Saturday, April 17, 2010

Brazilian Vocalist Kenia Pays Homage To The Dorival Caymmi Songbook On Her New Mooka Records Release, "Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi"

Brazilian Vocalist Kenia
Pays Homage To The Dorival Caymmi Songbook
On Her New Mooka Records Release

Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi



Ever hungry for new challenges, the sultry-voiced Brazilian enchantress Kenia, who reemerged on the jazz scene two years ago with the critically-acclaimed album Simply Kenia, serves up one of the most demanding and satisfying projects of her three decade long career with Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi on Mooka Records.

Renowned for her ability to translate the complex rhythms of her homeland into jazzy creations that made her a star of the smooth jazz movement two decades ago, the singer digs even deeper into Brazil's cultural legacy on this compelling and artistically rich 15-track session. She tackles the supremely melodic and culturally telling legacy of the Brazilian composer and singer who spent over seven decades creating an aural portrait of Bahia, the stronghold of Brazil's vibrant African culture. The author of such fabled standards as "Samba da Minha Terra," "Doralice" and "Voce Ja Foi a Bahia," Caymmi has long been recognized as a singular figure in Brazilian popular culture, truly an artist without peers in a country noted for a profusion of legendary musicians.

"Dorival's music lies just between the two major movements in MPB (Música Popular Brasileira, or Brazilian Popular Music)," Kenia explains, "the Samba of the 1920's and 30's and the Bossa Nova of the late 1950s and '60s. Caymmi's music served as a kind of a smooth transition between these two styles. And, although he had two very distinct lines of composition, the link between these two movements is characterized by his firm foundation of Samba, sprinkled with some Bahian spices."

To ensure an impeccably authentic interpretation of this collection of Caymmi classics, Kenia employed a rhythm section of first-call Brazilian musicians. Fernando Merlino, who crafted some arrangements and plays piano, is joined by bassist Leo Traversa and percussionist Airto Moreira, perhaps the most recorded Brazilian instrumentalist of his generation. The band also features guitarists Eric Susoeff and Marty Ashby, the singer's son Lucas, who contributes his growing skills as a percussionist, and trombonist Jay Ashby, whose invaluable participation as arranger, musician, and co-producer shows on the song "Requebre Que Eu Dou Um Doce." The involvement of sound engineer Jay Dudt, a three time Grammy-winner, assured the sonic brilliance of Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi.

Although several of Caymmi's songs, including "Doralice" and "Samba da Minha Terra," were immortalized by singer João Gilberto, many of them are not overly familiar to contemporary audiences. "Digging into Caymmi's work has been an absolute joy," Kenia confides. "His songbook takes me back in time. For instance, I discovered that 'Roda Piao,' a tune that Carmen Miranda recorded, was written by Caymmi. I was delighted to learn that the song had a beautiful introduction and interlude. Growing up, we only knew and sang the bridge. And for years I sang 'Acalanto' to my children, again not having any idea of the composer's name. As challenging as it is to revisit some of these childhood memories, it was also very liberating."

The singer was born Kenia Acioly into a family of Italian origins in the city of Nova Iguaçu, a working class suburb of Rio de Janeiro. When she was six, Kenia's family moved to Copacabana, Rio's chic beach-fronting neighborhood. As with most Cariocas, as natives of Rio are known, growing up in the 1960s during the bossa nova era meant that she played guitar by ear for many years before realizing that singing was her true calling. It helped that at that time Brazilian television was loaded with programs that featured such trend-setting vocalists as Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Nara Leão and Caymmi's daughter Nana. "By the late '70s and early '80s," she recalls, "I was madly in love with the music of Djavan and Ivan Lins. At the same time, through my friend, the late Durval Ferreira, a great composer, I was introduced to the beautiful voices of Sarah Vaughn and Carmen McRae."

Arriving in the U.S. in 1980, Kenia quickly established herself as the new Brazilian singer on the scene and recorded her debut in the States with trumpeter Claudio Roditi on his album Red on Red. Several years later, she launched her solo recording career, producing four popular and critically-acclaimed albums for the MCA and Denon labels between 1987 and 1991. She also established herself as one of the most popular and successful U.S. based Brazilian musicians since the heyday of Sergio Mendes and Brazil '66. In 1997, Kenia launched her own label, Mooka Records, with a particularly ambitious effort; Project Ivan Lins, a tribute to the one of Brazil's most prolific and popular contemporary songwriters, featuring Lins himself as a special guest.

Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi represents a continuation of the effort she began on Simply Kenia to rediscover and explore in her own distinctive way hidden gems of 20th Century popular Brazilian music. "Dorival's compositions address two distinct themes," she comments. "There are the songs about the sea, where he so eloquently and romantically sang of the hardships, passion and faith of the fishermen of his beloved Bahia. These are known to Brazilians as canções praianas (Beach Songs). These songs have somewhat of an ECM-style jazz sound and yet a very folkloric feel."

The second thematic track is equally satisfying. "Dorival had a special charm when composing sambas, samba-cancoes and soft ballads. His lyrics are subtly sensual when expressing love, passion and admiration for women. This theme is the focus of the project," the singer continues.

Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi provides a unique and exhilarating way for international audiences to fall under the trance of the late composer's incomparable artistry while enjoying the heartfelt vocals of the supremely talented Kenia and the joyous instrumental interpretations of her all-star band.

"Interpreting Dorival's songs is a wonderful consequence of my quest to reconnect with the music of my country," Kenia acknowledges. "His music is so rich, his repertoire so vast and intriguing that I'm already thinking about what's to follow: A sequel to Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi."

KENIA CELEBRATES DORIVAL CAYMMI
Mooka Records / Release Date: April 27, 2010


To request a copy of Kenia Celebrates Dorival Caymmi
for review purposes, please contact:

DL Media· Don Lucoff · don@jazzpublicity.com· (610) 667-0501

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