Mariza is the most important contemporary singer of fado, the Portuguese folk music filled with the lonely lament of “saudade,” the heartsickness that comes from being far from the ones you love. She has the gift of an almost supernatural ability to connect with her audience. If the song is about tears, she will leaving crying. That’s Mariza.
Mariza in New York City
Lincoln Center, Manhattan
Mariza, sings Portuguese fado; at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, Manhattan; on Thursday, October 24, 2024, at 7:30pm. Choose-What-You-Pay, suggested $35. 🇲🇿 🇵🇹
Newark, New Jersey
Mariza, sings Portuguese fado; at New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), in Newark, New Jersey; on Friday, October 25, 2024, at 8pm. From $40. 🇲🇿 🇵🇹
New York City Venues
- Lincoln Center
- New Jersey Performing Arts Center
- Pioneer Works
- SummerStage NYC
- World Music Institute
Mariza
Portuguese sailors launched the Age of Discovery through which Europeans took over much of the world. Fado is their music. It is a musical expression of saudade (terrible loneliness and heartsickness).
The roots of Portuguese Fado reach back beyond 1820s Lisbon, but Amália Rodrigues (1920 – 1999) was the singer who popularized fado around the world. Amália was “The Queen of Fado” (Rainha do Fado).
When Amália died in 1999, Mariza was chosen to sing a television tribute to The Queen. Her friends encouraged her to follow that star. This led to Mariza’s first studio album “Fado em Mim” (Fado in Me) in 2001. It was a hit in Portugal and worldwide. Fado never sold like that. A new star was born in the Portuguese sky.
There is something else about Mariza. Marisa dos Reis Nunes was born in 1973 in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique. She moved to Lisbon, Portugal when she was three, and was raised in Mouraria and Alfama, two of Lisbon’s most traditional neighborhoods. That’s where she learned to sing fado.
Today the flow of energy from Portugal to Mozambique has reversed from Mozambique to Portugal. In an unspoken way, Mariza is part of that. Her hit song “Transparente” is a tribute to her African grandmother. Many Latins and many Americans have an “African grandmother in the closet” (Henry Louis Gates, Jr.). We are taught from childhood to deny it, because “white privilege” is so helpful in life. But now is the time to be proud of our heritage, all of it. We have a lot to be proud of.
After taking time off to become a mom, Mariza returned to recording with “Mundo” (2015). That’s what she represents, the world sowing itself back together across the seams of history.
Mariza has won many awards including “Best Artist” from the Amália Rodrigues Foundation.
The Great Migration is no longer African Americans moving from the South to the North, or Puerto Ricans moving from the island to New York City. We have messed up Mother Nature’s water cycle, so now the Great Migration is everywhere around the world. No matter what walls people put up, there is no way to stop it, because there is death behind. Fado is filled with the sorrow of leaving loved ones, and heading directly into an uncertain future with many tests on the way. Any idea how hard it is to say goodbye to your parents, knowing you will never see them again? This is saudade. This is fado. This is Mariza.
Key Albums
- “Mariza Canta Amália” (2020)
- “Mariza” (2018) was nominated for the “Best Portuguese Language Roots Album” Latin Grammy.
- “Mundo” (2015) was nominated for the “Best Portuguese Language Contemporary Pop Album” Latin Grammy.
- “Terra” (2008) was nominated for the “Best Folk Album” Latin Grammy.
- “Concerto Em Lisboa” (2006) was nominated for the “Best Folk Album” Latin Grammy.
- “Transparente” (2005) contains a hit tribute to Mariza’s African grandmother.
- “Fado em Mim” (2002) launched a new star in the Portuguese sky.
Information
Thanks to the World Music Institute and Pioneer Works for sponsoring initial coverage of Mariza in 2018.
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