Architect builds backdrop for soulful fado singer.

Powerful people all over the world would do just about anything to get renowned architect Frank Gehry to design for them. All Mariza had to do was sing.

Her interpretation of fado, the soulful music of Portugal, has moved Gehry to turn the stage of the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the steel-clad architectural gem he created for Los Angeles, into a cozy tavern.

Their joint creation will last a single night, Oct. 28.

"When I met Mariza and heard her sing I was immediately connected to a whole bunch of things, and Lisbon became symbolic of the greatest place on earth," Gehry said in an interview.

Gehry was seduced by the light and character of Lisbon, where majestic pastel-colored buildings reflect off the waters of the Tagus River and evoke the riches of Portugal's colonial empire. "Lisbon somehow connected California to Europe for me," he said.

That was five years ago. Mariza, born in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique in 1973, has since become an international star, performing in the likes of Royal Albert Hall in London, New York's Carnegie Hall and yes, the Disney Concert Hall.

"Once she did a concert here, I was staggered by how she understood this room. She just got it," said Gehry as he sat with Mariza on stage, the soaring ceiling overhead. Mariza had been wowed by the outside of the building, but the inside, she said, was a masterpiece of a music hall, that felt intimate on contact and pushed her to sing a cappella.

"Only a person who really loves art and music could think about what the artist is going to feel on stage," said Mariza, who goes by that single name.

But he has never collaborated with a performer like he has with Mariza. "I don't really go looking for stuff like this. I wouldn't do it with many people," said Gehry, who was born in Canada but moved to Los Angeles early in life.

Fado, which translates to fate in English, is often associated with melancholy and the waves of Portuguese emigrants afflicted by "saudade," or longing. But Mariza insists it is not sad, and she herself bears no resemblance to the black-clad, somber fado singers of the past, such as grande dame of fado Amalia Rodrigues.

"When I hear her sing, she represents Lisbon to me. It's Lisbon and Lisbon is a great story."