BRAZILIAN HEART

BRAZILIAN HEART
MARCH 2010
SINCE 1998

Once in awhile I hear songs that bring me back memories of my childhood. That’s exactly what happened when my friend and musicologist Beto Gonzalez introduced me to Samba Society’s repertoire. Among the songs there is “Casinha da Marambaia” (Marambaia’s Little House) that I’ll be singing at Shoenberg Hall in UCLA on march 6th. The song was composed by Henricão and Rubens Campo, both from Rio de Janeiro, and was recorded by almost every major singer in Brasil.

Marambaia is a thin peninsula coming off the southwest end of the Rio de Janeiro area and is a property of the Brazilian Navy. Yes, this means Restinga da Marambaia is one of the rare places in Rio where Nature is still untouched.

Here’s a link to a video of Henricão singing Marambaia at a TV Program in 1973.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDuDp-N0TMM&feature=related

SAMBAGURU’S NEW ADDED CONCERT DATES & NEWS:
Grass Valley World Fest July 15 & 16
San Rafael July 17
Sambaguru's song TRIBO GANDHISTA will soon to be released on a compilation called  "Diaspora 4 Africa Vol. 3” in Germany and many other European countries.
www.sambaguru.com

SHOWS & More:
Spring workshop: SAMBA AND BEYOND: BRAZILIAN HEART DANCE, Age 15-Adult Introduction to Brazilian Culture through movement. Learn the essential steps used in Carnival and more! Bring water and a towel. Wednesdays from 6:00-7:30pm 3/24-5/19@ Borchard Community Center (Newbury Park, CA)


Saturday, March 6, 2010 at 8pm
Special guest with Samba Society
@ Schoenberg Hall, 1100 Schoenberg Music Building
 A Night of Brazilian and Arab Music
http://www.international.ucla.edu/cnes/events/showevent.asp?eventid=7862
Samba Society is primarily dedicated to the partido alto and samba de terreiro popularized by Rio’s “Old Guard” of urban samba. The group’s repertoire features renditions of vintage sambas reminiscent of classic recordings from the 1970s.
www.katiamoraes.com

AROUND LOS ANGELES
Muamba @ Zanzibar (1301 5th St. at Arizona, Santa Monica, CA)
Sunday, March 7  (also featuring Andre Belle and Kandace Lindsey)

Gilberto Gil: The String Quartet @ Royce Hall (UCLA)
Featuring Jacques Morelembaum and Bem Gil
Saturday, March 20 (I’ll be there!!)
http://www.braziliannites.com/

TED X Conejo
@ Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza from 8am to 4:30pm
TED is one of the most exciting sites in the Internet. I was very happy when I found out I could watch some of its lectures for free during my flight to Houston with Virgin America this past February.
Check this link and found out what I’m talking about.
http://www.tedxconejo.com/www.tedxconejo.com/Welcome.html

FOR YOU
One of my favorite singers from Brasil singing “Coisa da Antiga”: Clara Nunes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvUzPiQkKXw

“Disse afinal que o que é de verdade ninguém mais hoje liga, Isso é coisa da antiga…”
(At the end she said that nobody cares about what’s true these days, they call truth ‘a thing of the past’)
Quote from “Coisa da Antiga” by Wilson Moreira and Nei Lopes

Have a beautiful Primavera (Spring)!
Peace
Katia : )
P.S. : www.braziliansleepingpill.blogspot.com
(a story before going to bed?)

Photo: Myself at 15 with Luciane and Marquinhos on bandolim.

SAMBAGURU BACK FROM APAP & MUCH MORE!

Booking: Cadence Arts Network, Inc.

310.838.0849, rachel@cadencearts.com

www.cadencearts.com 

SAMBAGURU at SOB'S (Sounds of Brazil in NY) dressing room. From left: Kevin Ricard, Bill Brendle, Hussain Jiffry, Pepito Gomez (our guest from Cuba), me, Mitchell Long, our friend JP singing on the back, Tony Shogren, and our new friend Alex.

