Fado- usually identified as the blues of Portugal- doesn't have to be sad, mournful music.  At least not when new fado sensation Mariza sings.

"It's not always so sad.  We have the happy fados, too," said Mariza (pronounced mah-REE-zah), who make her Twin Cities debut Monday at Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis.  "Because in fado, you sing poems, and poems are associated with feelings.  Fado talks always about feeling, very deep feeling, a little bit melancholy ones- like death and jealousy and lost love."

However the title track on her second CD, "Fado Curvo," is anything but melancholy.  It's downright playful.

"It's a very happy one," she said.  Using folk rhythms from northern Portugal, "it talks about that life is not a straight line and passion is not a straight line."

There are three styles of fado- classical, traditional and original.  There are roughly 300 traditional fado songs, dating back about 120 years.  With classical fado, the poems always remain the same.  And original fados are of course, exclusive to their singer.

On Mariza's new album, released Tuesday, the fadista offers all three styles, though mostly originals, including "Fado Curvo."

On Mariza's new album, released Tuesday, the fadista offers all three styles, though mostly originals, including "Fado Curvo."

"I'm trying to show my vision about fado," she said Monday from New York.  "I'm not doing it to break tradition or rules. I'm doing it because I love it.  For a long, long time, I thought if we didn't start showing our opinion about this kind of music you're going to make it difficult to listen to, and you'll say, 'Oh, this is the fado museum.' "

In concert Mariza is accompanied by a string bassist and two acoustic guitarists- one classical and one Portuguese, which is similar to a lute.  Before singing each selection she explains what it's about.  (The CD booklets include English translations.)  She never has tried to sing in English.

Mariza 29, began singing fado at her parents' restaurant at age 5.  Growing up in an old neighborhood of Lisbon where fado was born, she said she learned the music in the streets.

"We don't have and age for fado," she said of her unlikely emergence at such a young age.  "It just needs feeling."

As a teenager, Mariza sang in soul and jazz bands.  And these days, she listens to a wide range of music- from Maria Calass and Tony Bennett to Limp Bizkit (seriously) and Bjork (with whom she would love to record).  She continued to sing fado privately and then returned to it publicly in 1999 at a tribute concert to late fado queen Amalia Rodrigues.

The music of  "poor people," fado fell out of favor when Portugal's facist regime was overthrown in 1974, Mariza said.  Thereafter, fado became the province of older women singing in restaurants.  For the past few years, Mariza has been leading a fado resurgence in her homeland, where she has become a big star with two albums in the top five.  She said her debut disc, "Fado em Mim," has sold 100,000 copies worldwide, 60,000 of them in Portugal, which a lot of records for such a small country.

Mariza is making waves elsewhere.  This year, she won the BBC World Music Award and last year, she was a hit at the Quebec Summer Festival and performed in New York and Los Angeles to rave reviews.

Now on her second tour of North America, she is surprised by how attentive the audiences are.

"Fado is not a music you expect them to be listening to," she said.  "All the audiences who come try to understand and they want to listen.  I'm really surprised; it's really good."