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Interview with producer Sarah Toulouse
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WBEZ Chicago, Interview with producer Sarah Toulouse >>
Fado Singer Makes Rare Chicago Appearance
A Portuguese diva is making a rare appearance in Chicago.
Fado singer Mariza is performing tonight only at the Harris Theater. Chicago Public Radio's Sarah Toulouse has more.
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Cultures world wide have expressed the struggles, heartache, and drama of everyday life through music. Buenos Aires has tango, Chicago has the blues, and Lisbon has fado. For more than 200 years this passionate music has demanded dramatic vocal prowess. Mariza is one of today's leading fadistas - or female fado singer. She grew up in culturally rich Lisbon neighborhoods, soaking up traditional fado tunes. Before she was even old enough to read, Mariza mastered the poems and melodies that make up fado. Her community taught her that fado is more than just music.
MARIZA: The word fado in Latin means fate and destiny. For example, in Portuguese [people] are talking and say, oh that's my fado. They are not talking about the music, but they are saying, that's my destiny.
ambi: Lourcura
Mariza is just 33 and has brought an even greater sense of drama to this music than her predecessors had. She performs in elaborate costumes and uses the whole stage as her performance space. She doesn't just stand still at a microphone. Her voice and body express the emotion of fado.
MARIZA: The music itself is a music that is born in the 19th century in Lisbon… was born from the African slaves and the Portuguese sailors, and for me is a music that makes all the different types of feelings: saudade, which a Portuguese word, happiness, longing, jealousies, love, death, everything. You have everything in this music.
Some critics say she is overly melodramatic - with her flowing black dresses and platinum hair. But Mariza says performance is more than just singing, it's stage presence as well. The drama has paid off. Within the last five years she has gone from relative obscurity to international stardom. Mariza's live CD, Concerto Em Lisboa, is up for a 2007 Latin Grammy. This is the fist nomination ever for a Portuguese artist. After tonight's performance in Chicago, Mariza continues her North American tour in Detroit.
I'm Sarah Toulouse, Chicago Public Radio.
ambi: Lourcura
10/16/07 >> go there
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