We had the honor of having the presence of actress and activist Ruby Dee, Ms. Shabazz  & family (Malcolm X's daughter), writer M D Johnson, composer Tom Myron and is daughter, Gail Zezerman, Eslovenian composer and conductor Rok Golob, presenters at APAP, and many other friends from the East coast. Obrigada for your warm welcome. : )
New York is cool, I agree, but I wouldn’t live there; living close to the mountains, ocean, with clean air and sunshine for the most part of the year keeps insanity away! The first time I visited NY I stayed at a friend’s apartment in Soho; yes, the bathtub was right beside the fridge! This time Sambaguru stayed at a hotel at 49th St. between 7th and 8th Ave, close to Times Square and to the New York Hilton, were the APAP (Association of Performing Arts Presenters) Conference took place. Visiting St. Patrick’s Cathedral again reminded me of a smaller church I couldn’t find this time. Across the street from the hotel was St. Malachy’s Church where lots of artists used to go. I prayed for a good showcase and show. "Namastê," I heard back.

MORE GOOD NEWS:
Sambaguru's song TRIBO GANDHISTA will soon to be released on a compilation called  "Diaspora 4 Africa Vol. 3 in Germany and many other European countries.
Listen to TRIBO: www.sambaguru.com 
Booking: www.cadencearts.com

SHOWS
Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 7:30pm and 9:30pm
With Sambaguru
@ Jazz at the Radisson
Culver City, CA
Reservations: (310) 649-1776
http://www.in-housemusic.com/radisson_calendar.htm

Saturday, February 6th, 2010 at 8pm and 10pm
With Sambaguru
@ SPAZIO'S
Sherman Oaks, CA
Reservations: (818) 728-8400
http://www.spazio.la/cgi-bin/calendar/calendar.cgi 

Friday, February 12 - Brazilian Carnaval
With Pure Samba
@ KAHLUA CLUB
Houston, TX
http://www.myspace.com/brazilianeventshouston

Saturday, February 20th from 12 noon to 2pm
Celebrate Carnaval Workshop (Dance & Beyond with Katia Moraes)
@ Pulse Drumming (Ventura, CA)
www.pulsedrumming.com

CARNAVAL MOOD
My favorite Samba School in Rio: MANGUEIRA! Listen the 2010 song theme and watch the video of their community. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-yi4eGFDGM&feature=player_embedded 
 
MOVIE
"O HOMEM QUE ENGARRAFAVA NUVENS," Documentary about Brazilian lyricist Humberto Teixeira who formed a historic partnership with Luis Gonzaga (The King of Baião)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GJYE4FUD54 


AROUND LA
Carnaval in Los Angeles (Feb. 20th) @Nokia Club
www.braziliannites.com
Carnaval in Santa Barbara (Feb. 19th, 20th & 21st)
www.sbbraziliancarnaval.com


BRAZILIAN NORTHEASTERN HERITAGE (SANFONICA/ACCORDEON ORQUESTRA FROM ARACAJU)
I wish I could join this band; check this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsEHHrfqnlM 

MY NEW STORY JUST PUBLISHED: "GETTING RID OF GUILT"
http://www.more.com/4879/10508-helping-friends-heal

INTO ASTRONOMY? (STARRY NIGHT IN BRASIL)

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090509.html

BRAZILIAN HISTORY (Carnaval in 1955)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmmel1WrXXE&feature=fvw

FOR YOU
"To him the stars seemed like so many musical notes affixed to the sky, just waiting for somebody to unfasten them. Someday the sky would be emptied, but by then the earth would be a constellation of musical scores"
(Quote by Brazilian writer Machado de Assis)


Happy Carnaval Season!
Peace,
Katia : )

Happy New Year! 

Feliz Ano Novo!

Sambaguru and I will be in NY for a showcase at APAP @  Hilton Hotel on January 8th at 6:45pm and for a show at SOB'S on January 9th at 8:30pm and 11pm. Join us! 

Let my Brazilian Heart music bring you joy!

