Mariza sings fado foreplay

Portugese songstress sings her Latin Grammy award nominated songs to a sold-out show at Massey Hall last night in Toronto

The pixie blonde sways her hips from side to side and I am sure she thinks she is shaking them but she is so feline-like that her movements are simply more Ava Gardner Barefoot Contessa than Lykke Li who shook her hips throughout her show last week in jerky movements.

Mariza sang to some 2 700 fans who donned their finest (and some not so finest) to take in the sweet songstress the eve before Valentines Day at Massey Hall in Toronto ON. This Portugese pop star is one of the leading fado females singers who kicked of her 3-month North American tour last night. Born in Mozambique and raised in Portugal, she began singing fado as a child and lived with both cultures as her father is ethnic Portugese and mother is Black African from Mozambique.

Last night I arrived just 10 minutes before the show and the crowd was bustling in excitement. As much excitement that one can imagine from a mostly 50+ crowd. "I felt like I was at Catholic church on Sunday morning with all of the smell of bad breath and mothballs that surrounded me," one concert-goer said.

The cute 1933 Robert Simpson Department Store ad I found in the hallway at the Centuries lounge (the bar in the basement of Massey Hall). It seemed so fitting: "The new setting has something of the atmosphere of the Continental opera where fashionables promenade wearing supremely smart frocks and wraps." (Good thing I wore my new fur shrug)

But the beauty of the crowd was the sensibility that many older people carry which is to dress up when attending a concert. Two sisters came to watch the show in their matching full-length fur coats. Old world glamour, I eat it up. Now I know fur is wrong but these women I am sure had them for many years and they did look like illustrious patrons so I give them kudos. As for the rest of the fashion in the crowd, well many fell short but at least they tried, pulling out their best dress clothes, much like, ahem, their Sunday best.

Clearly the best outfit was that of 36-year-old Mariza who had on a black taffeta number that was corset tight until it hit her hips where it then ballooned out in voluminous draping until it hit the floor. She also had on a lace shrug which came down over her hand for added glamour. She accessorized with an large black patent necklace with plastic rings in it and her glowing skin that is so perfect it looks like an airbrushed photo of herself.

And she holds the stage, moving around in deliberate, delicate moves proving her strength as a performer and ability to hold herself like a 50s screen star. Although she did give me a delicate Celine Dion vibe last night with her larger-than-life presence, and it seems fitting since she won her first award for Most Outstanding Performance in Quebec in 2001. Her fans love her Portugese lyrics and during the show she was given two bouquets of flowers on stage that she then held in her arms to sing a portion of a song with them. How perfectly honoring.

And honoring she is. Near the end of her act she took out 10 minutes for her drummer. "One of the best drum solos I have ever heard, and I have heard a lot," I overhear after his performance. Then she introduces her entourage; her three guitar players, her piano/trumpet player from Britain, and her drummer. She then goes to shake her hips a little more as she encourages her drummer to tap on his African drum but quickly turns it pop when she does a Madonna cover. But this time when she shakes her hips, I finally believe it.

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