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Bringing a Little Bit of Portugal to Salt Lake City: Fado star
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Salt Lake Tribune, Bringing a Little Bit of Portugal to Salt Lake City: Fado star >>
by Martin Renzhofer, The Salt Lake Tribune
When Mariza sings, it doesn't matter that the words are Portuguese. Emotionally charged melancholy is universal.
"At the end of a concert I feel tired. I feel very tired," said the accented 26-year-old Mariza, who will perform Friday at 8 p.m. at the Living Traditions festival in Salt Lake City. "I'm tired but at the same time I feel wonderful."
Such is the power of the blues, or, in this case, fado, the traditional ballad of Portugal. Fado is to that country what the Mississippi Delta blues are to America. They are songs of sorrow and unrequited love.
In recent years, there has been a revival of fado in Portugal. The mesmerizing Mariza, with her rich, powerful voice, is fado's fastest-rising star. She will discuss Fado on the Workshop Stage at 6 p.m. on Friday.
Worldwide, Mariza's first album, "Fado em mim" (fado and me), has sold more than 100,000 copies. Her second, the recent "Fado Curvo," has received more praise.
Living Traditions promises to be a blues weekend. Saturday's performance, also at 8 p.m., highlights the "Legends of Chicago Blues" -- Pinetop Perkins, Hubert Sumlin, Willie "Big Eyes" Smith and Bob Margolin.
"This new album is more organic than the first one," said Mariza, who complained that her first recording was more controlled and took too long to make. "Too many takes. If you have too many takes trying to make it perfect it becomes like mathematics, not enough soul.
"This record is my baby."
In Portuguese, curvo means curved or winding.
"Music is not a straight line," she said. "Life is not a straight line, like passion. My music is not a straight line."
For "Fado Curvo," Mariza includes hints of Brazilian music and jazz, which has caused some concern for fado traditionalists. But Mariza, who was raised in one of Lisbon's most traditional neighborhoods, has always made her own road.
She began like most fado singers, performing in coffee houses. Traditional fado is sung by dark-haired performers who wear black. The tall, willowy Mariza prefers colorful fashions and closely cut hair arranged in blond rows.
"I love my hair," she said. "It was cut this way and I didn't have a record yet. Portugal is too straight, black clothes, black hair.
"Things in my life, I don't program anything. If you start thinking 'is this the right way or the wrong way,' then it's not music. It's something, but not fado. You know when you want to go to a special occasion? You want to be pretty. For me singing is a special occasion. I like to go onstage pretty."
It is Mariza's voice that commands real attention, an instrument that has made her the star "fadista" in Portugal and evoked passionately positive reviews in publications throughout the globe.
Praise came quickly. In January 2002, Billboard didn't even list her among emerging fado singers.
"I am surprised by the things they say about me," said Mariza. "I never expected anything. Two years ago, nobody knew my name. Now I hope things can move more slowly.
"I love what I'm doing. I can't imagine not singing."
GRAPHIC: The mesmerizing Mariza, one of the fastest-rising performers of traditional Portuguese fado music, is Friday's headliner at Living Traditions. Hear her at 8 p.m. at the Salt Lake City & County Building. 05/15/03
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