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"Fado" is to the Portuguese what "Blues" are to Black Americans; as the "Tango" is to Argentinians and "Flamenco" for the Spanish. This is the kind of music that one does not just play, or just sing, but more than anything else... one feels.
From her debut, Mariza was immediately compared to the greatest Fado icon of all times: Am‡lia Rodrigues. Born in Mozambique, Mariza spent her childhood in one of the most typical quarters of Lisbon: Mouraria. She made contact with Fado in the "Fado Houses" where singing is somewhat spontaneous, and part of everyday life. At six she already joined the Fado evenings for special occasions. And though she tried soul, gospel and jazz in her teens, she rediscovered Fado in her twenties.
In 1999 Mariza had her first great exposure as one of the guests in the homage to Am‡lia Rodrigues in the Coliseums of Lisbon and Oporto, both broadcast live nationally in Portugal. Mariza immediately gained major interest from public and media and has been performing numerous concerts in Portugal and abroad. Often featuring in prime-time programmes she accepted a special invitation to intodruce Fado to Sting, in top-rating national show Hermansic.
Mariza has performed in throughout Europe and her debut CD, Fado em Mim was released in 2001 and went quadruple Platinum in Portugal, then was released in the UK, Japan, France, Beneluxand Germany. Her second album, Fado Curvo (Curved Fado) was launched in 2003. German critics awarded her the Deutsche Schalplatten Kritik Award and the album reached number six on the Top Billboard of World Music. It was critically acclaimed in Portugal and went quadruple Platinum and once again she toured Europe and North America.
In 2004 she received the European Border Breakers Award at MIDEM and participated 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; New York's Central Park, the Hollywood Bowl, Carnegie Hall in New York, Alte Oper in Frankfurt, Teatro Grec in Barcelona, the Albeniz Theatre in Madrid, the Royal Festival Hall in London and Sydney Opera House. She's performed at Rock in Rio in Lisbon, in Aveiro, Portugal, she was guest of honour at the Cairo International Song Festival, the Chicago World Music Festival, the San Francisco Jazz Festival, the Macau Cultural Centre and at Moscow's House of Music.
In 2005 Mariza's new album Transparente(Transparent) was released in more than 35 countries throughout Europe, Latin America and the US. The album was number one in Portugal, and conquered the Top 10 in Finland, Iceland and Holland. Portugal, France and Spain have since re- released Transparente, and Finland and the UK are 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 2005 Mariza was invited to be a part of Live 8 and performed at The Eden Project in Cornwall in the UK, under the banner of 'Africa Calling', alongside artists including Peter Gabriel, Youssou N'Dour and AngŽlique Kidjo.
In October 2005 Mariza was awarded with the International Career Prize by the Am‡lia Rodrigues Foundation, and was proud to be 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 Best European Artist in the World Music Award category by BBC Radio 3.
In February 2006, she was honoured with the prestigious Comenda da Ordem do Infante D. Henrique by the President of the Portuguese Republic and recently, Mariza won the Portuguese Golden Globe Best Interpreter of the Year Award for her last album Transparente.
Mariza has being experimenting with other musical connections, including Flamenco, singing with Spanish star Jose Mercz the song uma mœsica do Povo, from her new album. However 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. "