Argentina Santos

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Argentina Santos (2007)

Maria Argentina Pinto dos Santos (born February 6, 1924 in Lisbon ; † November 18, 2019 there ) was a Fado singer from Portugal .

Career

She was born in 1924 in Lisbon's Mouraria district, the youngest of four children. Her father died when she was two years old. Her mother then moved to the Alfama district. Argentina Santos grew up in great poverty. As a child, she began helping out around the house in the neighborhood and had already finished her primary school education early. At times she was homeless and looked for a place to stay for the night in exchange for domestic help. In the further course of her life she took on a variety of different activities. Occasionally she sang during the Marchas Populares at the city festivals of Lisbon on June 12th.

In 1950 she succeeded in opening a simple restaurant, the Parreirinha da Alfama , which she and her partner quickly turned into a fado restaurant . At first she cooked there and looked after the guests, while mostly well-known fado singers performed, such as Alfredo Marceneiro , Celeste Rodrigues , Lucília do Carmo , Beatriz da Conceição or Fernanda Maria , who began her career here. After receiving frequent requests from her guests to sing herself, Argentina Santos finally sang during a Desgarrada , an improvised singing competition, and then began performing regularly three years after the restaurant opened. After the first shellac publications in 1953, some of her still known titles (especially A Minha Pronúncia , Chafariz d 'El Rei , As Duas Santas and Juras ) for the Estoril company, she recorded a new record for the first time in 1960 . However, since she refused to accept permanent engagements in other restaurants and guest tours, her early career did not take any further upswing. In addition, she rarely recorded songs and shied away from the public outside the circles of fado bars. As a result, she remained known only in the circle of the fadistas , the circle of the Lisbon fado scene.

In the 1990s, she gained a lot of fame after Carlos do Carmo invited her to appear in his fado shows on television. This was followed by appearances in the context of fado concerts for the European Capital of Culture (Lisbon 1994) and in renowned halls, including the Lisbon Opera Teatro Nacional de São Carlos , the Coliseu dos Recreios and the Centro Cultural de Belém . During this time she also performed abroad, including in 1994 in the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London , at the Edinburgh Festival in 1995, in the Vienna Konzerthaus and in 1997 in the Cité de la musique in Paris .

In 2007 she appeared in Carlos Saura's award-winning film Fados . In 2010 in particular, she was honored in a series of events and was the subject of a documentary film in 2011.

Reception and honors

After Fado gained international recognition at the latest with the worldwide success of Amália Rodrigues and since the 1990s an increasing number of new singers have professionally represented Fado in the international cultural scene, this genre is hardly influenced by amateur singers. Argentina Santos embodied this barely visible side of the fado. It stood for the original Fado and its folk origins from the simple quarters of Lisbon. The reason was her résumé and her old age, and her affable and direct personality was also mentioned frequently. Her singing style, which was less precise but particularly intense and reminiscent of the Desgarradas , the improvised chants and singing competitions that ordinary people enjoy after work in the taverns, was particularly formative for her status as a representative of an original and unadulterated folk fado Neighborhood, for example in the Alfama or the Mouraria.

A large number of well-known fado singers therefore regularly express their appreciation for the importance of Argentina Santos. Carlos do Carmo, for example, invited her several times as a guest singer to his concerts. After 1999, another tribute concert was held for her by numerous singers in 2000 , this time in the Coliseu dos Recreios . In 2004 she was honored again on her 80th birthday with a tribute concert by various artists, this time as part of the Festa do Fado in Lisbon. In 2010 the Fado Museum showed an exhibition on the life of Argentina Santos, under the title Argentina Santos - Não Sei Se Canto Se Rezo (German: "Argentina Santos - I don't know whether I sing or whether I pray", based on a well-known Fado) . The exhibition was opened on February 27, 2010 by the mayor of Lisbon, António Costa , with Carlos do Carmo, Ricardo Ribeiro and Ana Sofia Varela singing on the occasion .

On July 2, 2010, a big tribute concert for the 86-year-old singer took place in the Teatro São Luiz . Young and older singers such as Carlos do Carmo, Celeste Rodrigues , Jorge Fernando , Maria Armanda , Raquel Tavares , Ricardo Ribeiro and Rodrigo performed in her honor . Argentina Santos was also awarded the City of Lisbon's Gold Medal of Honor by Mayor Costa.

In 2011 the biographical documentary Argentina Santos. Não is se canto se rezo premiere. The film, produced by director Ivan Dias for the Portuguese television channel RTP , was released on DVD by ZON Multimédia in 2013 , both as a single DVD under the title Não Sei se Canto se Rezo and as part of a double DVD box with various Fado documentaries , which appeared under the title Fado - Um Legado Português .

Discography (selection)

  • 1978: Chafariz do Rei (LP)
  • 1989: Rir a Brincar (cassette)
  • 1995: Meu Fado (CD)
  • 1998: Argentina Santos (CD)
  • 2000: Fado (Best of CD)
  • 2005: Fado Antologia (Best of CD)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Argentina Santos' statements in the documentary Argentina Santos - Não Sei Se Canto Se Rezo , RTP 2011
  2. ^ A b Biography Argentina Santos at www.fadostradicionais.wix.com, accessed on June 22, 2014
  3. ↑ a b Biography of Argentina Santos on the Fado Museum website , accessed June 22, 2014
  4. ↑ a b c Salwa Castelo-Branco: Enciclopédia da Músca em Portugal no Século XX, P – Z. 1st edition, Temas & Debates, Lisbon 2010, ISBN 978-972-42-4598-0 , page 1165.
  5. ^ Website for the exhibition on the Fado Museum website, accessed on June 22, 2014
  6. ↑ Website for the tribute concert for Argentina Santos of the Fado Museum, accessed on June 22, 2014
  7. ^ Cover of the double DVD Fado - Um Legado Português , ZON Multimédia 2013
personal data
SURNAME Santos, Argentina
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pinto dos Santos, Maria Argentina (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese fado singer
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1924
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisbon , Portugal
DATE OF DEATH 18th November 2019
Place of death Lisbon , Portugal