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April in Portugal (song)

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"April in Portugal"
Song
English title"The Whisp'ring Serenade", "Coimbra"
Written1947
GenreFado
Composer(s)Raul Ferrão
Lyricist(s)
  • Jose Galhardo (Portuguese)
  • Jimmy Kennedy (English)[1]

"April in Portugal" is a popular song, also named "The Whisp'ring Serenade." The music was written by Raul Ferrão with Portuguese lyrics by José Galhardo as a fado named "Coimbra", about the city of that name in 1947. English lyrics written by Jimmy Kennedy were set to the music, though many of the most popular versions of the song were instrumentals. It is one of the signature songs of Portuguese singer and fadista Amália Rodrigues. It was also recorded in French by the tenor Luís Piçarra.

Charting versions

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Charting versions were recorded by the Les Baxter orchestra, by the Richard Hayman orchestra, by the Freddy Martin orchestra, and by Vic Damone:

On Cash Box magazine's chart, where all versions were combined, the song reached a peak position of #2.

Other contemporary versions

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Other versions recorded include those by:

Other recorded versions

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The song has also been recorded by:

References

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  1. ^ "Original versions of April in Portugal written by Jimmy Kennedy | SecondHandSongs". SecondHandSongs.
  2. ^ a b c d Whitburn, Joel (1973). Top Pop Records 1940-1955. Record Research.
  3. ^ "Wes Anderson's Asteroid City Soundtrack Out from ABKCO Digitally Today". Focus Features. 23 June 2023.
  4. ^ RCA Victor Records in the 20-5000 to 20-5499 series
  5. ^ "Paisach in Portugal by Mickey Katz and His Orchestra". SecondHandSongs. Retrieved February 11, 2022.