Mariza, Latin Grammy Award-Winning Singer to Perform November 4 at Bass Concert Hall

Texas Performing Arts welcomes Latin Grammy Award-winning singer Mariza, recognized the world over as the queen of fado - the rich and emotionally textured musical tradition from Portugal. With multiple platinum-selling albums to her credit, Mariza's stunning repertoire pays deep respect to tradition while pushing the sublimely beautiful folk music into intriguing directions.

Born in 1973 in Lourenço Marques - present-day Maputo - the capital of the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, Mariza (real name: Marisa dos Reis Nunes) learned about fado while still a child, listening behind the curtains or while serving tables at her father's tavern in Mouraria, a neighborhood in Lisbon steeped in fado.

Her first album Fado em Mim (Fado in Me, 2001) became an unexpected national and international hit. Fado was recently declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2011, but at the time of Mariza's debut, the genre was considered a relic of the past. Still, as one of the young standard bearers of fado, Mariza never looked back.

Mariza has performed at New York's Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl, appeared in Carlos Saura's film, Fados, and was the first fado singer to guest on Late Night with David Letterman. She has also headlined at London's Royal Albert Hall and the Sydney Opera House.

After establishing herself as an international star, Mariza turned her attention to marriage and family life. For the last few years she focused on home and her first son. But the stage beckoned, and in April of last year she performed again in Lisbon. She then appeared at a few special events and is now on a 17-city tour of North America, her first since 2009.

Mariza will be appearing with her quartet, including Jose Manuel Neto, "one of the gurus" of the Portuguese guitar, says Mariza; Pedro Joia on guitar; Yami, a bass player originally from Angola and drummer Vicky Marques. "Pedro Joia lived in Brazil, playing and recording with great musicians there, and has also worked with flamenco musicians, so he has a different way to approach fado," she says. "And Yami is African, like me, so we have a certain swing. And then of course we have Vicky, and he's a great percussionist. I can't go on stage without percussion."

Mariza is currently working on a new CD, scheduled for release in the United States in 2014, which will include her European radio hits, concert favorites, some of her duets that have never appeared on her own CDs -- such as her collaboration with Sting for the Olympic Games in Greece, with Afro-Spanish singer Buika, and with Cuban pianist Chucho Valdés -- and two new songs.