Mariza

Portuguese singer, Mariza was in concert at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville tonight, introducing her fado music to a new audience. I was fortunate to be able to hear her and her musicians. This was her first time to be in Nashville and I hope the standing ovations she received gave her the message just how much we enjoyed their performance. I heard a recording of her music before going so I was prepared for the powerful emotional music but as always the recorded sound does not bring the same power and energy of a live performance. She has her unique style, fashion, hair, and even her own version of the Portuguese fado music makes it her own music.

If you are not familiar with this...fado in Portuguese is destiny. Traditionally, the fado music is performed wearing a black shawl; backed only by an acoustic guitar and the lute-shaped, 12-string Portuguese guitar. The power of their singing was used to convey the emotion in their songs.

As Jonathan Marx said in his article "Because of its sorrowful character and its distinctly national origins, fado is often compared to the blues in America, though it could just as easily be identified with Spanish flamenco or Greek rembetiko music. All rely on the bracing interplay of voice and guitar or some other stringed instrument, and all give expression to the most fundamental of human experiences: love, loss, survival."

Mariza's musicians consisted of the Portuguese 12-string guitar, the acoustic guitar, acoustic bass, drums & percussion (including African drums), and piano & trumpet(not at the same time). For her second and third encores she did "Cry Me a River" in English with the piano and sang another fado with the two acoustic guitars/guitarists singing with her and all without amplification or microphones.

The show was fantastic and I hope to see them perform again. This was also my first experience in Nashville's symphony hall. I was impressed. The friend I went with has been in several of the European music halls and is not very impressed as he thinks this one should have been built differently and not so much like the hall in Paris France. I found it to be much better than the Jackson Theater where the symphony used to perform. Anyway, I am now a fan of Mariza and fado music.