- From Mozambique to Portugal
Mariza dos Reis Nunes was born in Maputo, Mozambique, in 1973, but grew up in the old districts of Mouraria and Alfama in Lisbon, Portugal. Her parents ran a traditional fado house where every dinner was enlivened by live music. When bedtime came, Mariza would hide in the restaurant to keep listening.
- From the ashes rises ... Mariza
The queen of fado, Amalia Rodrigues, dies in 1999 and the fado world mourns. Fortunately, people know by then that the centuries-old musical genre will not go to the grave with her. With Mariza, a new generation of singers has just emerged. Mariza sings on a national broadcast commemorating Rodrigues and has the same register as her example; a symbolic transfer of power. In 2020, she once again honoured Rodrigues with the album Mariza canta Amalia.
- She took fado where it had never been before
Soon, the cosy fado houses proved too small for Mariza's ambitions. Her debut album catapulted her into (inter)national prominence. In 2002, she gets to open the World Cup, in 2004 she sings a duet with Sting at the Olympics and in 2018 she welcomes the Eurovision in her own country with an opening show. She brings fado where it has never been before. Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl and soon Bozar also feature on her tour schedules. She is the standard-bearer of modern fado.
- Looks are key
The typical black, sober attire of a fado singer - see Amalia Rodrigues - is not to Mariza's taste. Even as a young twenty-something, she hires a fashion and hair designer. Her blonded short hair and grotesque dressing become her trademark. Meanwhile, she graces the cover of Vogue, has her own perfume collection and does modelling.
- Her new album takes a new direction
With the single Desamor, Mariza already hinted at what we can expect from Amor, her first album since 2020. The autumn was supposed to finally bring us that new full-length record, but so far we are left hanging. The released singles do already indicate a new direction: further away from traditional fado and leaning towards pop music. On that evolution, she says:
In the past 25 years I’ve been constructing; the personality was appearing. Fado is there. But y personality is also very much there.
