This CD has been one of ten nominated "Best CD of Brazilian Artist Working in the USA" by the Brazilian International Press Award 2006.
Magda Pires Machado, or Maguinha (as she has always been called) is a singer from the Brazilian backlands, and a legend in her homeland. At 19, at the height of her regional success as a singer, she was forced into exile during the military dictatorship that ruled Brazil from 1964 through 1985. As the youngest artist member of the “Grupo Vanguarda de Goiasâ€, she performed regularly in municipal and state theaters and was a frequent guest of television host programs. Her expressive, luminous and refreshing performances were acclaimed by the critics and audiences. She left for New York in 1970, a year after winning the Best Interpreter Award at the Festival of Brazilian Popular Music in Goiania.
In “Earth and Sky/Terra e Ceuâ€, a marvelously heartfelt album, each song has a story to tell. The stories are inevitably intertwined with her own story during the period Brazilians called “the years of leadâ€. With this album, she serves us a soul-nourishing brew distilled from her Portuguese, African, and Native Brazilian roots. Soft, passionate and vehement, sometimes sultry, or mischievous, or ethereal, but always musical and feeling, she weaves Brazilian tales whose protagonists are the have-nots in that cultural reality.
The guitar chords of Paulo de Carvalho and Ivo de Carvalho (not related) are exquisitely harmonious, sometimes carrying a jazzy bossa nova dissonance, other times boasting an unexpected tapestry of exotic foreign sounds. Felipe Souto’s percussion is always organic and authentically Brazilian. Pat Gullotta, Tyler Kuebler, Knut Garshol, and Maluh de Felice add great instrumental depth to this work with trombone, sax, clarinet and violin solos of melodious and lyrical vibrations.
Em portugues:
Magda Pires Machado, ou Maguinha (como sempre foi chamada), e’ uma cantora do sertao de Goias, onde foi aclamada e nunca esquecida. Aos 19 anos, no auge do sucesso de sua jovem carreira artistica, viu-se forcada a escolher o exilio durante a ditadura militar que durou de 1964 a 1985. Como a mais jovem integrante do “Grupo de Vanguanda de Goiasâ€, apresentava-se regularmente em teatros municipais e estaduais, e era convidada frequente de programas televisivos locais. Ela partiu para Nova Iorque em 1970, um ano apos ter ganhado o premio de Melhor Interprete do Festival de Musica Popular Brasileira no Teatro Goiania.
No CD “Earth and Sky/Terra e Ceuâ€, cada cancao conta uma historia, que se mistura com a historia da cantora, deixando entrever a epoca conhecida como “os anos de chumboâ€. Com este album, Maguinha nos serve uma pocao curtida com raizes indigenas, africanas e portuguesas, destinada a alimentar a nossa propria alma.
Doce, passional e veemente, com uma picada de malicia e bom humor, plena de ardorosa fe’, mas sempre musical e emotiva, Maguinha tece estorias de uma realidade cultural brasileira onde os protagonistas sao aqueles que nada tem.
Os musicos Paulo de Carvalho e Ivo de Carvalho (nenhum parentesco) apresentam violoes de intensa e bela harmonia. Felipe Souto mostra uma inabalavel percussao, organica e autentica. Pat Gullotta, Tyler Kuebler, Knut Garshol, e Maluh de Felice dao profundidade instrumental ao trabalho com solos melodiosos e improvisados de trombone, sax, clarineta e violino.
Check out the artist's website:
http://www.maguinha.comTrack List:
1. Canto do Povo de Um Lugar/Gema (Song of the People of a Village/
2. Assum Preto (Black Bird)
3. Cantiga do Caico (The Caico's Tune)
4. Reza (Prayer)
5. Maria Moita (Bush Mary)
6. Verde (Green)
7. Estatuinha (Little Statue)
8. Terra de Ninguem (No One's Land)
9. Nascente (Dawning)
10. Viola Enluarada (Guitar in the Moonlight)
11. Ponta de Areia
Other Genres:
