Description
Fado, a Portuguese urban folk genre, is often perceived as the Canção de Portugal [the song of Portugal], a symbol of Portuguese identity, the ‘alma’ [soul] of Portugal. However, given its prominence during the Salazar Dictatorship (1933-1974), one does not immediately associate fado with protest music - ‘explicit’ or ‘covert’. There is a lack of research on the subversive use of fado, perhaps due to the prominence of canção de protesto as the obvious musical channel for political protest. Even less studied is the role of Amália Rodrigues, who became the face of fado during the dictatorship and is largely responsible for solidifying fado as a pillar of Portuguese culture and identity. Throughout her career, Amália’s public image adapted to serve social and cultural demands, and as such, she shifted from her position as the ‘Rainha’ [queen] of fado, the face of fado internationally, to the ‘menina do Salazar’ [Salazar’s girl] or ‘Princesa da PIDE’ [the Princess of PIDE – the secret police operating under the dictatorship].Following her centenary in 2020, new evidence has arisen that rebuts the notion of Amália being an advocate of the regime, and instead demonstrates that her political standing was ambiguous and often aligned with the political resistance movements. The central question of this study is not to clarify Amália’s political leanings – her own claim that she was ‘apolitical’ resonates with the uncertainty of charting a career within a dictatorship
while, driven by an acute ‘social conscience’ and innate generosity, providing assistance to oppositionists. The main goal of this work is to discern how this newly revealed subversive facet of Amália is reflected in her musical output, ranging from repertoire to the choice of collaborators and poems, as well as in terms of the development of Amália’s expressive and interpretative range. Given this, I examine ‘Libertação’ as the main case study, supplemented by ‘Abandono’, ‘As Águias’, and ‘Estranha Forma de Vida’ to support this understudied line of en
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