the mid-twentieth century. During its time, this album held the potential for international listeners, outside of Portugal, to stand in for Portugal while also standing in for cosmopolitanism, the glamorous city of Paris, and to present a sonorous voyage in sound. This book uses this album as a prism through which to explore interlinked media, processes and networks which shaped the internationalization of peripheral popular musics, the formation of cosmopolitan musical publics, and the performance of female vocal celebrity in the mid-twentieth century. It situates this album within a historical context marked by cold war Atlanticist diplomacy, the Portuguese Estado Novo regime, and the emergence of new forms of media, travel, and tourism. At the same time, it offers a primer in how to listen to the genre of the Portuguese fado and to the voice of Amália Rodrigues.