{{Infobox musical artist | background = person | honorific_prefix = | name = Aldina Duarte | honorific_suffix = | image = Aldina Duarte interview screenshot (cropped).jpg | image_upright = | image_size = | landscape = <!-- yes, if wide image, otherwise leave blank --> | alt = | caption = Aldina Duarte in 2024 | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = Aldina Maria Miguel Duarte | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1967|07|22}} | birth_place = Lisbon, Portugal | origin = | genre = Fado | occupation = {{hlist|singer|lyricist|researcher}} | instrument = | discography = | years_active = <!-- YYYY–present) --> | label = | current_member_of = | past_member_of = | spouse = {{marriage |Camané |<!--unknown--> |<!--unknown-->|end=div}} }}
'''Aldina Maria Miguel Duarte''' (born 22 July 1967) is a Portuguese fado singer, lyricist, and researcher.<ref name="Infopédia">{{cite encyclopedia |title=Aldina Duarte |encyclopedia=Infopédia |date= |year= |last= |first= |publisher=Porto Editora |location=Porto |id= |url=https://www.infopedia.pt/artigos/$aldina-duarte |access-date=29 August 2024|language=pt }}</ref><ref name="MdF">{{cite web |url=https://www.museudofado.pt/fado/personalidade/aldina-duarte |title=Conheça melhor: Aldina Duarte |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Fado Museum |publisher= |access-date=29 August 2024 }}</ref> She has dedicated herself to the traditional Fado repertoire, having been described as a "hardcore fadista".<ref name="AM">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/aldina-duarte-mn0000468923#biography |title=Aldina Duarte Biography |last=Jurek|first=Thom |date= |website=AllMusic |publisher=RhythmOne |access-date=29 August 2024 |quote=}}</ref> Many fadistas have sung her lyrics, including Camané, Joana Amendoeira, António Zambujo, Pedro Moutinho, and Mariza.<ref name="MdF" />
== Life and work == Duarte was born in Lisbon, where she grew up in the social housing projects at Chelas, during the Estado Novo dictatorship. Her father left to fight in the colonial war, and died when she was 3 years old, never having returned home. Her mother raised her as a single mother with great privations.<ref name="AM" /><ref name="Infopédia" /> In an interview, Duarte described her childhood as "having no space for joy": "Fascism was the great event of my early childhood. My childhood was sad, cruel, because where there is no food to eat, there is no comfort, there is no respect. That determines everything".<ref name="Bica">{{cite news |last=Moreira |first=João |date= |title=Grande entrevista – Aldina Duarte |trans-title=Great interview - Aldina Duarte |url=https://revistabica.com/grande-entrevista-aldina-duarte/ |language=Portuguese |work=Revista BICA |location= |access-date=29 August 2024}}</ref>
Fado did not play a part in her young adult life. She worked in different jobs, including at a newspaper and at a radio station. At some point, she was an instructor on a professional training program at a cerebral palsy centre.<ref name="MdF" /> She sang on a pop music group called ''Valdez e as Piranhas Douradas'' but didn't pursue singing professionally.<ref name="AM" /><ref name="Infopédia" /> She also collaborated with the Comuna — Teatro de Pesquisa theatre troupe where she was responsible for organizing their ''Fado Nights''.<ref name="MdF" /><ref name="Infopédia" />
{{Listen | type = music | filename = Aldina Duarte • Folio Festival 2017.webm | title = "Antes de quê?" | description = Aldina Duarte singing "Antes de quê?" at the Folio Festival 2017}}
When Aldina Duarte was 24 years old, she entered a traditional Lisbon fado house in Bairro Alto intending to interview Beatriz da Conceição, which she was asked to do by Jorge Silva Melo, who was working on a documentary.<ref name="MdF" /><ref name="Infopédia" /> Conceição's singing deeply impressed her and was the reason for her sudden and overwhelming interest in fado. She later said: "I fell in love with everything I heard. I asked her for advice. She talked to me about all the important things in fado. I wanted to be a ''fadista''. I spent many days listening to fado records, many nights listening to many ''fadistas'', many months reading and memorising poems".<ref name="MdF" /> She dedicated herself entirely to fado, listening to dozens of recordings, memorizing dozens of lyrics, working on research, talking to fadistas, and formming her own repertoire.<ref name="Infopédia" />
Duarte married ''fadista'' Camané, and worked by his side, selecting a great part of his repertoire and writing lyrics for him to sing. She also worked on the same kind of repertoire-building research for ''fadista'' Joana Amendoeira. In addition to working with these ''fadistas'', she worked for record label EMI-Valentim de Carvalho on research, organizing compilations dedicated to Raul Ferrão and Alfredo Marceneiro, among others.<ref name="Infopédia" /><ref name="MdF" />
Aldina Duarte sang fado publicly for the first time at the cerebral palsy centre at which she worked; and, in 1992, she sang the fado ''Rua do Capelão'' on the film Xavier, directed by Manuel Mozos.<ref name="Infopédia" /><ref name="MdF" /> The performance was recorded in a street in the traditional neighbourhood of Mouraria, and the local residents applauded so intensely she had to sing an encore.<ref name="MdF" /><ref name="AM" />
From 1995 to 1996 she sang at the fado house Clube de Fado, at guitarist Mário Pacheco's invitation. From 1997, she started singing at Sr. Vinho, a fado house owned by ''fadista'' Maria da Fé.<ref name="MdF" /><ref name="AM" />
She recorded her first album, ''Apenas o amor'', at the age of 37. She wrote the lyrics for most of the tracks herself. The album was well received by the critics, who celebrated both her singing and her poetry.<ref name="Infopédia" /><ref name="MdF" /><ref name="AM" />
In 2006 she released her second album, ''Crua''. In this album, all tracks were traditional fados with lyrics by João Monge.<ref name="Infopédia" />
Duarte was the subject of a documentary released in 2009, ''Aldina Duarte: Princesa Prometida'', directed by Manuel Mozos.<ref name="MdF" />
==Personal life== For 10 years she was married to fellow ''fadista'' Camané.<ref name="Infopédia" /><ref name="AM"/>
==Discography==
{{div col}} * ''Apenas o amor'' (2004) * ''Crua'' (2006) * ''Contos de fados'' (2011) * ''Romance(s)'' (2015) * ''Quando se ama loucamente'' (2017) * ''Roubados'' (2019) * ''Mulheres ao espelho'' * ''Metade metade''<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/aldina-duarte-mn0000468923#discography |title=Discography |last=|first= |date= |website=AllMusic |publisher=RhythmOne |access-date=29 August 2024 |quote=}}</ref> {{div col end}}
==Filmography== {{div col}} * ''Aldina Duarte: Princesa Prometida'' (2009) {{div col end}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duarte, Aldina}} Category:1967 births Category:Portuguese fado singers Category:People from Lisbon Category:Portuguese lyricists Category:20th-century Portuguese women singers Category:Portuguese singer-songwriters Category:Portuguese women singer-songwriters Category:Living people