The funeral of the Portuguese singer Linda de Suza will take place on January 6 in Paris, the agent of the artist’s son, José Orlando, revealed to the Lusa agency today.
Linda de Suza, the Portuguese immigrant singer who made a career in France, died this Wednesday at the age of 74 in a hospital in Gisors, France, due to “respiratory failure” and diagnosed with Covid-19.
According to the agent of João Tecla, the singer’s son, the funeral will be on January 6 and she will be buried in Paris.
The death of Linda de Suza made headlines in the main French media, which described her as “iconic” and recalled that she was one of the first artists in France to sing in French the experiences of a foreign community installed in the country.
On Wednesday night, French President Emmanuel Macron recalled the “icon of crossed destinies” between two cultures, between the French and the Portuguese, and the Minister of Culture, Rima Abdul Malak, wrote on Twitter that “the voice Linda de Suza’s gold touched the hearts of millions of French and Portuguese people”.
In Portugal, the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, evoked Linda de Suza as “an example of determination” and “a French icon of Portuguese immigration and, therefore, an icon of Portugal”.
The Secretary of State for the Portuguese Communities, Paulo Cafôfo, said on Twitter that Linda de Suza “carried Portugal in her cardboard bag and in her voice.”
Born in 1948 in Beringel, in the municipality of Beja, Linda de Suza made her debut as a singer at the restaurant Chez Loisette, in Saint-Ouen, north of Paris. At the beginning of her career, she became known for the song “Um Português (Mala de Cartão)”, in which she sang the laments of longing for those who left the country.
Linda de Suza became the singer of the Portuguese emigrant community, singing about their difficulties and homesickness, in songs like “J’ai deux pays pour un seul coeur” or “La Symphonie du Portugal”. Her repertoire included themes from popular songs like “Lírio Roxo” and “Malhão, Malhão”, and she recorded “Coimbra / Avril au Portugal”.
His story was adapted for television in a miniseries entitled “Mala de Cartão” (1988).
Linda de Suza went through personal setbacks that were echoed in the press: in 2010 she made public her financial difficulties and accused her partner of stealing her identity; at that time, she said that she lived on about 400 euros a month. However, she returned to the stage and, between 2014 and 2017, she toured several times.
In 2020 he presented a new project, “Postais de Portugal”, with which he was preparing a new tour that the covid-19 pandemic forced to cancel.
Source: TSF
