Fernanda Porto
São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil | MAJOR
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This is Fernanda Porto's second solo release. After the 105,000 copies selling drum'n'bass influenced Fernanda Porto, the talented multi-instrumentalist is taking her music one step further. Where on the first album the drum'n'bass formed the basis for the music, on Giramundo an occasional drum'n'bass soundscape supports the compositions.
Fernanda Porto (1968; Serra Negra, São Paulo) is a multi talented artist. While studying international composition at the Escola de Comunicações e Artes da Universidade de São Paulo ( ECA-USP), Fernanda developed an interest in the music of the pioneer of electronic music, Edgar Varèse (Paris 1883 - New York 1965) and composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (Mödrath, Germany, 1928). She might have inherited her self-willed approach to music from them. It was the start of an interesting journey through music. Fernanda Porto is not only a gifted vocalist; she's also praised as a saxophonist, along with a skill to play many different instruments. Her first serious project found her in the company of the late sound wizard Suba, Conexão MIDI in 1993. Since then her fame started to rise and Fernanda was invited on various projects. It was only a matter of time before she released her first solo album (2002). It was received with a careful praise.
Fernanda PortoOn Giramundo, Fernanda fully lives up to those careful expectations. The album is a giant step forward. The decision to record most of the tracks with the same group of musicians was a good one. Picking out those musicians was done with the utmost accuracy. With this album the road to international success might be cleared. The renowned rhythm tandem from the band Living Colour, Will Calhoun (drums) and Doug Wimbish (bass), was invited after Fernanda met them while they were touring through Brazil. They saw the challenge and seized the opportunity without diffidence. Their participation maybe makes the disc sound less Brazilian, but the compositions and the performance definitely link the album to Brazil. Guitarist Ulisses Rocha (Rio, 1960) does a terrific job with that. Brazil's musical icon Cesar Camargo Mariano adds keyboards, often a playful organ. Fernando Moraes and Marcio Forte are the perfect percussionists for this music.
On the opening track "Giramundo," Moraes accompanies Fernanda very accurately. Fernanda Porto plays all other instruments, like she did on her first album. The next track surprisingly features Chico Buarque, a less obvious name to encounter on an album like this. He's a guest in his own composition "Roda Viva," which gets a pleasant drum'n'bass arrangement. Unfortunately the song gets bogged down into a too much repeated theme line. Then the album really starts. A catchy reggae "Da Graça" followed by the up-tempo smash "Bola," about Fernanda's passion for soccer, the game she used to play during her childhood with the boys on the streets. Two beautiful ballads follow. "Outra Margem do Rio" sounds very delicate, especially when Fernanda plays the soprano saxophone, clearly referring to the great Wayne Shorter. The music is written around a poem by Martha Medeiros (a poet from Porto Alegre). The ballads are followed by two pure rock tunes, among which "Pensamento 4," which Fernanda wrote on a poem by Arnaldo Antunes. "Mundo Cane" is the highlight of this album. The composition, again written in function of a poem (by Chacal, from Rio), is built to a climax that features Ulisses Rocha, solidly supported by Japanese percussion (taiko drums) and Fernanda's acoustic piano . It is followed by the most beautiful track on the album, "Sólida Pedra." This song about the delicacy of love is performed with the most possible sensitivity, underlined by the brushes from Calhoun. A touching piano solo (Mariano) and the soprano sax again reminds of the sound of Wayne Shorter, who clearly influenced Fernanda Porto in her talent on the soprano sax. The next set of compositions is made to dance. The organ on "Estrela Pop" is delightful and invites to dance, along with the funky rhythm. "Ninguém Manda" is a pleasant up-tempo contemporary samba. The song is followed by a rock'n'roll influenced "Tempo Pifa," where Fernanda's alto sax refers to that era of music. The album closes with a ballad on which Fernanda accompanies herself on the acoustic piano. A beautiful and intimate love song. Well chosen to close the album with, because it leaves the listener with the feeling to listen to those beautiful ballads on the album all over again.
This is a promising successor of Fernanda Porto's self-titled debut album. It has not been released internationally yet, but that seems to be only a matter of time, because Giramundo certainly has the qualities to gain international interest.
http://musicabrasileira.org/reviewsinterviews/fpgiramundo.html - Musicabrasileira.org
Discography
Auto-retrato (2009) - CD - EMI
Ao vivo (2006) - CD/DVD - EMI
Giramundo (2004) - CD - Trama
Fernanda Porto (2002) - CD - Trama
Photos
Bio
FERNANDA PORTO LIVE
Whoever follows the career of the singer Fernanda Porto already knows her musical story hasnt started (and will not end) in the drum'n'bass. Considered the muse of this musical style, which projected her overseas and which also granted her with the fame she worked so hard to achieve, the singer, composer and player of various instruments stands out for the personality she shows by combining diversity and quality.
