★★★★★
Pretty much everywhere in the world but here, Mariza is a bona fide superstar. In a Susan Boyle-like moment, the Mozambique-born chanteuse found instant fame in Europe when she performed a stirring musical tribute to the queen of fado: Amália Rodrigues. Thriving long after her 15 minutes, Mariza has returned to her Portuguese blues roots (known as fado) on Fado Tradicional...
- exclaim.ca
2011-10-17
★★★★★
Buy it from Buy the CDMarizaFado TradicionalEMI Catalogue2011 Mariza has gone back to her roots with an album that is both bravely sparse and, at just 35 minutes long, mysteriously brief. Over the last 10 years she has transformed the fado scene, bringing the traditional "Portuguese blues" to an international audience, and in the process has extended her musical range...
- www.guardian.co.uk
2011-03-07
★★★★★
There's a full-on fado revival in Portugal these days. Sensational young voices are embracing the melancholy old song style of the Lisbon ghetto with unprecedented zeal. Among these, Mariza stands out because she was born in Mozambique, and has commented often on the African origins in fado. She also stands out for her blooming clarion voice, a truly formidable instrument tied to a deeply passionate musical genre...
- www.afropop.org
2010-12-19
★★★★★
Fado Curvo, the second album of the quickly rising Fadista, Mariza, is powerful, elegant, soothing, and captivating. This record, produced by Times Square Records, consists of twelve tracks which range from the familiar Fado style, to new material pushing the boundaries of the art form. In its entirety, the album is excellent. One particular masterful aspect of Fado Curvo is the choice of song order. From beginning to end the songs flow into each other seamlessly...
- www.afropop.org
2010-12-19
★★★★★
Fado is a folk music from Portugal, a sort of plaintive folk-blues with undertones of Flamenco from neighboring Spain. This woman Mariza is a wonderful Fado singer ? no, make that a wonderful singer, period. She could prob'ly sing from a Ukrainian phone book and it'd be a gloriously heartbreaking experience...
- www.jazzreview.com
2010-08-23
★★★★★
Every so often a voice emerges from the world music scene with an indefinable ability to cross over to a wider audience. Bebel Gilberto was the most recent example, and Portugal's Mariza is set to follow her. Singing the mournful, blues-like music of her country (called fado), she combines a spectacularly expressive voice with stunning looks and a charismatic presence that lies somewhere between Grace Jones and Maria Callas...
- www.uncut.co.uk
2010-06-19
★★★★★
Increasing status means that the venues that Portuguese fado singer Mariza inhabits have become increasingly grandiose; ending up with the Royal Albert Hall during the 2006 Atlantic Waves festival. This live set was recorded down in Portugal, outdoors in front of what looks like a massive gathering, with Mariza's regular band surrounded by the Sinfonietta De Lisboa. The Brazilian cellist Jaques Morelenbaum conducts, cloaking the normally folksy fado core with a lushly romantic string sweetness...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2009-06-12
★★★★★
This music is elegant, sophisticated and yearning. There's something about the guitars and the cadences of the voice that evoke the mystery and sadness of the ocean. Someone waits at a café on the quayside for a lover they know will never return... Mariza has created a stir in Portugal and internationally this year with this debut album. She's young, looks the part and has a fabulous, keening, lyrical voice...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2009-06-12
★★★★★
For some time now, Portugal's most immaculately coiffured fado singer has been hinting that she'd like to record an album celebrating other Lusophone song forms like bossa nova and morna. She occasionally dips into these during live performances - not so much when she's abroad, but more likely at home in one of Lisbon's tiny rustic fado bars in the early hours of the morning...
- www.bbc.co.uk
2009-06-12
Loading...
