Souzana & Eleni Vougioukli , Greeks singing fado...

A famous Portuguese Fado song, Solidão (Canção do Mar) [Solitude, (Song of the Sea)]
performed live at Mylos, Thessaloniki on May 2006.

Here is the original http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7482IMhknnU
sang by Amália Rodrigues

As you can see, surprisingly!, there is not much of a big difference between the two interpretations!! ok, Amalia speaks Portuguese a lot better! :D but in terms of "feeling" the Greeks really got the picture... :)

Congratulations!!

Definitely, Fado was made for the World!***

and I feel proud for that!

Magdi Ruzsa, Hungarians singing fado...

very well done! It is always a wonderful surprise to listen to people from other nationalities singing the music of Portugal. There are parts on the song were I can really understand good articulated Portuguese ;) and the most fascinating thing is that she understood the feeling of fado!

And btw, the fado is called "O fado [the fate] de ser fadista [of being a fado singer]" and there is a part where she says "Fado is madness, is saudade, is uncertainty and it is for sure the most Portuguese of the songs of my country"...and she does it with passion!!! Like if she was Portuguese (I wonder if she knows the real meaning of what she is saying...ouf!!)!! Anyway....

Congratulations!!! From now on Magdi I am officially your fan! :)

Yes you did!

"As you can see I did well to stay here with the people of my homeland"

This was the reaction of Mariza, yesterday evening, during the concert in Lisbon, when she was told that the prize was for the Colombian group "Gaiteiro de San Jacinto" [congratulations! but no videos available on youtube].

12 000 persons sold out the concert and many invitees were on stage for the delightfulness of the audience. One of the most special guests was Carlos do Carmo who sang alone two fados «Canoas do Tejo» and «Lisboa Menina e Moça» and had the first stand up applause of the evening. There were also the participations of Tito Paris (cape-verdean), Filipe Mukenga (angolan) and Ivan Lins (brazilian) in a night Mariza called it "a celebration of lusophony"

By the way, Portuguese language it's spoken by over 210 million people over the world (the 6th most spoken language), mainly in Brazil, Portugal and other old Portuguese colonies and Spanish author Miguel Cervantes once called Portuguese "the sweet language", while Brazilian writer Olavo Bilac poetically described it as "the last flower of Latium, wild and beautiful"

She also invited the famous Portuguese singer Rui Veloso with who she sang «Transparente», «Jura» e «Não Queiras Saber de Mim» in a "softer" style (more pop) [the video I link here is very good, it is very relaxing ballad...It is not from yesterday´s concert but I believe that the duet was more or less like this; and I really like this song which means "Don´t you wanna know ´bout me/tonight I´m not here/ When sadness "knocks"/ there is no one worse than me....today I don´t recommend myself...lalalalalala.....one day maybe I ll translate because this is not fado! :P]

Congratulations to my dear Mariza! I am looking forward to listen to her new upcoming album!!!
And I just wonder if the Colombians had ever performed on the Walt Disney Concert Hall, where the renowned architect Frank Gehry built a 'Taverna' especially for her. It is just a thought...
:P

Loucura/Madness :The opening of the live concert

Loucura/Madness
Written by Carlos do Carmo

I was made for song (fado),

How do I know I live a poem sung

From a ballad that I wrote

To speak of it,

I cannot do

But let my soul sing out

And souls know how to hear me

Cry out, cry out

Poets of my country

Trunks of the same root

Of life that does unite us

And as for all of you

If you were not beside me

Th ere would be no song

Nor singers such as I

Th at my voice

Is so mournful

Is the fault of all of you

Th e poets in my life

It’s madness

I have heard it said

But blessed is the madness

To sing and to live

Will Mariza win the grammy tonight?
:)

Chuva: reason for the Grammy 3

Chuva/ Rain
written by Jorge Fernando


As coisas vulgares que ha na vida / (The usual things in your life)
Não deixam saudades / (won't make you miss them)

Só as lembranças que doem / (only the hurting memories )
Ou fazem sorrir / (or those which make you smile)
Há gente que fica na historia / (there are some people who stay in history)
da história da gente ( our life's history)
e outras de quem nem o nome ( and other who we don't even remember)
lembramos ouvir / (hearing their names)
São emoções que dão vida / (it are the emotions that bring life)
A saudade que trago (to the "saudade" that i bring in me)
Aquelas que tive contigo /(those i had with you)
e acabei por perder /(and i've just lost)
Há dias que /(There are days that)
marcam a alma e a vida da gente /(that leave marks in your soul and in our life)
e aquele em que tu me /(and the one that you've)
deixaste não posso esquecer /(left me i can not forget)

A chuva molhava-me o rosto /(The rain felt in my face)
Gelado e cansado /(frozen and tired)
As ruas que a cidade tinha /(the streets that the city had)
Já eu percorrera /(i've went along through them)
Ai... meu choro de moca perdida /(ohh... my young lost girl cry)
gritava a cidade /(I screamed to the city)
que o fogo do amor /(that the fire of love)
sob chuva /(under the rain)
há instantes morrera /(died moments ago)

A chuva ouviu e calou /(the rain listenned and silenced)
meu segredo a cidade/(my secret to the city)
E eis que ela bate no vidro (and there she knocks on the window glass)
Trazendo a saudade (bringing with her the "saudade")

Ó gente da minha terra : reason for the Grammy 2

Oh People of my Land

Lyrics by Amália Rodrigues

É meu e vosso este fado (This Fado is both yours and mine)
destino que nos amarra (The destiny that unites us)
por mais que seja negado (No matter how much it is denied)
às cordas de uma guitarra (By the strings of a guitar)

