"I lived in a traditional Lisbon neighbourhood and have always sung the fado – I know what it is, I understand myself through it".
Mariza

Mariza is a Mozambican whose soul was forged in the old Mouraria district of Lisbon. It was there that she first heard fado singers, lots of them - so many that their names and faces have merged into the mist of memory; but these "reminiscences live on in my singing". The tributes to Fernando Maurício, Carlos do Carmo and Amália Rodrigues in Transparente (her latest album) therefore come as no surprise. Despite experimenting with other rhythmic forms, Mariza has always been involved in fado.

Her first album release in 2001(tellingly titled), Fado em mim (Fado in me), went Triple platinum in Portugal and thrust her on to the international scene. The press had no hesitation in stating that "a star is born".

In 2002, at the Quebec Summer Festival, she received the First Award for Most Outstanding Performance. That same year she performed in New York's Central Park, the mythical Hollywood Bowl, the Womad Festival, and sold out the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon and the Purcell Room on London's South Bank.

After conquering British audiences with her performance on Jools Holland's legendary television show (as well as being distinguished by inclusion in the commemorative DVD), Mariza was awarded the BBC Radio 3 Best European World Music Artist Award in March 2003. She received the award from Michael Nyman, at Hackney's Ocean where silence was called to hear her sing. The previous night she had performed at the Union Chapel.

At the time her second album, Fado Curvo (Curved Fado) was launched – the title expressing that, fado, like fate, isn't a straight line… "The fado is not enclosed by limits". Mariza confirmed all expectations. German critics awarded her the Deutsche Schalplatten Kritik Award and the album reached number 6 on the Top Billboard of World Music. It was critically acclaimed in Portugal and went double platinum despite the recession that had hit the market (a fall of 39% in just two years). At this point Mariza had outsold all other contemporary fado singers by six times.

On a succession of tours in Europe and North America she sold out the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Belém Cultural Centre in Lisbon and the Théâtre de La Ville in Paris. Foreign journalists in Portugal noted her "excellence in the spreading of Portuguese culture, in its most characteristic manifestation: the fado" and voted her Personality of the Year 2003.

In 2004, the year in which she launched her first DVD, which was recorded at the Union Chapel in London, she received the European Border Breakers Award at MIDEM and went on to participate in Unity, the official album of the Olympic Games, on which she sang the number A Thousand Years with Sting.

Mariza has performed concerts on four continents with notable success and full houses; the Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra; the Albeniz Theatre in Madrid; the Teatro Grec in Barcelona. 20 000 people applauded her enthusiastically at Rock in Rio in Lisbon and 30 000 in Aveiro, Portugal. She was the guest of honour at the Cairo International Song Festival before returning to Lisbon to perform for 22 000 people in Monsanto Park. She has also performed at the Chicago World Music Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Macau Cultural Centre and at Moscow's House of Music.

2005 saw Mariza on a non-stop tour through Europe and USA (from New York's Carnegie Hall, to the Barbican in London).

Mariza's new album "Transparente"(Transparent), in which she reveals even more than in her earlier work, was released in more than 35 countries throughout Europe, Latin America or US, and represents "the turning of a page" for her. This is not to say that Mariza's passion for singing the words of poets has changed; she still makes them her own through the emotion of her interpretation.

The album was number 1 in Portugal, and conquered the Top 10 in Finland, Iceland and Holland. Portugal, France and Spain have since re- released Transparente, Finland and the UK soon to follow suit.

In March 2005 Mariza became one of the international ambassadors for the work and the spirit of Hans Christian Andersen. She was chosen by the Kingdom of Denmark not for her fame in Portugal and abroad, but also because the fado, rather like the work of Hans Christian Andersen, has a certain poetic melancholy that makes its appeal universal.

In July Mariza was invited to be a part of Live 8. She performed at The Eden Project in Cornwall in the UK, under the banner of ‘Africa Calling', alongside artists such as Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour and Angélique Kidjo. It was an emotional day for Mariza, who was born in Mozambique, "It's an honour to perform at such an event, especially because it's so important to be solidary with a continent as Africa, where my roots are".

In September, Mariza gave an unforgettable concert in Lisbon with the Orchestra Sinfonieta de Lisboa to over 20 000 people. The concert was conducted by Brazilian producer Jaques Morelenbaum, who also produced Transparente.

In October Mariza was honoured with the International Career Prize by Amália Rodrigues Foundation, and was proud to be also nominated by the Portuguese Committee of UNICEF to become a National Ambassador, to collaborate, defend, promote and help UNICEF initiatives.

2005 came to a close with Mariza nominated for the Best European Artist in the category of World Music Award by BBC Radio 3, which will take place in April 2006. Mariza declared that she is "deeply moved and happy that Portugal is once again featured in these Awards". She won the award for the first time in 2003.

And, as the page is turned, what songs does this transparent voice have in store for us, what paths still await this force of nature which never ceases to seduce?

She has recently being experimenting with other musical connections, for instance with Flamenco, singing with Spanish star José Mercé the song Há uma música do Povo, from her new album. The poem, originally written by the Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa, was translated by the renowned Spanish journalist Carlos Galilea.
However you can imagine that Mariza will never stray far from fado. As one poet wrote, fado makes its way in the world through the transparency of its lyrics,
and these Mariza sings with all her heart, because it's in the work of poets that Mariza seeks the words which she can make her own within a traditional form of music which is undergoing constant renewal: " fado is not limited… but it must be treated with the utmost care".

REVIEWS:

"OCCASIONALLY in life we are blessed and privileged to experience something unique, so magnificent that it sets the standard for everything else. A magical performance, a work of art, an affair of the heart, or perhaps a glimpse of heaven.
If you were there you will always remember it. Mariza. Her name is written in the stars. We can but gaze in awe."
The Australian, Michael Rofe – Jan ‘06

"With Billie Holiday and Nina Simone dead and gone…Mariza came along."
Daily Express

"…you'd be cheating yourself if you let this album pass you by"
Daily Express

"This is Mariza's best album to date"
Independent

"Fado star Mariza has made a huge impact across Europe…she has an appeal that reaches well beyond world music fans (...) for those that haven't yet heard her, Transparente is a good place to start."
Evening Standard

"…sheer exquisiteness all the way."
Songlines

"Mariza sounds more majestic than ever before"
Sunday Times

"…this is her most refined album to date."
Daily Telegraph

"Transparente will be a leading contender for world music album of the year".
Times

"Transparente, l'album lumineux, l'un des meilleurs consacrés au fado depuis longtemps »
Le Monde

« Matura e densa è la sua voce. Intensa e appassionata come non mai, tanto da risultare già, in patria, la più amata e poplare fadista di oggi."
"Canzoni ricamate di magia e atmosfera si intrecciano com i versi dei poeti. E tutto vola. Per grazia e bellezza."
Rockstar

"The sultry singer Mariza is making waves around the world… / …she is revolutionizing the traditional Portuguese style known as Fado", Billboard USA

"Jazz voice, blues heart" / "In the crowded field of talented young Fado artists, Portuguese singer Mariza is one of its biggest stars", Boston Globe

"…She's the Sade of Fado" / "Are you a Fado fanatic? You will be when you hear Transparente", New York Times magazine