To listen to audio on Rock Paper Scissors you'll need to Get the Flash Player

Sample Track 1:
"Maria Lisboa" from Concerto Em Lisboa (Times Square)
Sample Track 2:
"Há Uma Música Do Povo" from Concerto Em Lisboa (Times Square)
Buy Recording:
Concerto Em Lisboa (Times Square)
Layer 2
View Additional Info

Mariza and the Story of Fado: More about the bonus BBC documentary DVD

“Fado to the Portuguese people is like our national soul,” says Mariza. “But fado is also universal and the language is not a frontier. You don’t have to understand what I’m singing because fado has the power to cross that frontier and make you feel emotions.”  

Within the space of just five years Mariza has gone from being just a new fado singer to a major international star. She’s hugely popular at home in Portugal, but is also taking fado around the world. Watch this film and you will understand why. Mariza and the Story of Fado, a 60-minute documentary directed by Simon Broughton, intertwines Mariza’s story with that of fado itself. It includes spectacular concert footage of Mariza, intimate performances in fado clubs, a century of rich archive footage and the glorious city of Lisbon from which the music bursts.  

Mariza was born in Mozambique to a Mozambican mother and Portuguese father. She came to live in Lisbon aged three and grew up in one of the traditional fado neighbourhoods, Mouraria – just a few streets away from the house of the first fado singer we know by name, Maria Severa who died in 1846. Her parents share some of their memories of Lisbon and the fado taverna they ran which first introduced Mariza to fado. She sings some of the most popular traditional fados and some new ones composed about her and about the new Lisbon.  

Like any urban music, fado – sometimes called the Portuguese blues - tells the story of its environment. For the first time, this film tells the story of left-wing and anarchist fado which developed in the working class quarters in the early 20th century until it was banned by the fascist regime which came to power in 1926. In post-war Portugal the regime decided to embrace fado and use it for its own ends to support patriotism and family values. This was also the period of fado’s greatest name, Amalia Rodrigues, who starred on stage, on film and toured widely around the world. When the fascist regime fell in 1974, fado fell with it. It was only a decade or so later that a new generation of singers could approach the music untainted by the old regime. The film shows a handful of the other current names of fado and Mariza’s commitment to new fados for the younger generation.  

Mariza and the Story of Fado includes stunning performances from Mariza herself, plus dramatic historical and political details set against the beautifully-shot backdrop of Lisbon itself to reveal the compelling story behind this evocative music. Rui Vieira Nery, Portugal’s most respected fado historian, says “it is clearly the best TV documentary on fado ever produced: well narrated, historically accurate, intelligent, captivating, stunningly beautiful and with lots of well-chosen music.”  

A Songlines/MWTV production  

Simon Broughton, who worked in the BBC Television’s music department for many years, is well-known for his music documentaries on both classical and world music. Award-winning films include The Music of Terezin (1993), about composers in the Jewish ghetto in Czechoslovakia during World War II, Breaking the Silence: Music in Afghanistan (2002), about the return of music after the Taliban and Sufi Soul: The Mystic Music of Islam (2005), the antidote to fundamentalist visions of Islam. Broughton is also editor of Songlines, the world music magazine and co-editor of The Rough Guide to World Music.  

Additional Info
Portugal’s Beacon Looks Forward while Respecting the Past: ...
Mariza and the Story of Fado: More about the bonus BBC documentary ...
US Broadcast Premier Announcement

Top of Press Release