WOMAD

Mariza

From Mozambique, Portugal

The sound of fado music is as redolent of the Portuguese capital Lisbon as the rattle of trams wheezing their way up the city’s impossibly steep gradients. And undoubtedly the most high-profile ambassador for this most mournful of musics is Mozambique-born singer Mariza Reis Nunes – best known in the world’s finest auditoria simply as Mariza. With a vocal presence every note as striking as her looks, in a few short years she’s singlehandedly taken fado from the back streets of her home city to all four corners of the globe, thanks to her extraordinary live performances and a holy trinity of unimpeachable studio albums. No stranger to the big occasion (her startlingly expressive voice has been heard at such intimate affairs as the World Cup, the Olympics and Live8), expect Mariza’s latest WOMAD appearance to be a hushed, mesmeric affair – the sound of sorrow, for sure, but effortlessly charming and heart-warming with it.