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The Detroit News, Feature >>
Get to know Portuguese folk music and Mariza
If you like the blues, you will like fado. And if you like fado, you will love Mariza. The young singer from Portugal released her first album in 2001 and was instantly rocketed to international stardom. Mariza will be in Detroit tonight to seduce a whole new audience at Orchestra Hall at The Max.
Fado is Portuguese folk music that yearns and aches through mournful ballads. Keith Koppmeier, marketing director of pops and specials at the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, says there have been hundreds, if not thousands, of fado singers, but Mariza is in a class of her own.
"She is one of Portugal's leading interpreters of fado," he says, "It's like the blues are in America or tango is in Argentina."
Amália Rodrigues is considered by many to be the greatest fado singer in history. But fans now say Mariza could be Rodrigues' heir. Mariza was raised in Lisbon and sings a style of fado that is more popular than refined, with an emphasis on great poetry.
Traditionally, these songs were performed with a 12-string Portuguese guitar and a classical guitar. But modern interpreters such as Mariza have added violins, cellos and even full string orchestras.
"It's very affecting and emotional," Koppmeier says. "And Mariza draws you in with her voice and her look -- the whole package is soul-stirring."
Mariza is electric onstage and instantly recognizable with her trademark cropped blond hair.
She has released three albums that have all gone multi-platinum in her home country, and become best sellers in other nations.
She's performed at Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, London's Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House. Her list of awards is to too long to include, but she was recently chosen in her home country as one of the 100 greatest Portuguese singers of all time.
Koppmeier says fans of fado as well as those who know nothing about the music will definitely want to see her perform live.
"Once people hear her singing, he says, "I think we will have a lot of fado fans in Detroit."
- Celeste Headlee is a freelance cultural writer and reporter for National Public Radio. 10/17/07 >> go there
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