Musical Blessings!

www.sambaguru.com

SAMBAGURU'S NEW YORK DEBUT

SATURDAY, JANUARY 9, 2010

@ SOB'S

BRAZILIAN HEART/ SPECIAL EXPRESS!

NEW YEAR'S EVE WITH SAMBAGURU!

@ South Coast Winery (Temecula, CA)
http://www.jazzandblues.org/features/2009/rhythmOnTheVineNewYears/ 

BRAZILIAN HEART / DECEMBER 2009

BRAZILIAN HEART

DECEMBER 2009

SINCE 1998

Just arrived from Guadalajara where I sang with Viver Brasil Dance Co. at Feria del Libro. This year the International Book Fair was honoring the city of Los Angeles. The Fair attracts an incredible

amount of young people who are hungry for Culture. They were amazingly warmth. The organizers offered performances all over town presenting  French, Middle East, African, Indian, Hawaian, Brazilian, and Spanish artists. The Festival of Sacred Music Team treated us beautifully ending our stay with a tour of the city, and a dinner with a margarita included!

If you ever go to Guadalajara, please visit the Palacio del Gubierno to see the Orozco's Murals! It's amazing.

Below, you'll find a list of Brazilian theme gifts I made for you, and a story by Rumi that I want to share. Let me know what you think.

Enjoy. : )

SHOWS:

Sambaguru on December 31st, 2009

@ South Coast Winery (Temecula, CA)

http://www.jazzandblues.org/features/2009/rhythmOnTheVineNewYears/

Sambaguru on January 9th, 2010

@ SOB (NY)
http://sobs.com/node/89 

CHRISTMAS GIFT RECOMMENDATIONS:

1.   PAULO COELHO’S Biography by Fernando Morais.

I met Paulo Coelho in Rio when my band played at his wife’s birthday party in Copacabana. One day he visited the apartment I used to live with my partner, and we exchanged books. He got my book about the Middle Ages (he had not written The Alchesmist yet.)  

The Brazilian writer Fernando Morais wrote another book called “Olga,” that I recommend as well.

http://www.amazon.com/Paulo-Coelho-Warriors-Authorized-Biography/dp/0061718882

2.   LULA MARCONDES paintings, drawings, etc.  Lula is from Recife,

Pernambuco, and I met him through Global Crest, a company created by Christi Pemberton and based in North Carolina that did a presentation with Sambaguru’s music. His pieces make me smile.

http://www.amazon.com/Paulo-Coelho-Warriors-Authorized-Biography/dp/0061718882

3.   TRIBO, Sambaguru’s new CD. We are very proud of this new one. Special guests include: Oscar Castro-Neves, Paul Jackson Jr,, Justo Almario, Siedah Garrett (lyricist),The Vine Street Horns,  and more. TRIBO appeared in the preliminary list for the Grammy 2009. Our previous CD, Navegar ao Sol, was also in the preliminary list.) Digstation.com is a great site to purchase from, and treats us with respect. Enjoy the video below!

http://www.digstation.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?albumid=ALB000026953

4.   If you’re crazy about T-SHIRTS and Brasil, try these 2 sites:

http://shop.cafepress.com/brazilian-t'?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=seo--seo+-+general+apparel+-+us&utm_term=brazilian+t'+merchandise&utm_content=search-b&cmp=knc--g--us--seo--genapp_--b--brazilian_t'&gclid=CPnA_PP1tp4CFRQpawod3GVYmw

http://www.zazzle.com/brazil+gifts

5.   BRAZILIAN FILMS

http://www.brazilianfilms.com/cgi-bin/virtualdistrib/perlshop.cgi?ACTION=ENTER%20SHOP&thispage=_1loja.html&ORDER_ID=%21ORDERID%21&LANG=english&CUR=dollar

http://www.amazon.com/Best-Brazilian-movies/lm/RT9PLOZ1U0IXR

6.   PHOTOGRAPHY BOOK

My friend Jorge Vismara has 2 beautiful books: “The Gift of Water”

with Viver Brasil Dance Co, and “Amazon River.” Check it out!

