The Olympia Music Hall, under the directorship and curatorship of Bruno Coquatrix, from 1954-1979, was key to the shaping of international musical stardom during the mid-twentieth century. Coquatrix was responsible for reviving the late nineteenth-century theater as a music hall in 1954 and internationalization was key to his mission. To perform at the Olympia in Paris was, in a sense, to arrive. The importance of an Olympia debut would possibly be even greater for a performer from a country on Europe’s periphery singing in a genre that was still not well understood outside of Portugal. At the same time, celebrity performers (or performers with the potential for high prestige) were the financial lifeblood of the Olympia in the mid-twentieth century.
The album is framed by Amália’s rendition of a classic dictatorship-era song at the beginning, “Uma Casa Portuguesa” (A Portuguese house) and the fado song “Amália” at the end, one that casts her as the protagonist in the song, as diva of the genre of fado. Some of the repertoire included on this album would become central to her career. Many of these songs endure in the repertoire of contemporary fado musicians, and some continue to be covered and creatively reimagined in other languages and by non-Portuguese musicians. The live performances and the album played a key role in defining the genre of fado, in translating and framing it, and most importantly, in amplifying it for export for select mid-twentieth-century international markets and listeners.
No comments:
Post a Comment