Stu Bergen is a busy guy. It’s one of those executives who, if need be, wake up in New York, dine in London and go to sleep to Paris – after having been all afternoon chatting with someone in Tokyo. Two weeks ago on a Wednesday, he spent the entire day in Dublin at the Intercontinental Hotel, more than 1,400 square meters and almost two hundred rooms, all five-star, a little over half an hour walk from Trinity College. The maximum marketing responsible of the largest markets of Warner Recorded Music flew from across the world to the Irish capital for the annual meeting with the president of the international division of the publisher, the American named Stu Bergen. Predictably, after lunch, before returning to work, Bergen and others sat listening to music.
The majority of those present did not understand a word of what followed. A tall, thin woman before them sang their souls, passion and a curse, and also spoke to them of a sun walking in the street it – and only occasionally is seen in Dublin. Mariza, who flew from Lisbon that morning performed live four songs from his new album. “Extraordinary” was the word used by John Teixeira, the head of Warner in Portugal, an executive who was at the meeting and probably the only one who noticed the letters. What, in this case, it matters little. In the evening, the conversation at the hotel were all on the miniconcerto this afternoon. And Stu Bergen, one of the most powerful men in the world of music lost a few minutes to write a “no usual” email of thanks to Portugal.
Two days later, at two-thirty in the afternoon Friday, September 18, Mariza arrived punctually to the Express for the photo shoot that illustrates this article. As if nothing had happened. However, judging by the success of Dublin, the Portuguese singer has again the world at his feet. The latest album will go on sale next month, October 9 (the next day’s free concert at Chiado), and to live up to the disk name – called “World” – already has concerts scheduled a little all over the world. Until November 19, plays in Sweden, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Austria and Germany. It would be easy to say only that Mariza, the most international and acclaimed Portuguese artist of our time, is back to work five years after the last record, but the truth is a bit more complex. Yes, she returned even no longer being well and that she has not left never be her. And the biggest change ahead, it’s small and likes to sing when he plays on the floor with carts.
“I think that was very selfish. Very selfish. Cold. My only goal was to sing. Basically, perhaps, it was a fool. A little foolish. And when Martin was born, how he is born, there is a huge change in my life, “admits Mariza. Martin, who was born premature, has today four years. “When you do not want to stop and life forces us to stop for health reasons, I began to look at everything around us otherwise. Mainly because health had not only to do with me but also with another being. And this being so tiny came to teach me and put me to the test on several issues, “he explains. The scale of values is different today: the family became the C, where it all begins and ends. The Re, Mi, the F, Si and there and the sun are also different. “But over the last five years I was practically without also record I realized that I can not be happy without singing. When I’m home I’m thinking on the road and when I’m on the road I am thinking at home. Sometimes it is extremely complicated, “Mariza confesses, grappling with his music and with his world.