http://jorgevismara.net/books.html

7.   BRAZILIAN BIKINI

Sometimes girls ask me about the Brazilian “cut.” Ok, here it is.

http://www.hotfrombrazil.com/

8.   EYES OF A CHILD – DONATE

Antonio Covarrubia invited me to sing at one of his fundraisings this

year. It was an honor. Please, donate if you can.

http://www.eyesofachildusa.org/dream.html

9.   YOGA UNVEILED

After watching this movie I realized how much more is to be learned. I’ve been doing Yoga for a long time (Hatha in Brasil, Bikran style here in Los Angeles, and now Kundalini)

http://www.yogaunveiled.com/

10.  SKIN PRODUCTS

I found them at BRAZZIL magazine online.

 http://www.amazondrops.com/

FOR YOU

JESUS ON THE LEAN DONKEY (By Rumi)

Jesus on the lean donkey,

This is an emblem of how the rational intellect

Should control the animal-soul.

Let your spirit be strong like Jesus.

If that part becomes weak,

Then the worn-out donkey grows to a dragon.

Be grateful when what seems unkind comes from a wise person.

Once, a holy man, riding his donkey, saw a snake crawling into

a sleeping man’s mouth! He hurried, but he couldn’t

Prevent it. He hit the man several blows with his club.

The man woke terrified and ran beneath an apple tree

with many rotten apples on the ground.

“Eat! You miserable wretch! Eat”

“Why are you doing his to me?”

“Eat more you fool.”

“I’ve never seen you before!

Who are you? Do you have some inner quarrel with your soul?”

The wise man kept forcing him to eat, and then he ran him.

For hours he whipped the poor man and made him run.

Finally, at nightfall, full of rotten apples,

Fatigued, bleeding, he fell and vomited everything,

the good and the bad, the apples and the snake.

When he saw that ugly snake come out of himself, he fell on his knees

before his assailant.

“Are you Gabriel? Are you God?

I bless the moment you first noticed me. I was dead

and didn’t know it. You’ve given me a new life.

Everything I’ve said to you was stupid!

I didn’t know.”

“If I had explained what I was doing,

you might have panicked and died of fear.

Muhammad said,

“If I described the enemy that lives inside men, even the most

courageous would be paralyzed. No one would go out, or do any work. No

one would pray or fast, and all power to change would fade from human

beings,’ so I kept quiet while I was beating you, that like David I

might shape iron, so that, impossibly, I might put feathers back into

a bird’s wing.

God’s silence is necessary, because of humankind’s faintheartedness.

If I had told you about the snake, you wouldn’t have been able to eat, and if you hadn’t eaten, you wouldn’t have vomited.

I saw your condition and drove my donkey hard into the middle of it,

saying always under my breath, “Lord, make it easy on him.” I wasn’t

permitted to tell you, and I wasn’t permitted to stop beating you!”

The healed man, still kneeling, “I have no way to thank you for the

quickness of your wisdom and the strength of your guidance.

God will thank you.”

FELIZ NATAL & FELIZ ANO NOVO!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Katia : )))

BRAZILIAN HEART

NOVEMBER 2009

SINCE 1998

For me Halloween is a mix of Brazilian Carnaval and São Cosme e São Damião Day. Everybody knows what Carnaval is all about, but few people knows what São Cosme e São Damião is. September 27 in Brasil is considered the Day of Saint Cosme and Saint Damião, the twin brothers who protects children (pharmacists and doctors as well.) On that day people distribute candy to the kids and food to the poor. In Bahia, they are called “orixás Ibeji.” The legend says they were born in Arabia of Christian parents on the V Century. They were healers who ended up persecuted and killed accused of witchcraft. 

SHOWS:

Tuesday, November 10

With Oscar Castro-Neves

@ AT&T Performing Arts Center (Dallas, TX)

http://www.dallasperformingarts.org/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=4984

Saturday, November 28 at 8pm

With Viver Brasil

@ Japan America Theatre

Also featuring Shakti Dance Cia and Halau Keali’I O Nalani

Presented by World Festival of Sacred Music

www.wac.ucla.edu/cip

THE QUEEN OF BRAZILIAN THEATER

The Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro turned 80 years old this last October. On her birthday, the editor in chief of one of the biggest newspapers in Brasil ( O Globo ) asked her to choose and edit all the articles of the Section B (Arts) of the paper. It was a present to her and to Brasil.

