Town Hall Presents MARIZA Review — Stadium-Sized Superstar Up Close

Posted on by Amy Munice

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It’s in the final quarter of this 80-minute or so performance when statuesque Mariza twirls to the music, allowing us to see how her pleated dress of long vertical ribbons gives way to a bold black and white striped pattern. For a moment it pulls our eyes towards the floor, instead of lingering on her intricate rose patterned tattoo, her pixie length white hair, her almond-shaped eyes, extra-long and lanky fingers, or the way her neck moves back and forth to modulate let her song.

Mariza’s dress struck this writer as a metaphor of her musical performance.  Every phrase so full of affect, is in a constant emotional glissando to new layers of feeling expressed by sound stitched to the performer’s inhales and exhales so seamlessly.  This is fado, Portuguese soul music, telling us about love and longing’s permutations in granular detail, though most of us don’t speak a word of the tongue the tale is told in.   Most of the evening’s repertoire was in fact from a tribute album to the Queen of Fado, Amália Rodriguez.  But like her gown revealing a new pattern when she moves, Mariza’s voice seems to add in surprise reveals, in this writer’s view.  Here is a singer who opens up yet another layer of feeling with each note.

The Town Hall Infuses Mariza’s Performance with a Feeling of Intimacy

This is a gown and a singing performance that could work in a supersized stadium—and has and will again.  We though, are getting to experience it as an up close stream.  For those of us whose introduction to fado came in low-ceilinged Lisbon ground floor and below café spaces, this is a far more satisfying sound and sight than any Central Park or similar venue would provide.
Mariza is surrounded by an ensemble of COVID-masked musicians, all of whom she graciously takes care to introduce and spotlight, also pointing out the unusual Portuguese guitar that is her main partner in many of the songs.  Mariza’s repertoire includes an introduction to African fado, allowing her to reference her Mozambiquan mother and Portuguese father.

She thanks us for supporting music and world cultures.  Heart swelling with the joy of music, you too might feel that all the thanks truly goes to her – and her presenters from The Town Hall of New York.

Though this performance is over, The Town Hall continues to offer more up close streams of musical and theatrical performances.

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Amy Munice

About the Author: Amy Munice

Amy Munice is Editor-in-Chief and Co-Publisher of Picture This Post. She covers books, dance, film, theater, music, museums and travel. Prior to founding Picture This Post, Amy was a freelance writer and global PR specialist for decades—writing and ghostwriting thousands of articles and promotional communications on a wide range of technical and not-so-technical topics.

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