The rise and rise of Mariza continues. It has only been four years since her London debut, and now she has "fulfilled her dream" by appearing at a packed Albert Hall - and done so with a gloriously adventurous show. Backstage, she talked about the "Lusophone triangle" of music that had moved with the slaves from the Portuguese colonies in Angola to Brazil, and then to Lisbon, to create that sturdy, mournful answer to the blues, fado. Now, the world's best-known fado singer re-created that triangle for herself. This was fado with an international dimension, in a performance that featured a celebrated Brazilian musician, Jaques Morelenbaum; a great African singer, Tito Paris, from the Cape Verde islands; and two very different musical heroes from Lisbon.

At times it seemed she had been over-generous in handing the stage to others, but Mariza still dominated the impressive line-up. She came on stage looking impossibly tall and slender, with her own band joined by a 15-piece string section, sensitively conducted by Morelenbaum. Mariza's most spine-chilling work contrasts breathy, whispered passages against sudden soaring and emotional passages, and right from the start, with the exquisite Loucura, her musicians followed the ever-shifting pattern of her songs. Her "master", she announced, was Carlos Do Carmo, and the veteran fado singer himself came on to join her on Duas Lagrimas de Orvalho, followed by three of his own powerful yet understated songs.

In the second set there was another duet with guitarist Tito Paris, whose powerful treatment of Saudade was backed by Morelenbaum on cello. It was difficult to understand why the Portuguese heartthrob Rui Veloso should also appear, but his compatriots in the hall clearly loved him.