If you don’t know her work, here’s a link to her interview with David Letterman when she as nominated for Best Actress for “Central Station” (1998 movie directed by Walter Salles.)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kc67K_-e7M

BRAZILIAN POETRY

In 1987 Fernanda Montenegro brought to the stage “Dona Doida” (Miss Crazy,) a stage play with texts by Brazilian poet Adelia Prado.

Here’s a poem called Lesson from “Bagagem” (Baggage) translated by Ellen Watson. I still have this book that a sweet poet friend gave me in Rio. Enjoy.

“It was a shadowy yard, walled high with stones.

The trees held early apples, dark

Wine-colored skin, the perfected flavor of things

Ripe before their time.

Clay jugs sat alongside the wall.

I ate apples and sipped the purest water,

Knowing the outside world had stopped dead from heat:

Then my father appeared and tweaked my nose,

And he wasn’t sick and hadn’t died either;

That’s why he was laughing, blood

Stirring in his face again,

He was hunting for ways to spend this happiness:

Where’s my chisel, my fishing pole,

What happened to my snuffbox, my coffee cup?

I always dream something’s taking shape,

Nothing is ever dead.

What seems to have died fertilizes.

What seems motionless waits.”

http://books.google.com/books?id=aJ_vcxsI-1YC&pg=PR10&lpg=PR10&dq=Fernanda+Montenegro,+Adélia+Prado&source=bl&ots=TMp9pUOaHy&sig=XO3jpuSL3hVOpCiJfv46JaULJwE&hl=en&ei=3cLvSrnqK4_qsQPcsZmFBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Peace,

Katia  : )

BRAZILIAN HEART

NOVEMBER 2009

SINCE 1998

For me Halloween is a mix of Brazilian Carnaval and São Cosme e São Damião Day. Everybody knows what Carnaval is all about, but few people knows what São Cosme e São Damião is. September 27 in Brasil is considered the Day of Saint Cosme and Saint Damião, the twin brothers who protects children (pharmacists and doctors as well.) On that day people distribute candy to the kids and food to the poor. In Bahia, they are called “orixás Ibeji.” The legend says they were born in Arabia of Christian parents on the V Century. They were healers who ended up persecuted and killed accused of witchcraft. 

SHOWS:

Tuesday, November 10

With Oscar Castro-Neves

@ AT&T Performing Arts Center (Dallas, TX)

http://www.dallasperformingarts.org/tickets/production.aspx?performanceNumber=4984

Saturday, November 28 at 8pm

With Viver Brasil

@ Japan America Theatre

Also featuring Shakti Dance Cia and Halau Keali’I O Nalani

Presented by World Festival of Sacred Music

www.wac.ucla.edu/cip

THE QUEEN OF BRAZILIAN THEATER

The Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro turned 80 years old this last October. On her birthday, the editor in chief of one of the biggest newspapers in Brasil ( O Globo ) asked her to choose and edit all the articles of the Section B (Arts) of the paper. It was a present to her and to Brasil.

If you don’t know her work, here’s a link to her interview with David Letterman when she as nominated for Best Actress for “Central Station” (1998 movie directed by Walter Salles.)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kc67K_-e7M

BRAZILIAN POETRY

In 1987 Fernanda Montenegro brought to the stage “Dona Doida” (Miss Crazy,) a stage play with texts by Brazilian poet Adelia Prado.

Here’s a poem called Lesson from “Bagagem” (Baggage) translated by Ellen Watson. I still have this book that a sweet poet friend gave me in Rio. Enjoy.

“It was a shadowy yard, walled high with stones.

The trees held early apples, dark

Wine-colored skin, the perfected flavor of things

Ripe before their time.

