Fado music inevitably evokes that Portuguese feeling of nostalgia and loss known as saudade.

Which means the city is in for a pretty melancholic week.

The Portuguese genre’s biggest star, Mariza, known for her mesmerizing voice — and signature platinum blond hair — is playing at Town Hall on Saturday, coinciding with the U.S. release Friday of her latest album, "Terra."

Then, next Friday, Carlos Saura’s film "Fados," the third and last installment of the iconic Spanish director’s musical trilogy, opens in New York at Lincoln Plaza Cinema.

"‘Fados’ is a beautiful documentary that shows a little bit [of] the history and the traditions of the genre ... and helps [us] understand what we can find deep in the spirit of this beautiful music," says the Mozambique-born Mariza.

She and an array of exquisite performers, such as Brazilians Caetano Veloso and Chico Buarque and Mexican-American Lila Downs, are in the film.

"I’m not an actress, you know, I’m just a singer ... and that’s what I do in the film," Mariza, 36, says from Lisbon as she prepares for a four-month-long U.S. tour. "That said, the experience of working with Saura was of pure joy."

Mariza broke into the fado scene with regular gigs at the famed Casa do Fado in Lisbon. But she took the baton of the country’s signature genre in 1999, when fado superstar Amália Rodrigues passed away.

By 2001, when she released her debut CD, "Fado em Mim," she was well on her way to become the new international voice of the passionate genre.

"I never expected to record music," she says, "my first album was meant as a gift for my family, that’s it. So, I never really expected to go on tours or to have people around trying to understand what I have been doing with music."

Fado is at the core of lusofonía [Lusophony], she explains, "the triangle of Portuguese-speaking countries formed by Portugal, Brazil and some nations in Africa."

"If you go to Lisbon, you will notice that fados are not meant to be danced," said Saura, who will be in New York next week, from his home in Madrid. "The first fado, or so they say, came from Brazil. But the dance was censored both in Brazil and Portugal until it disappeared."

In the movie, "we try to reintroduce the dance aspect to the rhythm, because I love dance," he says.

To understand fado, both Saura and Mariza agree, one has to look back at traditions that go beyond national borders.

"I see, for example, in France, where the Arabs live in a place and the white French people live in a different one and I realize how different the Portuguese are," Mariza says.

"Here [In Lisbon] everybody lives together, side by side. It’s easy to go to a restaurant and listen to music from Cape Verde, and see people from Africa and Brazil together having a good time. ... The fado, I believe, is definitely at the center of this tradition."

After her American tour, Mariza says she will slow down a bit.

"This music is like a Pandora’s box: You open it and you need to show all your feelings," she says.

"So if you want to be able to do that for a long time," she explains, "you need time for introspection, time to process your feelings and to channel your emotions."

-- Pablo Calvi