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UK BRAZIL SOMEWHERE ELSE

SUMMER OF BRAZIL - how to enjoy the UK's hot hot season, Brazilian style

MARIA RITA

The creme de la creme of all the Brasilian gigs in the UK this year will perhaps be Maria Rita’s show at the Barbican on the 28th June. This will be the first time that the daughter of Elis Regina (the greatest singer in the history of Brasilian pop music) will be playing in London. The singer is an impressive vocalist and her shows are always charming. Maria Rita’s first two albums both won Latin Grammys. Samba Meu (her latest album, which was launched last year in the UK) shows the artist taking a different direction, and has
been both a public and critical success, and has been nominated at this year’s BBC World Music Award. Maria Rita has put aside jazz and MPB in order to take up traditional Brasilian samba. “Obviously I haven’t abandoned my musical roots which are acoustic bass, piano and drums. But
in samba there’s a lot of percussion and a special way of interpreting the lyrics. The melodic line is different, so is the pronunciation...”, she explained to us. And what can the British public expect from
her new show? “Authentic samba (laughs)”, she replies. “I feel good singing samba. I’m not a sambista, but I want to make music for the masses”, she says. In other words, the Barbican should be packed.

BOSSA

Bossa Nova has always had an avant-garde allure, and its characteristic mix of jazz and samba influences artists to this day. To start the ball rolling, this month there’ll be two performances to commemorate the launch of Joao Gilberto’s album (featuring the classic track “Chega de Saudade”) in 1958. The first show will take place on the 26th May as a part of the Barbican’s 50th Anniversary of Bossa Nova event. Heavyweight artists such as Carlos Lyra, Roberto Menescal, Marcos Valle, Joao Donato and Dori Caimmi will all be performing. On the 30th, Marcos Valle (piano) and Carlos Lyra (guitar) will play at Canning House, continuing the celebrations. Both shows will pave the way for the London Bossa Festival on the 5th and 6th July at Coint Street, South Bank, from 1pm.

BONDE DO ROLĂŠ

Bonde do RolĂŞ is back and stronger than ever, with two beautiful new vocalists. After lead singer Marina Ribatski got fed up with the band and left last year, Bonde went looking for a new singer and
found two. The search for the new band member took place on MTV Brasil and, at the end of the day, Ana and Laura ended up being chosen because, in the words of DJ Gorky “two’s better than one, isn’t it?” We’ll be reserving judgement until we’ve seen the new Bonde Girls in action. According to ex-vocalist Marina Ribatski, “Bonde do Rolê are a joke that’s worn thin”, but Bonde explain that, when choosing the new singers, “one of the most important things we took into account was whether they could sing or not and whether they had the same sense of humour as us, and a willingness to
work professionally with our crazy kitsch aesthetic”. There’s never a dull moment with Bonde. The quartet are already lined up for the Underage Festival at Victoria Park on the 8th August, and at the Secret Garden Party on the weekend of the 24th July. They should also be playing at Fabric at some point.

CSS

Bass player Ira Trevisan left CSS to work in the fashion industry; he also wanted to stop travelling by plane so much, because the band’s carbon footprint was becoming too big. The group have picked up the pieces and drummer Adriano Cintra will substitute for him on bass, whilst one of the band’s America roadies will drum for them. CSS’s new album, Donkey, will be launched on the 21st July by SubPop/Warner and the band have already confirmed that they’ll be playing at Rock Ness (8th June), Glastonbury (27th June), Electric Picnic (29th August in Ireland) and Bestival (5th September), mixing new tracks with old faves.

GUANABARA SUMMER SEASON

If you don’t have the energy, money or time to go to all the Brasilian gigs lined up over summer (or at least a large part of them), then why not pop down to Guanabara in Covent Garden in July. The Guanabara Summer Season will be in full swing, and will include a show by Mart’nália (14th July),
Giana Viscardi (15th July) and Monobloco (17th, 22nd and 24th July). Giana Viscardi is a talented singer and is considered to be one of the bright new talents on the MPB scene. Mart’nália is the daughter of Martinho da Viola, a top-rate sambista at the height of her career. The singer-songwriter has also collaborated with major names in Brasilian music, including Chico Buarque, Zelia Duncan and Guilherme Arantes. And this summer’s major attraction has to be Monobloco, the “traditional Carnival” group, a roaring success last year at Guanabara.