Mariza

In last 20 years, Mariza has risen from a local phenomenon, known only to a small circle of
admirers in Lisbon, to one of the most widely acclaimed stars of the International Music circuit.

Fado em Mim was an exciting first album, showing a young singer with a rich, vibrant voice and a strong artistic personality. She still sang several hits of Amália Rodrigues’ repertory but her approach to the heritage of the great Fado diva was already so personal that she could easily cast away any suggestion of mere imitation. And within her original material Ó Gente da minha Terra, by the young composer Tiago Machado, soon became a major hit in its own right.

No Portuguese artist since Amália Rodrigues has experienced such a triumphant international career, accumulating success after success on the most prestigious world stages, raving reviews from the most demanding music critics worldwide and countless international awards and distinctions. As usual, her musical partners are simply only the best: Jacques Morelenbaum and John Mauceri, José Merced and Miguel Poveda, Gilberto Gil and Ivan Lins, Lenny Kravitz and Sting, Cesária Évora and Tito Paris, Carlos do Carmo and Rui Veloso. And her repertoire, while firmly rooted in classical and contemporary Fado, has grown to include occasional Cape Verdean mornas, Brazilian & Spanish classics or any other themes she holds dear to her heart.

Mariza and Rodrigues have a lot in common, beyond their origin. With her residencies at legendary venues such as the Paris Olympia and Carnegie Hall, Mariza swept global audiences off their feet in the early part of this century, like Rodrigues had done in the 1950s and 1960s. Through her critically acclaimed recordings and unexpected collaborations, Mariza expanded what fado could be, just like Rodrigues had done in the 1960s and 1970s. Mariza became the most celebrated ambassador of Portugal’s music in the twenty-first century as Rodrigues had been in the twentieth century.