Mariza's mother's family hails from Mozambique, while her father's side comes from Portugal. She was just three years old when she moved with her family to Lisbon in 1977. Her parents ran a small restaurant in the city's Alfama district, where Mariza heard Fado singers every day, absorbing melancholic songs of perpetual longing even before she learned to read. Perhaps unsurprisingly, she was more attracted to soul, jazz and bossa nova as a teenager, but her latent passion for Fado would come to play a central role in her art.
Mariza first rose to national prominence in 1999 when she appeared in a TV memorial show following the death of Amália Rodrigues, Portugal's most popular Fado singer. Though she didn't even have an album at the time, her exploits saw her win the "Voice of Fado” prize on Portuguese radio. Her 2001 debut album Fado em Mim sold 150,000 copies in a genre where sales of 4,000-5,000 would usually have been considered a success. Her 2003 album Fado Curvo won the BBC Radio 3 award for "Best European Artist in World Music” and her 2006 Concerto em Lisboa won a Grammy Award. 2008's Terra incorporated jazz and flamenco influences, while the 2010 album Fado Tradicional saw a return to her roots. Her most recent album, Mundo, was released in 2015, taking listeners on a musical journey from Portugal to Argentina and the Cape Verde Islands.
Over the past 15 years, Mariza has conquered the world's most prestigious concert halls and sold more than one million albums. With her outstanding voice and captivating performance style, she has become Fado's brightest star, even winning the Lifetime Achievement award in 2014 from WOMEX, the world music's most coveted awards ceremony.


Presented by: Müpa Budapest