by John Storm Roberts
Almost all of Amalia Rodrigues's greatest recordings were made during the 78-rpm era when she was a purely national treasure. Many have disappeared, but some of the best are available on a French release with gorgeous packaging but no notes beyond the titles, lengths, and composers. The CD version consists of only one of the LPs in the vinyl set. Still, here are some of the great moments in 20th-century urban popular music.