Sempre que se ouve um gemido (Whenever one hears a lament)
duma guitarra a cantar (Of a guitar's song)
fica-se logo perdido (One is instantly lost)
com vontade de chorar (With a longing to weep) [believe it or not it happens exactly this to me! and to all the portuguese that really have the fado soul]

Ó genta da minha terra (Oh people of my land)
agora é que eu percebi (It is now that I have perceived)
esta tristeza que trago (This sadness which I carry)
foi de vós que a recebi (Was from you that I received)

E pareceria ternura (It would seem a kindness)
se eu me deixasse embalar (If I left myself be soothed)
era maior a amargura (The greater the anguish)
menos triste o meu cantar (The less sorrowful my song)

Ó genta da minha terra (Oh people of my land)


Ó genta da minha terra (Oh people of my land)
agora é que eu percebi (It is now that I have perceived)
esta tristeza que trago (This sadness which I carry)
foi de vós que a recebi (Was from you that I received)

This beautiful Fado is a tribute to the portuguese people. It was written by the great Amalia and it is a deep insight of the portuguese soul. You can translate "this sadness which I carry" as a feeling of nostalgia, of saudade that actually makes us long to weep when we hear the guitar and the first lines of this poem; we really know what it means and believe me, it means a lot. And pay attention to the guitar...she says it all about the song!!

And of course, the warm reaction of the Portuguese audience to the interpretation of Mariza... First everybody remains quiet and in silence (in Portugal we say "silence! fado is about to be sang" which shows respect) and then, the emotion grows up in such a way that Mariza starts crying and even turns the back to audience like she couldn´t stand the emotion...and finally everybody applauds loudly for a long time! What an unforgettable moment... I always get the goose bumps and feel very privileged to have such a powerful singer to sing for me, to my heart, to our hearts! She sings about us and she does it astonishingly...

Magnificent!

The Grammy is not enough :P

And here is another video with Mariza´s fado and some pictures I found interesting; It is kind of an "illustration" of the song itself. Hope you like it!

Primavera: reason for the Grammy 1

Primavera / Spring

Lyrics by David Mourão Ferreira

Music by Pedro Rodrigues

All the love that seized us

As if made of wax it was

Was broken and undone

Ah, fatal spring! [funesta Primavera!]

How I wish,

how we wish

To have died that day

And condemned I was

To have weeping living with me

To live, to live, to live, to live

To live and without you

Living and not, however,

Forgetting that enchantment

That day

I lost

The dry bread of solitude

It's the only thing we get

The only thing to be fed on

What matters if the heart

Says yes or says no

If it keeps on living

All the love that seized us

Was broken, was undone

In fear was converted

Let no one speak of spring

How I wish,

how we wish

To have died that day

(...)

Simply outstanding!

Mariza presents her album in NYC

In the live disc, Concerto em Lisboa Mariza's powerhouse vocals find themselves backed by a traditional band and a string orchestra and we can hear this legacy being played out. Imagine that in just the course of a few years, less than a decade, Mariza has grown from a BBC (Charlie Gillette) darling to an international fado sensation. And you can hear that rise to fame on this recording, from the masterful vocal phrasing, the silence in between the words and the Portuguese audience's hearty response. In fact, this CD marks one of the most electrifying live recordings I have heard in a long time (Ghazal's Rain was the last one). Although the fados fall mostly into that melancholic realm, the experience feels nostalgic and cathartic. From the show stopping Primavera to the tear drenched Hà Uma Mùsica Do Povo and the lilting Menino Do Bairro Negro, Mariza aims to pleasure our hearts.

She was the first Portuguese artist ever nominated for the most important music worldwide awards which are the GRAMMY.

Mariza was nominated for the 8th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards in the category of “Best Folk Album”. “Concerto em Lisboa” was live recorded in 2005 and it’s platinum in Portugal for both CD and DVD version.

Being one of the protagonists of the main director Carlos Saura new movie “Fados”, Mariza is now preparing herself for the new album which she intend to release in 2008.

Here is a video of her talking about t "Mariza, Concerto em Lisboa" in the Alfama Restaurant, NYC, March 27, 2007.

Visit her web site!

Mariza is bringing the Grammy home!

"We are proud to announce Mariza has been nominated for a Latin GRAMMY Award! Mariza's album Concerto Em Lisboa has been selected by the judges in the category of 'Best Folk Album'.

The album is a live recording of Mariza with the symphonic orchestra Sinfonietta de Lisboa, conducted by Jaques Morelenbaum in the lush gardens of Belém, Lisbon. It was released in Europe in November 2006 (EMI/World Connection) and in March 2007 in North America (Times Square Records/ World Connection).

Mariza is the first Portuguese artist ever nominated for the Latin GRAMMY Awards!

The 8th Annual Latin GRAMMY Awards will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas on Nov. 8 and will be broadcast on the Univision Network at 8 p.m./7C. http://www.grammy.com/latin/8_latin/"

Taken from mariza´s my space

Mariza is going to perform a live concert in the biggest portuguese show room Pavilhão Atlântico in Lisbon on the 8th November, in the same day of the ceremony of the Grammy Awards. This will be the only public concert in Lisbon on the year 2007. On stage will also be Carlos do Carmo, Ivan Lins, Rui Veloso and Tito Paris. It is going to be a memorable night! ;)