Mariza Canta Amalia

In her salad days as the young pretender, Mariza was as embarrassed as she was flattered by the comparison with the incomparable Amália Rodrigues, who reigned as the iconic queen of Portuguese fado for 60 years until her death in 1999. She would sing an occasional song from Rodrigues’ classic repertoire, such as ‘Ó Gente Da Minha Terra’, one of the highlights of her 2002 debut album, Fado Em Mim, but feared that recording an entire album of Amália’s songs would seem arrogant and hubristic. Indeed, when this reviewer put the idea to Mariza many years ago, she recoiled in horror, before eventually conceding that perhaps it was something she might undertake in decades to come, once she had the experience to back it up.

Now in her mid-40s the moment has come and, needless to say, the ten covers of songs once sung by Amália on this regal tribute are utterly glorious. Backed by gorgeous orchestral arrangements by Brazil’s Jaques Morelenbaum, who makes a welcome return after producing Mariza’s 2005 album Transparente, she invests these classic fados with a rich and characterful wisdom that is somehow reverential and innovative at the same time. As for her voice, one seems to write the same thing with every successive album: it just gets better with age. The timbre is a little deeper than in her youth, although she can still hit those spectacular high Cs, and she’s added layers of nuance and emotional expression that means she can now stand as Rodrigues’ proud and deserved successor without embarrassment.