MARIZA

Back in the 1960s my aunt and uncle had spent holidays in the Algarve and fell in love with Amália Rodrigues, the original "Rainha do Fado" -"Queen of Fado." During my school hols in NYC, they took me to see her at Lincoln Center and I've been hooked on Fado ever since.

Last night I saw an incredible, exhilarating and soulful performance by Mariza, the new queen of Portuguese Fado. "Fado," a musical genre indigenous to Portugal - with roots in Africa - is untranslatable; the closest in English is "fate" or "destiny." In fact, Mariza was born in Portuguese East Africa - now Mozambique - and has an ethnic Portuguese father and black African mother. The songs sometimes have that bittersweet of - saudade - lost love or an anticipation of love, but all have a lilting rhythm which will mesmerise you. I was captivated by two songs last night - one, to celebrate her African roots; the other had been sung by the great Amália. So it was a complete joy to see Mariza's show, with terrific back-up musicians - traditional fado mixed with a few jazzy musical numbers, plus a short lesson in Portuguese! Haha. I counted 4 standing ovations and 2 encores, the last being a fado accompanied by acoustic guitar and Portuguese guitarra. From where I was sitting, even in that last unamplified song, I felt the intimacy of being in a taverna in Lisboa! If only I'd had a glass of cool red wine to toast Mariza!

She's currently on tour in America - here she is on David Letterman in 2007:--