Mariza in Las Palmas

To mark the 20^th anniversary of its opening, the Auditorio Alfredo Kraus hosts a series of cool concerts includng that of Mariza. Luckily, this one was not sold out weeks in advance (as it was the case with Ara Malikian).

It was a great show. Mariza sang a few “fado fado” songs and quite a lot of non-fado material. And if anyone was annoyed with that, they didn’t show it. The auditorio was (almost, but not completely) full and the public were behaving themselves. Mariza can hold that looong pause... and all these pauses the audience went totally silent. They were so uncharacteristically quiet that Mariza at first had a problem making them sing Rosa Branca (in Portuguese, naturally). In the end, after a five or six minute-rehearsal, she succeeded.

Mariza:	Quem tem, quem tem Amor a seu jeito
Audience:	Colha a rosa branca, Ponha a rosa ao peito

Mariza may be a fado superstar but she also was super charming, chatting away in her portuñol, giving a lot of credit and a lot of space to her band. During the encore, she walked down to the stalls, shook hands with all of the audience she could reach and thanked them for coming. (She did not come up to the balcony where I was sitting though.)

What with this being a part of Mariza’s Mundo tour, I was expecting her CDs on sale but no. Even if she hates signing her albums, people still would buy them. A missed opportunity, I say.

Mariza: vocals José Manuel Neto: Portuguese guitar Pedro Jóia: Spanish guitar Fernando Araújo: bass guitar Hugo Marques: drums, percussion