|
Rosalia
de Souza
Rosalia
De Souza was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the Nilopolis district,
which is famous for the Beija-Flor Samba School. Her great passion
for music was cultivated by her father. In 1989, at age 21, she
arrived in Italy and a short time went by before she started studying
at the “Scuola Popolare di Testaccio” in Rome, (Popular
School of Testaccio, Roma), taking classes in musical theory,
Cuban percussions, jazz and jazz history.
Throughout
this first year she also started to work with Brazilian artists,
guitarist and bassist Alvaro Dos Santos, Ney Coutinho, Roberto
Taufic and the Roman pianist Giovanni Guaccero who gave her the
opportunity to sing in the most important jazz clubs. Her 'repertoire'
included songs from a 'who's who ' list of great Brazilian songwriters,
including Antonio Carlos Jobin, Baden Powell, João Gilberto,
Sergio Mendes, Edu Lobo, Joyce, Toquinho and Vinicius De Moraes
plus MPB stars like Djavan, Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gill, Chico
Buarque, and Milton Nascimento. Each of these helped to shape
her unique style.
In 1994 she met DJ and Producer Nicola Conte and a year later,
participated in the making of the album “Novo Esquema da
Bossa” by Quintetto X - the album has an exquisite Brazilian
persona and includes a marvellous version of “Senza Paura”.
In 1997 she collaborated with the “Intensive Jazz Sextet”
with an incredible interpretation of “Supergiangi va in Brasile”
in the album “Today’s Sound”.
In
June 2000 she participated at the Brazil Festival at the Barbican
Center in London with talented jazz musicians: Pietro Lussu, Pietro
Ciancaglini and Lorenzo Tucci. There she met the group “Les
Hommes”, recording and performing with them at the Fez Jazz
Festival in Bari. Rosalia and Les Hommes also performed together
at the International Lounge Festival in Cesenatico, at the Summer
Lounge Festival and at the Jazz Cafe in London.
With
the Schema Sextet and Nicola Conte, she was called to represent
Italy at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2001. She closed with a
wonderful concert the Summer Lounge Festival in Cisternino, Italy.
'Garota Moderna' was her 2003 debut album, followed a year later
with a remixed veriosn of theat album titled 'Garota Diferente'.
'Brasil Precisa Balançar” was her second album, recorded
in Rio de Janieiro in 2006, with the legendary Bossa Nova mastert
Marcos Valle; fellow Schema label mate Toco and guitarist Roberto
Menescal. Her thrid album 'D'Improvviso' was released in 2009.
Garota
Moderna
Rather
than dancing around the issue, let’s just get this one point
out of the way at the very start: Singer Rosalia de Souza’s
“Garota Moderna” (Modern Girl) is one of the best pure
Brazilian pop CDs to make its way to the US in recent years.
We’ll
explain. But first some background:
We
like “Garota Moderna” enough to place it at the top
of a long list of Brazilian drumbass CDs. As you may have discovered
with our best-selling Nueva Bossa Nova compilation CD, this music
is the happy result of a rekindled excitement in Bossa Nova.
Call
it what you will – Drum and Bass, Lounge, Electronica, Jazzdance,
Club, Downtempo, or even as an offshoot of Acid Jazz – the
`youth movement’ following for this genre (much of it influenced
by Brazilian rhythms) is vital and international. In recent years,
it’s popularity has exploded worldwide, tracing the same
global acceptance of the 60s Bossa Nova sound courtesy of a new
generation of musicians and DJ’s who have absolutely no first-hand
knowledge of the original and thankfully none of the baggage,
either.
“Garota
Moderna” carries the indelible stamp of Italian DJ/producer
Nicola Conte, who filters these Brazilian beats through a cultural
prism, much as it was four decades ago when Italy’s music
scene mirrored Fellinni’s “La Doce Vida” and the
soundtrack-influenced “Cinecitta” movement. In search
of new sounds for the dance floor, DJ’s like re-mix king
Conte (who has earned his reputation as being one of the best
in his field) turned back their calendars to revitalize these
Latin styles, and… Viola!
Born
and raised in the Nilopolis district of Rio (home of the famed
Beija Flor samba school), Rosalia de Souza has lived in Italy
as a singer since 1989, building her CV with a series of single
recordings with groups like Les Hommes and Quintetto X before
meeting with label mate Conte in 1994. Eventually their collaborations
expanded to include a brace of Bossa-tinged tracks for the “Break
and Bossa” compilation series. These prototype sessions helped
to lay the framework for “Garota Moderna” as her debut
release.
Conte
and de Souza’s talents mesh very well and the proof is for
all to hear. Amazingly, each of the CD’s 13 songs is a keeper
– unusual for most any solo recording these days and unheard
of for a debut CD. As producer, Conte has a wonderful grasp on
the true essence of Bossa Nova- a worldly innocence that is charming
and pervasive; one which tempers our day-to-day realities as a
safe haven for an uncomplicated moment.
And
his largely acoustic arrangements provide Rosalia de Souza with
the perfect musical setting. Her voice easily matches this vision.
Lively and at times feather-light, she carries a range of emotion
that echoes Astrud Gilberto’s finest moments. But de Souza
does more with it- bringing a sense of passion and sophistication
to each song by acknowledging the subtle grace of Bossa’s
legacy. The result is at once contemporary, complimentary and
wistfully retro.
In
fact, Garota Moderna does such a great job with this rediscovery
that its easy to forget that less than half the of these songs
come Conte and de Souza’s collaboration. Consider the covers:
Baden Powell and Vinicius De Moraes’ `Canto De Ossanha’
(one of the original Afro-Sambas, reworked for the dance floor)
becomes a showcase for de Souza’s vocal strength and phrasing.
Clever
choices abound: Lesser-known Bossa gems like `Adriana’ and
`Ipanema’ from Roberto Menescal and Carlos Lyra’s and
Vinicius De Moraes’ `Maria Moita’ are a breath of fresh
air when delivered with Rosalia’s delicate style and Caetano
Veloso’s `Saudosismo’ is elegantly engaged to the point
where it outshines the original.
Six
new songs continue the homage. `Bossa 31’ and `Zona Sul’
are instrumentals with Rosalia’s soft scatting riding above
the rhythmic drive. ‘Mais’ is a delicate down-tempo
ballad while `Tempo Futuro’ and `As Gotas’ are both
upbeat and catchy grooves in keeping with the spirit of the recording.
“Garota
Moderna” succeeds in part due to its forthright approach:
Conte and de Souza have done their homework and it shows; from
the song selection to the arrangements and Rosalia’s near-perfect
performances. This has allowed them to avoid the formulaic doldrums
that too often infect pop music. Because of their obvious creative
ease, we get the feeling that “Garota Moderna” is completely
comfortable in its own skin.
A
final observation: Conte’s role as producer should not go
unheralded. “Garota Moderna” invites comparison to Bebel
Gilberto’s “Tanto Tempo” CD from 2000 which brought
quick recognition including two Latin Grammy nominations and a
70 week run on Billboard’s World Music Chart. Tragically,
Gilberto’s talented Yugoslavian producer, Suba, died shortly
before the project was completed and she has yet to release a
follow up CD. Inasmuch as Conte has already reworked Suba’s
`Tantos Desejos’ for Bebel’s record label, its clear
that he and de Souza are poised for the same success.
In
Brazil, the debate between Samba and Bossa Nova still rages. Many
who view Samba as Brazil’s best musical export see Bossa
Nova as a flirtatious “has been,” way past her prime.
Leave it to a Brazilian expatriate and a young Italian producer
to prove them wrong.
And
this month, this CD is yours, free with your next order.
|
