Canção do Mar

"Canção do Mar" began life under another name. Written by Frederico de Brito and Ferrer Trindade, it was first recorded by Amália Rodrigues as "Solidão", solitude, for the soundtrack of the film Les amants du Tage, known in English as The Lovers of Lisbon, and released as a single in 1954. Its sea imagery follows a long fado habit, a tradition closely tied to Lisbon's port district. In 1961 Tristão da Silva recorded it under the title it keeps today. Dulce Pontes, born in Montijo near Lisbon, came to the song after starting out as a pop singer and representing Portugal at Eurovision in 1991. Her versions of classic fados earned her press billing as Amália's successor and heir, and her recording of "Canção do Mar" became the one the world heard. In 1995 it was the theme of a Brazilian telenovela, and in 1996 it appeared in the Hollywood film Primal Fear with Richard Gere and Edward Norton. Pontes later said she only found out while sitting in the cinema, hearing her own voice on the soundtrack, and at first thought she was dreaming. A short excerpt later became the theme of the police series Southland. The melody has since travelled into Spanish, French, German, Greek and Persian versions, and Sarah Brightman turned it into the dance hit "Harem". Few songs show so clearly how a fado written for a 1950s film could cross into world music through one voice from the 1990s fado revival.