Having stated that, it is natural to identify in Fernanda Porto a dynamism, which yields always the unexpected. Her first album and DVD at EMI, "Fernanda Porto ao Vivo", brings another breath of renovation. The drum'n'bass, which predominates in her first CD of 2002, which bears the same title, is the reflection of its time. I recorded everything by myself, I did not know anybody, remembers Fernanda. In her second album, Giramundo (2004), she aimed some other goals, by balancing technology and an organic musical style, harmonies and rhythms of solid brazilian melody. Her most recent album Fernanda Porto ao Vivo shows clearly who she really is.
Fernanda took care to gather a team not only of talented individuals, but who were also in tune with her music and who spoke the same language, but adding their own accents. Thats why she invited the pianist Christianne Neves (her partner in the new Seu Nome na Areia) to direct the concert at Tom Brasil, São Paulo, in a happy evening in April 2006. I have known Christianne almost for 20 years and, besides her musical talent and the Brazilian way she plays the piano, I admire her creativity and discipline. This was a very important issue, because the band was formed 15 days before the concert and it was a great challenge to organize everything.
On the stage, Fernanda is supported by great musicians, as well as the participation of the percussion group Batuntã, from São Paulo, which opens and ends the concert, respectively with Baque Virado and Giramundo.
Graduated at Unicamp and at Clam (Centro Livre de Aprendizagem Musical) from Zimbo Trio, and the major player in various, important projects like the Heartbreakers Orchestra, Christianne has been playing at Fernandas band since 2004.
The hits that projected Fernanda, like "Só Tinha de Ser com Você" (by Tom Jobim and Aloysio de Oliveira), "Tudo de Bom" (by Fernanda Porto and Lina de Albuquerque) and "Sambassim" (by Fernanda Porto and Alba Carvalho), were preserved but with new arrangements. The unreleased songs, including three partnerships with Victor Bellis ("Simples", "Coco sem Água" and "Saudade Que Eu não Tive") stand out for the way they are presented. The new arrangements for classics by Chico Buarque (Roda Viva) and Caetano Veloso (Sampa) are a lot lighter than the electronic versions made for Giramundo and the compilation for the São Paulo Fashion Week, vol. 6.
In the opposite direction,Corações a Mil (by Gilberto Gil) drives the public crazy in a track remixed by DJ Zé Pedro. This is by far the most electronic song of this project. The guitarist Edgard Scandurra leaves his signature in Pensamento 4, a partnership of Fernanda and Arnaldo Antunes. And the queen of the Axé Music, Daniela Mercury, brings her spicy stile in Tudo de Bom and Desde que o Samba é Samba (by Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil), whose arrangements have a subtle hint of samba-reggae.
Fernanda also pays her respect for the group from Rio de Janeiro, Los Hermanos, by recording a song by Marcelo Camelo (Samba a Dois), main track of this CD, and another by Rodrigo Amarante (Sentimental).
To change recording company always has implication in an artists performance. For Fernanda, this change helped her to find the freedom she aimed, without any interference, allowing her to record this first live DVD. I have always had freedom to work, but this time there was more dialogue. There is a mutual responsibility and I think it is very important. EMI welcomed me not only as a singer, but as a complete person, with a musical head.
Lauro Lisboa Garcia (Is a writer of the Brazilian version of this text)
2006 - She toured Portugal and recorded her first DVD/CD at Tom Brasil, Fernanda Porto ao Vivo (Fernanda Porto Live), that includes eight old successes and eleven new works. She participated in the DVD Casa da Bossa (Bossa House), Homenagem à Tom Jobim (Tribute to Tom Jobim), singing the music Modinha. The CD Giramundo was launched in the United States with excellent reviews from critics.
2005 - She launched the CD of the sound track for the movie Cabra Cega by Toni Venturi, with the special participation of Chico Buarque, Toni Garrido, Ná Ozzetti and the members of the Living Colours band, Will Calwoun and Doug Wimbish. It received the award for best sound track at the Movie Festivals in Cuiabá, Maringá (2nd Film Festival) and Belém do Pará (2nd Festcine). She was invited to participate with the electronic trio of Daniela Mercury in Bahia. She
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