Mariza: The New Face of Fado

By Caroline Goyette

            On stage, Portuguese fado singer Mariza has a commanding presence.  Her voice, warm emotive, fills the room; her boldly coifed hair and elegant garb make for a figure you can’t take your eyes from.  Over the phone, talking with me from her hotel room in Raleigh, N.C. in the midst of her North American tour, she has the same lilting, warm tone, but her voice is hushed, at once confident and self-conscious, careful and gracious.  I can almost believe, talking to her this way, without the swirling skirts and the captive audience, that she’s in her twenties.  (She is, although when I ask her, she tells me she makes it a point never to reveal her age.)

            Mariza grew up in a traditional neighborhood in Lisbon, and began singing fado—poetry set to music, a Portuguese form often linked to the blues, rebetika or tango—at the age of five.  Often compared to Fadista Legend Amalia Rodrigues, Mariza has won numerous awards, including one from the BBC for the best European act, and released two CDs, entitled Fado Em Mim and Fado Curvo.  She performs at the Pitman Theatre at Alverno College this Saturday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m.

            Noize:  How do you stay true to the rich cultural heritage of fado and simultaneously express yourself as an individual?

            Mariza:  Five Years ago, fado was not popular.  Fado was more for old people; the young generation was not really interested in trying to understand or know about that culture.  Those things are changing.  When I started, I felt like, I’m singing this music because I love it and because I can express myself.  I tried in the past bossa nova and blues, but I was not really expressing myself, I was not feeling it was a part of me.  With fado, that happened.  In the beginning, people thought, well, she’s very young, maybe she’s not really in the tradition, but now they understand.  I know a lot about tradition, but at the same time I have my point of view.

            N:  How do you express your own point of view within the tradition?

            M:  In fado we have a line; I don’t know how to explain it but I know what it is and if I pass that line, it’s not fado anymore.  At the same time, I’m doing my fado, my music, respecting all the traditions and at the same time showing my point of view.  I’m using my influences, like the different types of music I’ve heard, my travels, my thoughts, my research about good poetry, I think all of that influences the fado I do.

            N:  What sort of difficulties have you encountered in bringing your music to the United Kingdom and the United States?

            M:  In the United Kingdom, they really consume their own music, they really know more about their music than music from other countries. … We Chose the U.K. and the U.S. as our first territories because we knew it’s going to be really difficult … it is always difficult to push people to come to see a different culture in a different language where they don’t understand.  You have to show it’s different because it’s a different language, but it’s not less interesting than other types of music.

            N:  What kind of music do you listen to, aside from fado?

            M:  I listen to everything from classical music to rap.  One of my favorite singers is Tony Bennett.  I love the voice, I love the swing he has; I saw a concert of him in Portugal many years ago.  A few days ago, I saw K.D. Lang live.  It was a beautiful experience, her voice, the way she moves on stage, her technique.  But there are a lot of different singers who I love.  Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keyes, Sting … There are a lot of singers I listen carefully to and try to understand.  They are kind of my teachers.

            N:  Why was it important to you to make a name for yourself at home first before venturing into international markets?

            M:  I think an artist only can exist if he exists in his homeland. …  For me, it was really really important to be accepted by my people.  When I did my first appearance on television, people started talking about me, and I felt like even with my different ideas, my different look, they were accepting me.  We have the traditional, purist people who normally don’t accept a young fado singer, they feel like we are shaking tradition, shaking tradition, shaking lines, but with me it was completely different; they really supported me.

            I feel like I only could exist if I exist in my homeland.

            For ticket information, call the Alverno Presents box office at 414-382-6044 or visit www.alverno.edu.