Marisa dos Reis Nunes started singing Fado at age 5. (Photo courtesy of Kimmel Center)
She takes the stage with elegant majestic appearance, short platinum hair and a magnificent black evening gown. Her three guitarists, already seated across the stage, await her arrival at center stage and begin to play.
With a hypnotizing voice that soared effortlessly and echoed through Kimmel Center’s Verizon Hall, the Portugese Fado singer, Mariza dazzled her audience on March 1.
Translated from Portuguese as “destiny,” Fado genre features folksongs, which Mariza performed with intoxicating vibrant passion to the sound of interchanging rhythms that seem to incorporate Balkan, Arabic and Spanish notes with a dash of gipsy vibes.
Her songs speak of longing, loneliness, destiny and unfulfilled or lost love, “but also happiness,” Mariza said, and she carried them through passionate cries and heartbreaking whispers, as the music faded in and out, creating a dramatic effect.
During her performance, she swayed and pranced on stage, theatrically reached her arms to the audience, pounded on her chest and shook the corners of her dress.
“I started singing Fado when I was five,” Mariza told the audience. Her father owned a tavern in Portugal and allowed her to perform on stage Fado songs, which she memorized through drawings.
Accompanying her on stage were Jose Marino Abreu de Freitas on acoustic bass; Diogo Manuel Dos Reis Clemente on classical guitar; and the remarkable Angelo Braz Freire, who Mariza said “doesn’t even have the age to drink,” on the Portuguese guitar (a rounded back12-strings guitar).
On and off the stage throughout the evening was Hugo Antonia E Silva Carreira Marques on a variety of drums, including a Darbuka (north African drum), Jambe, and a cajón drum (produces a rattling sound), and Simon James Wadsworth on piano and trumpet.
The show lasted two hours and displayed 17 songs, including a Portuguese guitar instrumental piece and a drum session.
“Now I want to sing something different,” Mariza said. “A present for my American friends,” she added before performing Irvin Berlin’s Cry Me a River with Wadsworth on the piano.
Mariza ended the evening with a charming acoustic version of a song performed with her Portuguese and classical guitarists, who also took part in singing. Even without a microphone, Mariza’s voice was carried across the hall with incredible strength and without missing a note.
Mariza’s concert is a part of the Kimmel Center’s efforts to bring global rhythms to Philadelphia. Future March performances include Celtic music and Japanese Kodo drummers.
For more information visit: www.kimmelcenter.org.