The world around welcomes the new job. “I have seen two concerts it and loved both. Can not wait for November, “says the Express Miho Nishimoto, responsible for Warner in Germany. I heard her for the first time two years ago in Cologne. “It was one of the unforgettable moments of my life. Her music is pure, with something of melancholy. It is a blend of the traditional with the modern, such as Lisbon. Or as light, which is reflected in the Tagus, and darkness, the neighborhoods, “ventures Miho Nishimoto, before throwing the answer to the following: which explains the planetary success of an artist who supported its career in the melodies and words of a song sung in the capital city of the narrowest streets of a country on the edge of Europe? “If we do not understand the lyrics, the traditional fate may sound a bit monotonous. The Mariza is so important because it touches us without language barriers. On the one hand, she sings so intensely that his voice, powerful but sensitive, touches us directly. On the other, his music, although influenced by other genres, has fado based. It’s like us. Nobody in the world using only one color or eat the same food every day. “
13 years, Simon Broughton, magazine journalist” Songlines “was in a small club called Momos, in the basement of a restaurant Moroccan in the number of 25 Heddon Street in London. “It was in 2002. It was the first time I saw her live and I remember getting very pleased to be so close to her. I realized that in the future would play in much larger rooms, but it never occurred to me in those days, it would end the film it for a BBC documentary in a place like Tasca do Chico, Lisbon, “recalls the author of” Mariza & amp; the Story of Fado “. “Since then, since that debut album,” Fado in Me ‘, many things have changed. The vision has become larger, particularly in the new ‘World’. But somehow there is always an essence that remains constant. A delicate quality and a deep, controlled emotion, “says Simon Broughton. “I would say today, anywhere in the world, people will not see fado or an idea of Portugal. Go see Mariza. But I know that because they have seen Mariza, are willing to go to Portugal. “
Haute couture
Mariza just a moment ago to shoot. Asks for a glass of water – “yes it can be cool” – and sits on the couch three places arranged along the black wall of the studio. Talks about the new album and the path to get there. Talk about music and fado. “You call me a singer, but I never said it was singer. For me it’s a great compliment, I love to call me singer. But I think I’m a performer, a vehicle of words, and I am very happy to be so. “On the new album, there are notes and words of Rui Veloso, Paulo Abreu Lima, Paulo de Carvalho, Miguel Gameiro, Jorge Fernando .. . “Everyone brought me things and I sometimes did not like and they carried back. And they brought again. This album is like a couture disk As if we took a tissue and we cut to the measure of voice. Most of the songs that are there have been made to me, I sing for my voice. And the others, the ones I chose are songs that have liked to have sung for a long time. This is even haute couture. “
One of the tailors, perhaps the main, was Javier Limón, the multi-instrumentalist Spanish winner of several Grammys who is also the producer of the album. “He brought a theme and I did not like a word, because it was in Spanish and I could not say. And he changed, “said Mariza. She now says Javier Limón, one day in a fado house got up to sing “Mi Niña Lola ‘by Pepe Pinto. “It’s one of the great moments that I keep in my heart,” admits the Spanish musician. “En mi corazón.” Limon is full of praise Mariza. “She knows capture the essence of music and Portuguese culture as Piazzolla did to tango and Paco de Lucía with flamenco. The Mariza has managed to preserve the essence and at the same time, grow the genre to reach new places. It is normal for traditionalists consider going too far, but thanks to her open up new paths that other Portuguese musicians can go. . It is the most important artist in the world of fado “
The world talking about the world. Another time. Or irrefutable proof that he is indeed round. Tom Schnabel, for example, started walking around in 2001. The American broadcaster – author of the “Planet Rhythm” on KCRW station in Los Angeles – saw the first Mariza concert in Rotterdam. “I sidered by the way she sang and the absolute star mark. Since then, I saw every concert he gave in Los Angeles, but one. And I was one of the people more engaged in promoting their work in the United States, “he tells Express. And America is not an easy market. “I find it really difficult and even for those who have a lot of talent, it takes many years to triumph in the US,” says the Express Tobias Tumarkin, director of CAMI Music USA publisher. “Over the past decade, she has exhausted regularly rooms two thousand seats in the major markets of North America. You will have ten shows here in October and another tour in the fall, with more dates. In 2009, we made a tour with 50 concerts around the country, an impressive feat for any artist, particularly for a fado singer. “
But what they hear Americans when they hear Mariza? “The elegance of Portuguese and hope to overcome any sadness, any obstacle,” says Tobias. And the Germans? “The simplicity of sound and melody that derive from a variety of feelings, thoughts and complicated situations in life. Her music is delicate, direct and powerful, “says Miho Nishimoto. “The most common reaction is a mixture of awe and wonder. In every concert I see people who shake their heads in disbelief, “adds Georg Pfaab also German, director of Prime Tours, one digressions management company. “Devotion. That’s what people feel, “Simon Brougthon guarantees about the English. “I do not know why it has so many fans in the UK, but it has. Above all, it may be their ability to sing live. “Be at the Olympia in Paris, Frankfurt Opera House, the Royal Albert Hall in London, at Le Carré in Amsterdam, the Palau de la Música in Barcelona in Opera Sydney, at Carnegie Hall in New York, at the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles. Or home of Alejandro Sanz. “We cook a Portuguese cataplana, and Mariza said it was different,” says Javier Limón. “That night, she sang at the home of Alejandro and everyone ended up crying.”
