Raul Ferrão

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Raul Ferrão (born October 20, 1890 in Lisbon , Portugal , † April 30, 1953 in Lisbon) was a Portuguese composer. His melody for Fado Coimbra became a great world hit in April in Portugal . Ferrão is considered the most internationally successful composer in Portuguese history; he is the only one in his country who has made it into pop music , which he helped shape with the song in the 1950s and 1960s. A street is named after him in the Benfica district of Lisbon .

Life

Raul Ferrão comes from the Lisbon district of Santos-o-Velho and began military training at a military academy in 1907 at the age of 17. In 1917 and 1918 he was a member of the Portuguese Africa Corps and thus a participant in the First World War . After the World War he worked briefly as a lecturer in military science at the military academy and as a chemical engineer . Then he began to pursue his artistic inclination from the 1920s and wrote music for revues and plays. After the introduction of the sound film in Portugal, he also worked as a film composer .

For the films A Canção de Lisboa (1933), Portugal's first sound film, and Maria Papoila (1937) he wrote the songs used in them, such as Cancão da Papoila, Cancão de Lisboa, A agulha eo dedal, Castelos no ar, O balcãozinho, Fado do estudante . Other well-known Fados from Ferrão were: Maria Severa, Fado da Madragoa, Não gosto de ti, Fado do Marinheiro. Other songs, including his second hit, but only in Portugal, Lisboa nicht sejas francesa and others were sung by Nicolau Breyner , Teresa Salgueiro , Beatriz Costa or Camané . An LP was later released which summarized the famous Lisbon Marches (Marchas da Lisboa), which were composed between 1940 and 1952. The best known was the Marcha da Mouraria from 1940.

He died on April 30, 1953 - without realizing the full success of his work - at the age of 62 in Lisbon. His son, Ruy Ferrão, is a well-known television director and producer in Portugal.

World hit with April in Portugal

In 1939 he wrote the melody for Fado Coimbra , to which José Galhardo contributed the text. In 1947 the melody was sung by Amália Rodrigues in the film Capas Negras , came to France via detours , where it - with the same melody but different title and text - began its triumphal march around the world as April in Portugal . The song has been sung and recorded thousands of times, in both orchestral and vocal versions. World famous stars like Louis Armstrong , Tony Martin , Eartha Kitt , Julio Iglesias , Bing Crosby , Caterina Valente sang the song like different not so well known artists around the world. April was also used in Portugal for the Finnish film Blindentanz from 1999 and the Spanish film Una grande senora from 1959. The song was also a hit in French and was sung by Yvette Giraud .

It was the only international success of Raul Ferrão and a Portuguese composer at all. Before and after him, no Portuguese composer had ever succeeded in writing a world hit. Big Portuguese stars also sang in Portugal in April, but in the Portuguese version as Coimbra , Amália Rodrigues was the best known.

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personal data
SURNAME Ferrão, Raul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese composer
DATE OF BIRTH October 20, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Lisbon , Portugal
DATE OF DEATH April 30, 1953
Place of death Lisbon , Portugal