Mariza - Concerto Em Lisboa (2006)

It was perhaps time for the obligatory live album from fado's big new star, but this was more than a gig, it was a huge concert in Lisbon. Mariza cherry-picks material from her three albums, and there's some fine stuff to choose from on Concerto em Lisboa. Her usual sympathetic group is augmented by strings, but there's never any danger of them swamping the sound; the arrangements on material like "Menino do Barrio Negro" are so subtle and sublime that they color the edges of the piece instead, gently enhancing the mood. Mariza herself shows how well she's developed as a singer, rarely letting her voice carry her away, and showing the control over the crowd that comes with stardom. For all intents and purposes, Concerto is a live greatest-hits disc, but it's none the worse for that. Like most live albums, it seems as if it's the summation of this phase of her career before looking ahead. But she does it not only with style and aplomb, but also a great deal of grace, and with such a winning, aching voice on the soulful music that she's impossible to resist.