Clay jugs sat alongside the wall.

I ate apples and sipped the purest water,

Knowing the outside world had stopped dead from heat:

Then my father appeared and tweaked my nose,

And he wasn’t sick and hadn’t died either;

That’s why he was laughing, blood

Stirring in his face again,

He was hunting for ways to spend this happiness:

Where’s my chisel, my fishing pole,

What happened to my snuffbox, my coffee cup?

I always dream something’s taking shape,

Nothing is ever dead.

What seems to have died fertilizes.

What seems motionless waits.”

http://books.google.com/books?id=aJ_vcxsI-1YC&pg=PR10&lpg=PR10&dq=Fernanda+Montenegro,+Adélia+Prado&source=bl&ots=TMp9pUOaHy&sig=XO3jpuSL3hVOpCiJfv46JaULJwE&hl=en&ei=3cLvSrnqK4_qsQPcsZmFBg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Peace,

Katia  : )

TRIBO ON GRAMMY'S NOMINATING BALLOT!

 

TRIBO, my new recording with Sambaguru, is on the Nominating ballot for the GRAMMY(Best Contemporary World Music Album Category!) www.sambaguru.com

I’m grateful. More Magazine online published another story I wrote. This time is non-fiction one about my first trip to the United States (to be continued, of course.)

http://www.more.com/2009/7994-samba-star-comes-to-l-a-   

The picture above was taken at Chico World Music Festival. Here’s the quote Dan Dwayne, director of CUS Chico wrote about the performance.: “Katia wowed the Chico World Music Festival with her incredible voice, limitless energy, and an honest commitment to sharing the poweR of samba with the audience. Multiple standing ovations and smiles galore were followed by a rush to the CD table for her music.”

Rio de Janeiro will host the Olympics 2016!! Check it out the Master Plan for it! (In 2014 the World Soccer Cup will be in Brasil)

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TCoqZNesnM

SHOW

Saturday, October 17

Fundraising for Eyes of a Child USA

http://www.eyesofachildusa.org/index.htm

“Eyes of a Child” is dedicated to providing emergency and long- term aid to children in desperate need throughout the world, including the United States, by building charitable capital and making philanthropic grants to individuals, families and worthy humanitarian organizations.

THEATRE

Latina on the Loose with Mina Olivera at LATC (downtown LA)

http://thelatc.org/?m=20091002&cat=4

BRASIL 1967

The song “Roda Viva” was composed in 1967 by Chico Buarque for his first attempt as a playwright. The play is about a singer called Benedito Silva who changes his name to Ben Silver to please his audience. According to the newspaper Folha de Sao Paulo, the members of the group Command of Communist Hunting were responsible for the invasion of the Ruth Escobar Theatre in São Paulo on July 18, 1968, where they beat the cast members of Chico Buarque's play Roda Viva. Buarque was forced to flee the country at that time. He went to live in Italy for 18 months. http://www.youtube.com/user/katiamoraes#play/all/favorites-all/0/Clv5-Q4Dqw8

SHOWS AROUND LA

October 9 @ Ford Amphitheater

KPFK 90.7FM Fundraising

http://www.kpfk.org/

October 24 @ Royce Hall (UCLA)

Gal Costa & Oscar Catro-Neves

http://www.uclalive.org/event.asp?Event_ID=681

YOU TUBE

A Little bit of the Brazilian scene in LA in 1994.

http://www.youtube.com/user/katiamoraes#play/all/favorites-all/0/Clv5-Q4Dqw8

FOR YOU

Brazilian poet, lyricist, diplomat Vinicius de Moraes wrote a poem to Manuel Bandeira (my childhood favorite):

“Lucid, tall and ascetic brother

Of a sad and clear heart

What dream you dream alone

Poet, father, harsh brother?”

And Manuel answered Vinicius with a poem in 1948:

“What dream? I don’t quite know.

Maybe to be at easy with myself, happy

Happy like I never was!

Pulling from the roots

This endless and futile craving

To possess what possesses me.”

Peace. Always.

Katia : )