Art of Amalia

 (29 customer reviews)

I'm 1st generation American, both of my parents are Portuguese and my mother's family are all fado singers. We are huge fans of Amalia and all fado -- fado is part of who we are. This CD is the best compilation of Amalia's work that I've heard to date. It is a great tribute to her immense influence on all of us of Portuguese decent. She will always be our most valued national treasure. If you love fado this is a must have in any collection.

There is no one that compares or comes close to Amalia, and for a number of reasons. Her gorgeous and lush voice, with tones and delicacy unmatched. Her mastery of control, and restraint, and her total surrender to each song, allowing for the dramatic crescendos and subtle intonations. Trained singer?? - hardly, you can't teach art such as is her voice. The other main factor in making her untouchable is simply, being Portuguese. There is no other music in the world that so truly captures the sadness of exisitence, that isnt a true sadness, but more of an ongoing lament, a thought and mood, a way of life. Its all in Fado, which literally means fate, and no other music in the world captures the sound of fate like fado. Amalia is unnequalled in her artistry because she is truly an artist, singing songs that are truly art. To call it singing doesn't do it justice and to call them songs also falls short. Lyrics that were poems, turn into living and breathing laments, art this is...Read more

This CD has been my first exposure to both traditional and new Fado. I had read about Fado but never heard it. I am planning a trip to Portugal and wanted to know what Fado is all about, so to speak, before I went, so when the news came out that Amalia Rodrigues, unquestioned queen of her art form, had died, I ordered this CD. As her fans have always known, Amalia's voice is powerful and beautiful, the music is sometimes light and lively (as in "Vou dar de beber a dor"), sometimes dusky and melancholic in tone (as in "Primavera"). Magnificent. The only reason I did not award the full 5 stars is that, though Amalia and the music she sings is fully worthy, the CD needs some remastering of the guitars, which boom and distort here and there, the kind of distortion we used to get from predigital sound equipment (particularly badly in "Com que voz"). But Amalia's voice comes through clearly even over the unfortunate instrumental distortions. I'm glad...Read more