Crying was something that never occurred to John Peter Zannati, Ambassador of Portugal in Japan in 2009 (today retired), the year Mariza sang for the first time in Tokyo. But the nerves and the fear were clearly present. “The problem is that the Japanese are very fond of you already know and it’s not easy to play the first time. They knew very well Madredeus, a cult there, and Amalia, but not Mariza. The room was not the greatest, but it was considerable. I had some trepidation, I admit that I got to be worried, but went very well. Very well even, “recalled the diplomat, who, Sweden sometimes had difficulty in arranging tickets for a Mariza concert. “The Japanese love fado, like that very theme of longing, nostalgia. There’s even a fado club, and whenever there were ceremonies at the embassy we invited Japanese artists to sing. It’s a song that works very well there. “
The fado was considered Intangible Heritage of Humanity on Sunday, November 27, 2011. Martin, the son of Mariza and entrepreneur António Ferreira, was born June 28, early, at six and a half months of pregnancy. He weighed 800 grams and spent the following months hospitalized in the neonatal unit of the Hospital of Santa Maria. In December of that year, Mariza – that with Carlos do Carmo had been ambassador of the Portuguese candidature – sang at the gala that was held in the UNESCO decision. “Yes, it contributes to this. But it was not just me. We have to thank all the people who for so many years, so many years, kept alive fado so I can get today and take advantage of that, “he says. Dive into the past world without leaving the couch. Come the singers who sang in neighborhoods and none made them willing to listen, publishers who wanted nothing to fate. Comes this song that seemed cursed and today is fashionable.
“Suddenly, here in Portugal there is no single publisher, is under a ladder or under a rock, you do not want to be a singer fado. They think the fado is the music that we can export and that everyone will listen. And we have so many other things so good to be able to show “he says. “The Alentejo sing, folklore, Julio Pereira and his ukuleles – that there is so present, so this … But when you see something succeed turns everything to the same stone. Instead of looking for another stone that can give another fruit tree, “laments Mariza, as if, in its” World, “sang:” In my nocturnal voice rises a river / that is not called Tejo or Mondego / it does not take boatman or ship / that does not run through the trees “(” River of Sorrow ‘by Rosa Lobato Faria and Mario Pacheco).
Concert in Lisbon
The voice of Mariza explains the new album, a journey in 14 songs, is perhaps the most “intimate”. “Do not try to prove whether or not I have a great vocal power to sing a lot or do not sing … That’s not it. This record is my attempt to show what makes sense to me now. Having the Portuguese guitar involved, and keeping some fado tonic, it is my vision of what I feel, what I realized in these five years. It’s a show of my inner “he says. The rhythms of Cape Verde to flamenco sound, “World” is a kind of return to the road, “back from where we came five years ago,” as described by Paulo Miranda, Warner Portugal.
