Mariza 'Transparente' album

Fans of the exceptionally beautiful and melancholy sounds of the Portuguese song form Fado will be treated to an extraordinary new album this summer, when Times Square Records releases TRANSPARENTE, the breathtaking third album from international star fadista Mariza, on Aug. 9. Recorded in Brazil and produced by Grammy-winning Jaques Morelenbaum (who has worked with Caetano Veloso, Tom Jobim, Sting and others), TRANSPARENTE has already stunned music fans and critics across Europe, debuting at #1 on the Portuguese music charts- the first time ever for a Fado album- and still holding that position since the release three weeks ago. Mariza has also emerged as a new star with younger fans, many of whom flock to her live performances to see a fresh perspective on the Fado style, both wardrobe and performance-wise.

Fado, the storytelling song form born out of the tiny bars of the "barrio alto" in Lisbon, Portugal, has a tradition in which poets and composers create songs for specific fadistas. Oftentimes, a fadista either finds a poem and has it arranged to one of the 200 or so traditional fado melodies, or has someone compose new music for it. On TRANSPARENTE Mariza collaborated with several renowned poets such as Paulo de Carvalho, a well-known singer and composer in Portugal, and Paulo Abreu Lima, who composed the title track about her African and Portuguese heritage. The song Transparente connects Mariza with her African birthplace, Mozambique, and fado's African heritage, but does not deny her Portuguese side either. "The poet who wrote it, Paulo Abreu Lima, all he knew was I came from Africa. It's very simple, but the minute I read it, I thought, 'This is me!' And the way he finished it- 'I was born to sing'- it's a little crazy but it's an autobiographical poem even if he didn't know me."

Transparente is the natural successor to Mariza's first two records. "Fado Em Mim was my presentation," explains Mariza. "It is the story from when I started to sing fado to the time I decided to do a record. Fado Curvo was an 'upgrade;' where I show more of my ideas about fado: what I like about poetry, opening my soul a little bit, a little bit of me. Transparente is closer to my sound; what I dream about music; what I dream about fado."

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Mariza - Transparente