Her singular operatic voice, robust and laden with emotion, lingers after a performance like an echo from an ancient time. Accompanied by traditional Portuguese guitar, she defined the Lisbon fado, a 19th-century song form likened to the blues for its mostly minor-key mournfulness. Her melismatic tremolo, a Moorish retention, is haunting and adds weight to these narrative tales from the margins of society. While most fado music evokes saudade (a profound longing or sadness), there is also a romantic vein pulsing through it that Rodrigues brought to the world's attention.