thu 28/03/2024

theartsdesk Q&A: Mariza, Diva of Fado | reviews, news & interviews

theartsdesk Q&A: Mariza, Diva of Fado

theartsdesk Q&A: Mariza, Diva of Fado

The queen of fado talks before her UK tour

Mariza: 'My private life is what you see - music'

Marisa dos Reis Nunes (b. 1973) is an African-Portuguese singing superstar whose music has deep roots in fado, Portugal’s dark-blue, intensely poetic national music, but which over the course of five albums has gradually taken on inflections of jazz, blues and bossa nova. Born in Mozambique to an African mother and a Portuguese father, Mariza (like all good divas she has long since dispensed with meddlesome surname, converting along the way the soft S in her forename to a zippy Z) grew up in Lisbon, where she fell in love with fado (it translates as “fate”), the starkly melancholic strain of Portuguese folk music that originated in Africa and Brazil but which found its form in the cafes, bars and whorehouses of Lisbon’s working-class neighbourhoods in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

Marisa dos Reis Nunes (b. 1973) is an African-Portuguese singing superstar whose music has deep roots in fado, Portugal’s dark-blue, intensely poetic national music, but which over the course of five albums has gradually taken on inflections of jazz, blues and bossa nova. Born in Mozambique to an African mother and a Portuguese father, Mariza (like all good divas she has long since dispensed with meddlesome surname, converting along the way the soft S in her forename to a zippy Z) grew up in Lisbon, where she fell in love with fado (it translates as “fate”), the starkly melancholic strain of Portuguese folk music that originated in Africa and Brazil but which found its form in the cafes, bars and whorehouses of Lisbon’s working-class neighbourhoods in the late 18th and 19th centuries.

People don’t realise that I’m very shy. In the beginning I really didn’t have a clue what was happening when I was on stage because I spent the whole time with my eyes closed

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So much for high quality singing talent, check out these guys singing their souls out for a local music competition Cabbie-oke.

Mariza, I don't speak portuguese or understand it, but when I hear her voice, I want to cry. She has a force of expression in her voice that is so strong and so beautiful! I love this woman's voice!

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