Português: Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), a mais célebre fadista de todos os tempos, foi também uma poeta notável, embora só nos últimos anos da sua extraordinária carreira tenha decidido cantar de forma sistemática os seus próprios versos e autorizado a sua publicação. 

Os poemas de Amália, inscrevendo-se numa tradição lírica popular mas ao mesmo tempo refletindo o seu conhecimento profundo da obra de alguns dos maiores poetas da Língua Portuguesa, que tinha cantado ao longo de toda a sua carreira, abrangem um leque muito amplo de temas e de emoções, desde exemplos de jogos de palavras habilidosos e cheios de humor, à evocação idealizada de tradições rurais multisseculares e à expressão de um profundo sentimento de desespero face à inevitabilidade de uma permanente angústia interior ditada pelo destino. Deste modo, transmitem-nos a essência da visão do mundo contida na lírica fadista e ajudam-nos a compreender melhor esta canção tão caracteristicamente portuguesa, que ao longo de dois séculos soube captar tanto da identidade cultural essencial de Portugal e foi, enquanto tal, inscrita pela UNESCO na Lista Representativa do Património Cultural Imaterial da Humanidade. 

Esta edição bilingue contém todos os seus poemas já publicados, pela primeira vez traduzidos para Inglês por Jamie Rising, ilustrações originais de André Carrilho e um novo estudo crítico introdutório da autoria do mais reconhecido historiador atual do Fado, Rui Vieira Nery 

Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the most acclaimed fado singer of all time, was also a remarkable poet, even though it was only in the final years of her life that she decided to sing her own poetry consistently and authorized its publication. Amália’s poems, written in a popular vein but at the same time reflecting her deep understanding of some of the greatest poets of the Portuguese language, whose work she had sung throughout her career, cover a wide range of topics and emotions – from witty, good-humored wordplay to the idealized evocation of time-honured rural traditions, and to the dramatic expression of a profound sense of despair in the face of an unappealable sentence of constant inner anguish dictated by destiny. Thus, they capture in many ways the very essence of fado’s lyrical worldview, allowing us to better understand this uniquely Portuguese song that for the past two centuries has so captured and enshrined much of Portugal’s cultural identity and as such was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The present volume contains all of her published poems, for the first time in a fully bilingual edition, with English translations by Jamie Rising, original illustrations by André Carrilho and a new critical introduction by fado’s foremost historian, Rui Vieira Nery.

English: Amália Rodrigues (1920-1999), the most acclaimed fado singer of all time, was also a remarkable poet, even though it was only in the final years of her life that she decided to sing her own poetry consistently and authorized its publication. Amália’s poems, written in a popular vein but at the same time reflecting her deep understanding of some of the greatest poets of the Portuguese language, whose work she had sung throughout her career, cover a wide range of topics and emotions – from witty, good-humored wordplay to the idealized evocation of time-honured rural traditions, and to the dramatic expression of a profound sense of despair in the face of an unappealable sentence of constant inner anguish dictated by destiny. Thus, they capture in many ways the very essence of fado’s lyrical worldview, allowing us to better understand this uniquely Portuguese song that for the past two centuries has so captured and enshrined much of Portugal’s cultural identity and as such was inscribed by UNESCO on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The present volume contains all of her published poems, for the first time in a fully bilingual edition, with English translations by Jamie Rising, original illustrations by André Carrilho and a new critical introduction by fado’s foremost historian, Rui Vieira Nery.