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 Two of the hottest new Brazilian musical acts will be showing their talent this April in Boston, Massachusetts, courtesy of the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA). They are jazz sensation The Vinicius Cantuária Quintet and Latin Grammy nominee CéU.
As singer, songwriter, guitarist and percussionist, Vinicius Cantuária's career connects several zones of Brazilian music.
Cantuária has spent much of his career doubling as a drummer/percussionist - in his original rock group O Terço in the 1970's and in the backing band for Tropicália legend Caetano Veloso, Cantuária's main gig for ten years.
Cantuária also has collaborated with such diverse and accomplished artists as Laurie Anderson, David Byrne, Brian Eno, Bill Frisell, and Arto Lindsay. He continues to play percussion with the multi-instrumentalists of Bill Frisell's band The Intercontinentals.
Although Cantuária's Quintet has been described as 'post-electronica acoustic,' their repertoire typically draws on songs by Jobim and Gilberto Gil, as well as Cantuária's own work.
Say The Wire: "Singer-songwriter Cantuária likes to push the envelopes and fuse gorgeous Tropicalismo bossa nova rhythms with sly avant garde techniques that you probably would not notice if you were dancing to this in lime-colored Capri pants and matching espadrilles.
"The ultimate test of Cantuária's album Silva is perhaps rather intimate.... If you can't seduce the object of your desires to his accompaniment, then they're probably not worth it."
CéU was born into a musical family in the artistically diverse city of São Paulo; her father, a locally renowned composer, arranger and musicologist, taught her at a young age to appreciate the music of Brazil's great classical composers, including Heitor Villa-Lobos, Ernesto Nazaré and Orlando Silva.
By age 15 she had decided to become a singer, and pursued music studies in lieu of a college education. By her late teens, CéU was performing onstage with major artists and exploring the repertoire of the marchinhas (turn-of-the-century Carnaval music).
Soon after that she relocated temporarily to New York City, where she had a chance meeting with fellow Brazilian musician Antonio Pinto, who teamed up with lead producer Beto Villares to help her record her album.
According to French publication Vibrations, "CéU bounds her musical references (soul, afrobeat, electro-jazz) with class and a voice with an incredible texture."
Service:
New Sounds from Brazil: The Vinicius Cantuária Quintet
Saturday, April 7, 7:30 pm
Vinicius Cantuária performs a style of music best characterized as 'post-electronica acoustic' that has won him fans from David Byrne to Laurie Anderson. He plays the MFA with a band that includes some of New York's best jazz and Brazilian players.
New Sounds from Brazil: CéU
Wednesday, April 11, 7:30 pm
Latin Grammy nominee CéU bridges her musical references (soul, afrobeat, electro-jazz) with class and a voice capable of incredible texture. "Light as a flower, the beautiful Brazilian CéU traces an impressive sonic route between São Paulo, New York and Paris," says Le Monde de la Musique.
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