Alfredo Marceneiro

Alfredo Marceneiro , actually Alfredo Rodrigo Duarte , (born February 25, 1891 in Lisbon , † June 26, 1982 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese fado singer.

Life

His father was a shoemaker. Alfredo appeared in public for the first time in 1908, was a relatively well-known fado singer at the age of 20 and got to know the great fadists of his time. For thirty years this was only a sideline; he earned his living as a ship carpenter. When working hours were extended to twelve hours a day during World War II, he took part in a strike, left the shipyard and only worked as a singer. Alfredo had modestly given himself the stage name Marceneiro - the carpenter - he sang in his song O Marceneiro (text by Armando Neves) that he was actually just finishing up his songs.

In truth, he was one of the most important singers of the Fado tradition, who was well aware of its value: Usually Fado was performed in restaurants where there was a lot of noise. If Alfredo got too loud, he stopped singing and stamped his foot briefly, then there was silence. He sang in a high voice, mostly in falsetto , about the life of ordinary people. Its popularity was unmatched in the Lisbon of its day. He was proclaimed King of Fado at an event in 1948 in the presence of Amália Rodrigues and other fado greats .

Alfredo Marceneiro is considered to be the patron who made Amália Rodrigues successful. Unlike theirs, his fame remained local. He was not bothered by the dictatorship, he did not curry favor and was left in peace as a pure fado artist. The sound recordings he received document classic fado without being adapted to a mass audience. Alfredo remained active well into old age; he last performed in 1980, when he was almost ninety.

Web links

• Alfredo Marceneiro (Portuguese)