Mariza is “Sublime, Spine-tingling” at London’s The Barbican – Don’t Miss North American Tour October 2 – 26! - IMG ARTISTS (original) (raw)

Fado queen Mariza thrilled audiences at London’s The Barbican with a performance of “roof-raising, volcanic, operatic passion.” In his 4-star review for The Times, Stephen Dalton writes:

“The million-selling, Grammy®-winning Mariza…and her virtuosic five-piece band delivered many moments of sublime, spine-tingling folk-pop beauty. The Mozambique-born, mixed-heritage singer paid homage to her African ancestry on several tracks, including a respectful cover of the tender heartache ballad Quem Me Dera by Angolan singer-songwriter Matias Damasio and the delicious Beijo de Saudade, a stately tropical lament rooted in the ‘morna’ style from Cape Verde. She translated the latter’s title as ‘kiss of sorrow’, which underplayed the poetic power of saudade, that emotionally rich Portuguese concept of inconsolable yearning for a long-lost love, place or time.”

The concert featured two tracks from her forthcoming album including, according to Dalton, “a surging, bluesy, waltz-time chanson that slowly gathered force from hushed confessional to declamatory weepie. This is a magnificent tune, the kind of complex, gear-shifting epic that Nina Simone might once have tackled.”

Mariza kicks off her North American tour on October 2 in Blacksburg, Virginia before bringing her electrifying concerts to North Bethesda, MD; Boston, MA, San Francisco, Modesto, Davis and Los Angeles, CA; Denver, CO; Newark, NJ; and Toronto, Canada on October 26.

Born in Mozambique, but raised since she was a girl in one of the most emblematic and traditional neighbourhoods of Lisbon, Mouraria, Mariza was influenced from a very early age by the musical culture that inhabits every corner: Fado. She has released move than 30 platinum albums and won numerous national and international awards.