Mariza, hailed as "the new face of fado," will perform at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, at the UC Davis Mondavi Center's Jackson Hall.

The charismatic diva, a multi- platinum recording star in Europe, will sing the soulful Portuguese folk style with her four-piece band: Luis Guerreiro, Portuguese guitar; Antonio Neto, acoustic guitar; Vasco Sousa, acoustic bass; and Joao Pedro Ruela, percussion.

Born Mariza Reis Nune in the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique in 1973, Mariza moved with her family to Portugal when she was 3. They settled in Lisbon, where she heard fado, the often melancholy folk style sung informally in Javerns such as the one her father ran.

Although strongly influenced by traditional musicians such as Fernando Mauricio, Carlos do Carmo and Amalia Rodrigues, Mariza's performance style bears little resemblance to the melancholy stage presence of many traditional singers.

Fado, which means "destiny" or "fate," is a Portuguese folk tradition that can be traced back to at least the early 19th century, when homesick travelers, sailors and slaves sang together on the docks of Lisbon, to the accompaniment of the traditional, 12- string Portuguese guitar.

Occupying a cultural niche sometimes likened to that of blues in the United States, fado has been handed down through the generations as an oral tradition; it typically tells the stories of common, working-class people in a highly emotional, often melancholy style.

Traditionally, fado is per formed with only a singer and acoustic guitar, but the "new fado" singers who've emerged since the 1999 death of Rodrigues, the genre's grand dame, have brought a greater variety of instrumentation — as well as more upbeat feel — to the music.

Mariza is considered some thing of a pioneer in this regard, with a performance style that has earned comparisons to Madonna for star quality and spectacle, and a musical adventurousness that has prompted her to expand the repertoire of fado's roughly 200 traditionally performed songs, with a series of newly commissioned works.

Tickets — $39/$34f$24 general, $19.50/'$17/$12 students and children — are available at the Mondavi Center Ticket Office (754-2787). For further information, visit www.MondaviArts.org.