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MARIZA

http://www.mariza.com/

The raw emotion of fado will tug at listener's hearts and souls when Mariza, hailed as Portugal's reigning fadista, performs at Massey Hall on Friday, February 13 at 8:00 pm. With her mesmerizing contralto and a series of acclaimed recordings, the Mozambique-born, Lisbon-raised singer has achieved international star status and brought Portugal's brand of soulful blues to a world-wide audience. Her newest album Terra, has been nominated for a 2009 Latin Grammy Award in the category Best Folk Album and has remained #1 on Portuguese charts for 11 consecutive weeks. Mariza last appeared at Massey Hall in October 2007.

Almost immediately following her 2001 debut album Fado Em Mim, Mariza became one of the most popular fado artists. The album reached triple platinum sales in Portugal, received the German Critics award, and introduced Mariza to the world outside her adopted home country. In 2002 she was named Best European World Music Artist by BBC Radio 3 and received the award for Most Outstanding Performance at the Quebec Summer Festival. Mariza's second album, "Fado Curvo," released in 2003, surpassed all expectations. It reached number six on Billboard's world music chart, and in Portugal, the album went double platinum. German critics awarded her the Deutsche Schalplatten Kritik Award, and in Portugal, foreign journalists voted Mariza "Personality of the Year," recognizing her as one of the best-loved artists in the country.

In 2004, she released her first DVD, Mariza: Live in London, recorded at London's Union Chapel. She was also featured on the Official Album of the 2004 Olympic Games in a duet with Sting, and was honoured with the European Border Breakers Award at the international music trade show MIDEM. Her third album, Transparente, released in 2005, pays tribute to legendary fadistas Fernando Maurício, Carlos do Carmo and Amália Rodrigues. That year she was named a UNICEF ambassador for Portugal and also took part in the Eden Project section of "Live 8" in Cornwall, UK under the banner "Africa Calling," alongside such artists as Youssou N'Dour and Angélique Kidjo. At the end of 2006 Mariza released her live CD/DVD Concerto em Lisboa on the EMI label. It was nominated for a Latin Grammy in the Best folk album category. In 2007 the BBC produced a documentary titled Mariza and the Story of Fado, and Mariza played the lead role in a new film called Fado by Carlos Saura, which gave fans a chance to see Mariza in an acting role.

Since her recording debut, Mariza has performed on four continents at such major venues as Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Walt Disney Concert Hall with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Albeniz Theatre in Madrid, the Macau Cultural Centre and Moscow's House of Music, as well appearing at the Cairo International Song Festival, the Chicago World Music Festival, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Through all of this, Mariza continues to see the stage as an intimate space, a sort of living room where she might entertain her friends, exuding a warmth to which audiences throughout the world have responded in kind.

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