According to the list of nominees, released by the North American Recording Academy, Maria Mendes is nominated in the Best Arrangements, Instrumentals and Vocals category, along with musician John Beasley with a version of the song “Com que Voz”, taken from the live album “Saudade, Color of Love”, from 2022.

The same version of “Com que voz” earned Maria Mendes and John Beasly a Latin Grammy nomination, the winners of which will be announced this week in Seville, in the Best Arrangement category.

In October 2002, Maria Mendes released “Saudade, Color of Love”, a live album in which she presents new orchestral arrangements of songs from “Close to me”, from 2019.

With “Close to me”, Maria Mendes won an Edison award for best jazz vocal album, in the Netherlands, where she has lived for more than a decade, and was nominated for a Latin Grammy, in the category of Best Arrangement, with the song “ Asas Fechadas”, by Amália Rodrigues, and for the Grammys, in the category of Best Arrangements, Instrumentals and Vocals, with the same song.


In addition to the themes from “Close to me”, “Saudade, Color of Love” includes three new songs: “Com que voz”, a creation by Amália Rodrigues, with words by Luís de Camões and music by Alain Oulman, “ Quando Eu Era Pequenina”, an “old and popular folk song for dancing, typically accompanied by female voices”, and “Meu Pobre Capitão”, a “new composition by Mendes and Beasley written in the style of their reinterpretations of Fado and here with a joyful singing of the public”, according to the artist’s agency, in a statement released at the time of the album’s release.