“I am very interested in this new album,” says the Express Richard Elliott, professor of Popular Music at the School of Media, Film and Music at the University of Sussex and author of “Fado and the Place of Longing”, published in 2010. “The Mariza acted in Newcastle upon Tyne, the city where I moved when I left Lisbon. Got a very good place, ahead, and I still remember the excitement when she stepped on the stage with one of those gorgeous dresses and again when he began to sing, “recalls Richard Elliott. “I love her work, although my preference go to the first three studio albums. I did not enjoy the experience very few disk ‘Earth’ and, during the tour, there were some ideas that also did not like, such as having a battery on stage. I am an absolute traditionalist, but I felt that the music lost something, perhaps the drama and the previous concerts emotion. “For the British university professor, the thrill of height and drama occurred in 2005, Mariza concert in Lisbon show who later joined the DVD. In particular, he says, the time when Mariza sings ‘O People of My Land’, a poem by Amalia Rodrigues music by Tiago Machado. “The recording studio was already powerful because of the letter, shooting the singer’s despair blame to the people for whom sings. Although we live all this becomes even grander, because these people are there, and there is as a dialogue between the singer and the audience, “said Richard Elliott. That night, Mariza cried while singing: “. O people of my land / Now I realized / This sadness I bring / It was you who got”
” It was the most beautiful concert of my life, the most striking “, recognizes Mariza, as we begin the end. It costs you compare that to Amalia. “At first it shocked me deeply. I know some say this with a very satisfying way – wanted to compare me with the best they knew. But others did so with a negative sense, because they thought I wanted to be the new Amalia. It was never my intention, nor ever will be, “he assures. The discomfort was. “I make the second disk very upset, very angry, wanting to escape, not to sing more. I come to the third drive safer, quieter, but never knowing for sure what was going on in my house. And then give up the concert in Bethlehem. “
The day dawned rainy and Mariza became even more nervous (” I am always nervous before concerts. When help being are better left to sing, “she says ). Calls to the office crying, afraid that no one showed up. Had stomach ache, he felt feverish. Backstage before going on stage, Jaques Morelenbaum, the Brazilian maestro, knocks on the door: “Look, you want a tacinha of wine?” “No thanks. Leave me a little quiet, I do not even want to think. “It’s time. “When I go on stage and see that sea of people … That’s when I had the perception that in my house liked me. Until then, I had this perception. When I sing ‘O People of My Land’, I wanted to bring forth these images from the DVD, people see me crying. It was a turning point. Everything has changed, and in my own conscience, as being an artist, I feel safer. “
The conversation on the couch from the past to the present and lands conquered by the news. The world is different. “I never dreamed any of this. It happened, was appearing in life. What I appreciate it. We are at a time when we are talking about a lot of refugees, the borders. I already know what it is to be – not this way, as these people – but already knew what anyone wanting to us. Nobody wanted to returnees. In a way, I know what it is. Of not wanting, it is not well accepted. “[Mariza came from Mozambique, with his parents when he was 3 years]” And today I am so well accepted in the country that chose to live and love and who love you and thank you for having received me. And there was a chance in life, I did not expect to be able to represent my language and could take Portugal further and Portuguese culture to other peoples and other cultures. “She, who says being a performer, walks the world sing. “I go up on stage and singing. I do not warm up the voice, do not do anything. I walk and sing. For me, it’s natural, I think people have to understand. There are songs that bristle their skin. Each person feels in his own way, and I think that’s the magic that music has. Music has no language. . If it had, it would be a bummer “There is another way of looking at the question: to not have any language, music has all languages. The reaction to the concert at the hotel in Dublin is the best example. “It was the first time in 20 years that a Portuguese artist worked at a meeting of this level. On these occasions, all countries are lobbying to bring the respective artists, but the choice is made by the central structure of the group. This gives to realize the interest and importance that it takes the participation of Mariza, “admits Paul Miranda. Stu Bergen thanked, although it has only heard four songs on the album.
The last was ready four years ago in a drawer. Paulo Abreu Lima, who wrote it, already had forgotten. Rui Veloso, who set to music, too. Mariza reminded them. “That is recorded at first. Me crying, with Rui playing … He says he does not know how to play piano … “Mariza recognizes that this music could only be on this album. “It’s so nice little things / I thee be your mother / this sort of destination / loves that life has / never sang so softly / this love within us / When I fall asleep boy / in the cradle of my voice.” Martim I do not know that music is for him. Mariza has caught him humming ‘Beads’, another album’s theme, while playing with the cars. “I do not know if it will appreciate. Everything I do now is for him. I think people do not die. Change of site. And I want to change site but leaving the comfortable Martin. I am going to leave my world. “A huge world the size of a little love.
Text published in the edition of Express September 26, 2015
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