by Bill Picture

This week, we've got three bands whose clothes don't rock harder than they do and ... Portuguese royalty? "What could these four artists possibly have in common?" you ask. Um, for starters, a whole lot of soul and a passion that transcends taste and style. That's what!

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Mariza

Mariza plays with at 9 p.m. Saturday at Bimbo's 365 Club, 1025 Columbus Ave., San Francisco. Tickets are $20 Advance/$25 Door. Call (415) 474-0365 or visit www.bimbos365club.com .

Mariza, world music's newest superstar, exudes an elegance and breathtaking power that's earned her the title "the new queen of fado" or Portuguese blues. The 30-year-old diva has mesmerized audiences worldwide with her not so traditional take on a very emotionally charged style, bringing the centuries-old sound born in the ghettos of Lisbon in the early 1800s to new and younger audiences, who are captivated by the new school fadista's intensity and rock star-like presence. Sales of her latest release, "Fado Curvo" (Times Square Records), have proven that fado is indeed crossing over to a new generation and earlier this year, Mariza won the award for Best European World Music Act at the BBC Awards, the U.K.'s version of the Grammys.