Seaside Towns: Mariza and "Maria Lisboa"

A week ago, I came back from California with the sea smell still in my nostrils. My hometown is on the coast, and I love the ocean and the blue vista stretching west to infinity, and ironically I am now living a mile high in a desert where one looks out and sees nothing to the west but the brown of a desert mesa and an ancient volcano just peaking its head above the horizon. The last thing to leave my imagination when I die, I imagine, will be the sound of the waves breaking ceaselessly against the shore, and when I listen carefully enough I can even hear it in the middle of the quiet desert.

My hometown, because it was a fishing town, was a place where Portuguese settled. The first European to see the area was a Portuguese explorer, Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, and my classes in school were peppered with Portuguese names. My adoptive father was of Portuguese and German descent, and the people often were referred to (and by each other) as "Portagees." A Portuguese Hall still exists in my hometown, and a Portuguese Holy Ghost Festa occurs every year - my high school band was often called upon to march in the parade.

Today's song, Maria Lisboa, is a metaphorical allusion to another seaside town (city actually) - Lisbon. It is a fado (a melancholy song often about the sea or the life of the poor) and it is easy for me to understand the Portuguese fascination with the ocean and love for the ocean. Lisbon is presented as a poor woman whose past was great, whose present is shabby and poor, and who is always in a relationship with the ocean that sustains her. These are the lyrics translated (on the net by a Portuguese speaker):

(She) is a seller of fish, and wears old shoes.
(She) moves like a cat
In the basket, (she carries) the caravel (a small ship for exploration)

In her heart, (she carries) the frigate (a warship)

Instead of ravens (the symbol of Lisbon) on the shawl
Sea-gulls came to lay down.
When the wind takes her to the ball
(She) dances at the ball with the sea.
(Her) dress is made of shells
(She) has seaweed on her hair
And in her veins, the bark
Of the engine of a fishing boat.
(She) sells dreams and the smell of the sea
(She) announces storms with a cry.
her first name: Maria
Her surname: Lisboa

The singer of Maria Lisboa is Mariza, a Portuguese fado singer born in Mozambique before it gained independence from Portugal. She is of mixed Portuguese and African heritage. When she was three her family moved to Lisbon and while young she began learning to sing in many styles, including jazz, gospel and soul. She adopted fado at the insistence of her father, who felt it would give her more acceptance in the Portuguese community. After the fado's most famous interpreter, Amália Rodrigues (Maria Lisboa was made famous by her), died in 1999 Mariza was asked to perform a tribute in her memory, which led her to record a fado album. Fado was starting to regain popularity, and her album sold an astounding number of copies. She has since focused on fado, has released seven albums and has sold over a million records worldwide. Maria Lisboa appeared on her debut album Fado em Mim (2002) and this version is from a live concert in Lisbon.