BRAZIL THEN AND VERY NOW.Byline: Rob Lowman Entertainment Editor Brazilian superstar Marisa Monte Marisa de Azevedo Monte (born July 1, 1967 in Rio de Janeiro) is a Brazilian popular singer. While classically trained in opera singing, she grew up surrounded by the sounds of the Portela samba school, and combines diverse influences into her music. decided to take a couple of years off after the birth her son, Mano ma·no n. pl. ma·nos A hand-held stone or roller for grinding corn or other grains on a metate. [Spanish, hand, mano, from Latin manus, hand; see manner.] . The time gave her ``the opportunity to compose a lot and research a lot.'' The result is two new albums -- her ``unidentical twins,'' as she call them. ``Infinito Particular'' (``Infinite Private'') is an album of contemporary Brazilian pop, while ``Universo ao Meu Redor'' (``The Universe Around Me'') is a collection of old and new samba songs. The latter just won a Latin Grammy for best samba album. Now on her first American First American may refer to:
`White light' You can see what she's been creating when she brings her nine-piece band and cinematic staging (lots of ``white light'') to UCLA's Royce Hall Royce Hall is a building on the campus of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Designed by the Los Angeles firm of Allison & Allison (James Edward Allison, 1870-1955, and his brother David Clark Allison, 1881-1962) in the Italian Romanesque Revival style and completed tonight. A star since she first arrived on the Brazilian music scene at 21, the now 39-year-old Monte ``has one of those supple, knowing voices that make Brazilian pop so inviting,'' writes Jon Pareles Jon Pareles is an American journalist who is chief music critic at the arts section of the New York Times. He played flute and graduated from Yale University. Prior to taking up that role, in the 1970s he was an associate editor of Crawdaddy , music critic Noun 1. music critic - a critic of musical performances critic - a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and interpretation of works of art of The New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of Times. But don't think of Monte as merely a diva -- she's a musical adventurer. After falling in love with Maria Callas, she went to off to study opera in Italy as a teen. The pull of home ``But after one year, I found it impossible to live outside of Brazil and forget all my culture references and do only classical,'' Monte says by phone from her home in Brazil. As she talks -- her English is quite good -- you can hear a natural rhythm to her speech, as if music is never far away from her thoughts. ``It's my food, my culture -- it's where my most important references are based,'' she says. Although she returned to Brazil, her musical exploration hasn't stopped. Ask her to list her influences and they become too numerous to recount, ranging from Erik Satie to Kurt Weill to Fela Kuti, Billie Holiday, Bob Marley, Curtis Mayfield and, of course, Brazilian masters like Caetano Veloso. This eclectic range is evident on the two new albums. Originally only planning to bring her old music into the digital world, she found a few songs she still wanted to record. That led her on a personal, introspective in·tro·spect intr.v. in·tro·spect·ed, in·tro·spect·ing, in·tro·spects To engage in introspection. [Latin intr journey, which in turn spurred her to return to samba, the music she learned growing up listening to albums with her father. Twice as nice ``Universo ao Meu Redor'' includes sambas that go back as far as the '40s. Some were popular but had never been recorded. In either case, though, Monte makes them seem contemporary and timeless. ``Infinito Particular,'' on the other hand, is an aural voyage, shimmering shim·mer intr.v. shim·mered, shim·mer·ing, shim·mers 1. To shine with a subdued flickering light. See Synonyms at flash. 2. and intimate. And in keeping with her adventurousness, Monte even asked famed American minimalist composer Phillip Glass to do the arrangement for a simple quartet -- cello, bassoon bassoon (băs  n`), double-reed woodwind instrument that plays in the bass and tenor registers. Its 8-ft (2.4-m) conical tube is bent double, the instrument thus being about 4 ft (1. , violin and trumpet -- on the title track of the album. Former Talking Heads' leader David Byrne is another collaborator, along with Brazilian artists such as Arnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown. But even for those of us who don't understand Portuguese, no worries. You'll get the sense of what Monte is singing about just through her voice. Though opera training taught her how to warm up and expand her voice, she sings ``low and intimate, as if for one person.'' Still, you can find the translations of her songs on the CDs, as well as something not usually found -- the chord changes. Having a young child has presented Monte with new challenges, but her take on motherhood sounds very much like her thoughts on music. ``It's something very intuitive. ... I've slowed down a little. I'm not spending too much time out of my home But it's a natural change.'' Rob Lowman (818) 713-3687 robert.lowman@dailynews.com MARISA MONTE Where: Royce Hall on the UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX campus. When: 8 tonight. Tickets: $58 to $32 ($17 for UCLA students). (310) 825-2101 or UCLALive.org. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: (color) Brazilian singer Marisa Monte has two new CDs in stores -- one with traditional sambas, another featuring more modern sounds. |
|
||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion