Amlia Rodriguess Amlia at the Olympia

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Description

The voice of Amlia Rodrigues (1920-1999), the Queen of Fado and Portugals most celebrated diva, was extraordinary for its interpretive power, soul wrenching timbre, and international reach. Amalia lOlympia (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 Amlia 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 Amlia 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 Amlia Rodrigues. It situates this album within a historical context marked by cold war Atlanticist diplomacy, Portugals 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.

Author Bio

Lila Ellen Gray is a cultural anthropologist, ethnomusicologist, and interdisciplinary scholar of music and sound. She is currently Associate Professor of Music at Dickinson College, USA. Her book Fado Resounding: Affective Politics and Urban Life (2013), was the recipient of the 2014 Woody Guthrie Award of the International Association for Popular Music (IASPM-US).