Mariza

There’s no singer who embodies the sound of fado more completely than Mariza. The Portuguese musician was born in the same neighborhood that, 150 years prior, had given birth to the dramatic, expressive, intensely melancholy music now synonymous with the Iberian country. Her way of drawing the deepest emotions from a song has made her a beloved icon in Portugal. Across her three-decade career, Mariza has stretched the limits of fado, combining it with jazz, flamenco, Latin jazz, and influences from her mother’s home country of Mozambique. Her “dark, rich, commanding contralto” (Washington Post) has also prompted high-profile collaborations with Sting, Lenny Kravitz, Gilberto Gil, and the late Cesária Évora.