Great Singers You Probably Never Heard
Amalia Rodriques, 
called Rainha do Fado, (Queen of Fado) was one of the greatest vocalist in history. A young girl born in Lisbon, Portugal, in 1920, Amalia took her place among other great Chanteuse like Edith Piaf of France.
A dark haired beauty with a voice of remarkable fluidity, range, and passion, Amalia was the most famous singer of Fado in the world. She had a following all over the globe. Amalia died on 6 Oct 1999. So great was her fame and so beloved her person, as with Piaf in France, upon her death, a national period of official mourning was declared. Her house on Rua de Sao Bento is now a museum.
What is Fado?
Fado is the equivilent of Flamenco folk music; it may most easily be understood as the "soul music' or "torch songs" or even "the Blues" of Portugal. There are two main "schools" of Fado: one from Lisbon, and the other, sometimes more refined style from Coimbra.
Valkana Stoyanova 
from Thrace, Bulgaria, was part of the Philip Koutev National Folk Ensemble of Bulgaria.
Koutev was a conductor/musicologist/arranger who scoured the villages of Bulgaria after WWII to create an ensemble of singers, dancers, and musicians who best exemplified the beauty and power of traditional Bulgarian folk music. This ensemble became renowned around the world. Its influence spread to the United States and other countries where women formed Slavic folk music choruses. Among the most famous from the United States is Kitka. (See below.)
Stoyanova was a virtuoso. Her fluid, effortless, and powerful voice moved easily through the embellishments that are a strong component of Bulgarian folk singing/styling. Like all great chanteuse, her voice was full of passion, pain, joy, and longing. But as part of a Communist country where individuality was frowned upon, Stoyanova, although featured on many solos by Koutev, never gained international recognition as other great vocalists did. Her fame spread more by word of mouth as people listened to the recordings made of the Koutev ensemble, and began to dig into who that remarkable voice on so many solos might belong to.
Stoyanova as an old woman
If you have never heard Balkan folk music, especially Balkan women's choral singing, give it a listen. Diaphonic singing with fascinating, challenging rhythms such 11/16 or 9/8, and harmonics unfamiliar to Western ears make it a powerful, ear-opening, musically (and mind) expanding experience.
Kitka http://www.kitka.org/ is a group of women from Berkeley, CA who have lived and worked with traditional folk singers in Bulgaria. They have several CDs for sale. If you are unable to find the original Bulgarian Folk Ensemble recordings, Kitka is an excellent introduction to this extraordinary vocal style.
Group Project
Working together using this wiki
Think of this wiki as a shared online whiteboard. Your entire group can share information using this wiki, making your research accessible to everyone. Play around with this wiki: Notice how you can add comments to a page, see what people have changed, and edit all the text.
Group members
Sources
- Source 1
- Source 2
- Source 3
- Source 4
| Source Name |
Page # |
Quote |
| Encyclopedia of Stars |
44, 46 |
"The stars are the heavens" |
Meetings
When should we meet?
| Who |
When I can meet |
| Jesse |
M-F, 8am-5pm |
| Chris |
Anytime after 2pm |
| Dana |
Saturday, 5pm |
| Pat |
Sunday, 4pm-8pm |
Drafts
Keep your drafts here so you can refer to earlier versions.
Draft 1
Draft 2
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