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Marisa Monte
When she was 19 years old, after a contact with the world of opera in Italy, she gave up the lyric song and soon became the sensation in the Brazilian musical scene. Still at the age of 19 years old, her professional debut show in a jazz bar was received enthusiastically by the critic and audience, and few months later she started crowding big theaters in Brazil, with no albums recorded, without a hit on the radios, without any appearance on TV. Quickly Marisa Monte became cult among the young audience of rock fans as well as among the adults fans of jazz and MPB (Brazilian Popular Music). She was the first Brazilian singer to have a special on TV directed by Nelson Motta and Walter Salles (the prestigious director of the film “Central do Brasil”) even before having recorded an album. She was also one of the rare young artists to record her first album live, MM, with a repertoire that integrated samba, jazz, funk, blues, bossa nova and rock, several musical generations. Her first national hit Bem que se quis, a Brazilian version of the Italian Pio Daniele’s song, was greeted as the revealing act of that year and sold more than 500 thousand records in Brazil, reaching the Platinum status. It was the first one of a series: all her following albums have repeated and increased the performance.
If in her first album Marisa made success as an “eclectic" singer, as a versatile interpreter who printed her style and personality on great songs of diverse musical genres, on her second album, More, she showed her first songs in partnership with Nando Reis and Arnaldo Antunes affirming herself as a composer of great talent. The popular track Beija Eu was a tremendous success. She received unanimous critical acclaim for the quality of her authorial work. She also participated actively on the production of the album along with Arto Lindsay. Some great international musicians participated on the album More such as Riuychi Sakamoto, John Zorn and Mark Ribot. Marisa started her international career, making small shows in the United States, Europe and Japan, affirming herself as the great Brazilian singer of her generation and the one with bigger possibilities of becoming known and applauded outside Brazil for the quality of her music, for the creative vigor of her presentations, for the diversity of her rhythms and genres, that show the Brazilian racial and musical diversities.
Marisa’s third album Rose and Charcoal deepened the integration of the new Brazilian forms and rhythms with classic musical models of samba, jazz, blues and funk, extending her musical partnerships with Carlinhos Brown, Arnaldo Antunes and Nando Reis; having Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass as special guests, she participated even more actively of the production with Arto Lindsay.
Both in her albums as well as in her concerts, Marisa has never made artistic concessions of any order, and has always sung what she wanted to, the way she wanted to, with whom she wanted to and when she wanted to. She has always been surrounded by great musicians and renewed her repertoire constantly. Reverse to the world of celebrities, even being one of the most popular Brazilian acts, Marisa lives a discrete life in Rio de Janeiro or traveling throughout Brazil and the world, when she releases each new album and speaks about her work, comments her career and argues her ideas.
Her fourth album A Great Noise was even more personal and not less exalted than the previous ones. It quickly reached half million copies sold in Brazil. A double album, one recorded live and another one in studio, with unpublished songs and re-recordings, approaching Marisa even more to the Carioca samba world, in its diverse samba schools and generations, to the old people from Portela (a traditional samba school in Rio de Janeiro), to the Novos Baianos pop samba. Marisa performed this successful concert in the biggest European summer festivals, in the United States and Japan.
After that Marisa affirmed herself as a producer. She signed the praised Carlinhos Brown’s Omelete Man, greeted for its international modernity, and also received acclaimed critical for her work with the historical Velha Guarda da Portela (Portela’s Old Guard - group of old composers from Portela samba school), registering one of the most solid sources of the Brazilian music and revealing the world of the traditional samba to the new generations in the CD Tudo Azul, released by her own Phonomotor label.
In her last album Memories, Chronicles and Declarations of Love, distributed worldwide by EMI, Marisa composed with her usual partners the majority of songs. This is her album that received the most enthusiastic popular reception, becoming one of the great successes of the year, achieving the Diamond status, more than 1 million copies sold.
Once more as a producer, Marisa introduced to the great public the solo album by Argemiro do Patrocínio, one of the icons of the Velha Guarda da Portela. She also bought the rights of Jair do Cavaquinho’s CD and released both albums via her Phonomotor label.
In her 14 year-career, Marisa has sold more than 6 million albums and has amplified the audiences in Brazil and abroad, accumulating critical that recognize her as one of the great singers of the modern Brazilian music, making the “bridge” between the tradition and pop contemporary, integrating musical genres and generations, and always surprising the public with her originality and the quality of her sing, with her talent of composer and the solidity of her musical choices.
Discography
Phonomotor/EMI
- MM Ao Vivo / MM Live - 1988
- Mais / More - 1991
- Verde, Anil, Amarelo, Cor de Rosa e Carvão / Rose and Charcoal - 1994
- Barulhinho Bom / A Great Noise - 1996
- Memórias, Crônicas e Declarações de Amor / Memories, Chronicles and Declarations of Love
2000
- A Sua / Yours – 2001 (CDsingle)
Home videos
- MM Ao Vivo
- Mais
- Verde, Anil, Amarelo, Cor de Rosa e Carvão
- Barulhinho Bom
DVD
- Memórias, Crônicas e Declarações de Amor
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