Marisa Monte
Encyclopedia
Marisa de Azevedo Monte (born July 1, 1967 in Rio de Janeiro
) is a Brazil
ian popular singer. As of 2011, she has sold 10 million albums worldwide.
samba
school, and combines diverse influences into her music. After failing to break through 1980s Brazilian Pop rock
she went to semi-exile in Italy where she met the famous producer Nelson Motta
(soon her boyfriend). Thereafter she became a hybrid of MPB
diva and Pop rock
performer. While most of her music is in the style of modern MPB
, she has also recorded traditional samba
and folk tunes
, as well and songs performed by Marvin Gaye
, Lou Reed
and George Harrison
. Much of her work has been in collaboration with musicians/songwriters Carlinhos Brown
, Arnaldo Antunes
, and Nando Reis
, and producer Arto Lindsay
. She has also worked with foreign artists such as Laurie Anderson, David Byrne
, Ryuichi Sakamoto
, and Julieta Venegas
. In 1996, she contributed a version of "Waters of March
", in a duet with David Byrne
, to the AIDS benefit compilation album Red Hot + Rio
produced by the Red Hot Organization
. She also collaborated with Bonga
and Carlinhos Brown
on the track "Mulemba Xangola" for the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
produced by the same organization. Again, in 2011, she contributed a collaboration with Devendra Banhart
and Rodrigo Amarante
"Nú Com A Minha Música" for the Red Hot Organization's
most recent charitable album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot+Rio." Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
Marisa Monte is unique as a Brazilian artist due to the fact that she owns the rights to all of her songs; it was the main demand to renew her contract with EMI Music.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
) is a Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian popular singer. As of 2011, she has sold 10 million albums worldwide.
Biography
While classically trained in opera singing, she grew up surrounded by the sounds of the PortelaGRES Portela
The Grêmio Recreativo Escola de Samba Portela is one of the most traditional samba schools of the city of Rio de Janeiro.- History :In the beginning of the 20th century, in Oswaldo Cruz, there was the carnivalesque group of dancers called Quem Fala de Nós Come Mosca , of Dona Ester...
samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
school, and combines diverse influences into her music. After failing to break through 1980s Brazilian Pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
she went to semi-exile in Italy where she met the famous producer Nelson Motta
Nelson Motta
Nelson Cândido Motta Filho is a Brazilian journalist, songwriter, writer, and record producer.He was part of the bossa nova movement, collaborating with Edu Lobo, Dori Caymmi, Lulu Santos, Rita Lee, Djavan and others, and producer for several MPB artists, such as Elis Regina, Gal Costa, Daniela...
(soon her boyfriend). Thereafter she became a hybrid of MPB
Música Popular Brasileira
Música Popular Brasileira or MPB designates a trend in post-Bossa Nova urban popular music. It is not a discrete genre but rather a constellation that combines original songwriting and updated versions of traditional Brazilian urban music styles like samba and samba-canção with contemporary...
diva and Pop rock
Pop rock
Pop rock is a music genre which mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its guitar-based rock songs. There are varying definitions of the term, ranging from a slower and mellower form of rock music to a subgenre of pop music...
performer. While most of her music is in the style of modern MPB
Música Popular Brasileira
Música Popular Brasileira or MPB designates a trend in post-Bossa Nova urban popular music. It is not a discrete genre but rather a constellation that combines original songwriting and updated versions of traditional Brazilian urban music styles like samba and samba-canção with contemporary...
, she has also recorded traditional samba
Samba
Samba is a Brazilian dance and musical genre originating in Bahia and with its roots in Brazil and Africa via the West African slave trade and African religious traditions. It is recognized around the world as a symbol of Brazil and the Brazilian Carnival...
and folk tunes
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, as well and songs performed by Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
and George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
. Much of her work has been in collaboration with musicians/songwriters Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...
, Arnaldo Antunes
Arnaldo Antunes
Arnaldo Antunes , is a writer and composer from Brazil. He began as a member of the band Aguilar e Banda Performática in the late 1970s. For most of the 1980s he was a member of the rock band Titãs. After 1992 he had six solo albums. Since 1992 he has been an award winning poet, but he was first...
, and Nando Reis
Nando Reis
Nando Reis is a Brazilian musician and producer, best known as the former bassist and lead singer of Brazilian rock band Titãs and for his successful solo career, with his own band called Os Infernais...
, and producer Arto Lindsay
Arto Lindsay
Arthur Morgan Lindsay is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He is a 1974 graduate of Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida....
. She has also worked with foreign artists such as Laurie Anderson, David Byrne
David Byrne (musician)
David Byrne is a musician and artist, best known as a founding member and principal songwriter of the American new wave band Talking Heads, which was active between 1975 and 1991. Since then, Byrne has released his own solo recordings and worked with various media including film, photography,...
, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto
After working as a session musician with Haruomi Hosono and Yukihiro Takahashi in 1977, the trio formed the internationally successful electronic music band Yellow Magic Orchestra in 1978. Known for their seminal influence on electronic music, the group helped pioneer electronic genres such as...
, and Julieta Venegas
Julieta Venegas
Julieta Venegas Percevault , known professionally as Julieta Venegas, is a Mexican singer, songwriter, instrumentalist and producer, who sings pop-rock in Spanish. She speaks English, Portuguese, and Spanish fluently. She has a twin sister, Yvonne, who is a photographer...
. In 1996, she contributed a version of "Waters of March
Waters of March
"Waters of March" is a Brazilian song composed by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Jobim wrote both the English and Portuguese lyrics. The lyrics, originally written in Portuguese, do not tell a story, but rather present a series of images that form a collage; nearly every line starts with "É..."...
", in a duet with David Byrne
David Byrne
David Byrne may refer to:*David Byrne , musician and former Talking Heads frontman**David Byrne , his eponymous album*David Byrne , Irish footballer*David Byrne , English footballer...
, to the AIDS benefit compilation album Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio
Red Hot + Rio is a compilation album produced by Paul Heck as part of the Red Hot AIDS Benefit Series intended to promote AIDS awareness. This installment is a contemporary tribute to the Bossa nova sound, especially the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim...
produced by the Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
. She also collaborated with Bonga
Bonga
Bonga is a town in southwestern Ethiopia. Located southwest of Jimma in the Keficho Shekicho Zone of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region upon a hill in the upper Barta valley, it has a latitude and longitude of with an elevation of 1,714 meters above sea level...
and Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown
Carlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...
on the track "Mulemba Xangola" for the AIDS benefit compilation album Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon
Onda Sonora: Red Hot + Lisbon is the eleventh entry in the Red Hot Benefit Series of compilation albums. The album and related television special were both created by the Red Hot Organization , an international organization whose objective in this project is to raise AIDS awareness in the...
produced by the same organization. Again, in 2011, she contributed a collaboration with Devendra Banhart
Devendra Banhart
Devendra Obi Banhart is a singer-songwriter and visual artist. Banhart was born in Houston, Texas and was raised by his mother in Venezuela, until he moved to California as a teenager. He began to study at the San Francisco Art Institute in 1998, but dropped out to perform music in Europe, San...
and Rodrigo Amarante
Rodrigo Amarante
Rodrigo Amarante de Castro Neves , in is a guitarist, occasional bassist, singer and songwriter for the bands Los Hermanos, Orquestra Imperial and Little Joy....
"Nú Com A Minha Música" for the Red Hot Organization's
Red Hot Organization
Red Hot Organization is a not-for-profit, 501 3, international organization dedicated to fighting AIDS through pop culture.Since its inception in 1989, over 400 artists, producers and directors have contributed to over 15 compilation albums, related television programs and media events to raise...
most recent charitable album "Red Hot+Rio 2." The album is a follow-up to the 1996 "Red Hot+Rio." Proceeds from the sales will be donated to raise awareness and money to fight AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
Marisa Monte is unique as a Brazilian artist due to the fact that she owns the rights to all of her songs; it was the main demand to renew her contract with EMI Music.
Discography & Sales
- MM (1989) - 900,000
- Mais (1991) - 950,000
- Verde, anil, amarelo, cor de rosa e carvãoVerde, anil, amarelo, cor de rosa e carvãoVerde, anil, amarelo, cor de rosa e carvão is Brazilian singer Marisa Monte's third album, released in 1994. Contributors include well-known artists such as Gilberto Gil, Paulinho da Viola, Naná Vasconcelos, Carlinhos Brown and the group Época de Ouro...
(Rose & Charcoal) (1994) - 1,200,000 - Barulhinho Bom (A Great Noise) (1996) - 1,000,000
- Memórias, Crônicas, e Declaracões de Amor (Memories, Chronicles and Declarations of Love) (2000) - 1,500,000
- Tribalistas (as the TribalistasTribalistas (group)Tribalistas were a short-lived but popular brazilian musical trio consisting of Arnaldo Antunes, Marisa Monte and Carlinhos Brown . Their one-off collaboration resulted in the popular album Tribalistas, released in Brazil in late 2002 by EMI and in international territories in 2003...
, with Carlinhos BrownCarlinhos BrownCarlinhos Brown is a Brazilian musician from Salvador, Bahia. He was born in Candeal Pequeno, a small neighbourhood in the Brotas area of Salvador de Bahia...
and Arnaldo AntunesArnaldo AntunesArnaldo Antunes , is a writer and composer from Brazil. He began as a member of the band Aguilar e Banda Performática in the late 1970s. For most of the 1980s he was a member of the rock band Titãs. After 1992 he had six solo albums. Since 1992 he has been an award winning poet, but he was first...
) (2003) - 2,100,000 - Universo ao Meu Redor (2006) - 450,000
- Infinito ParticularInfinito ParticularInfinito Particular is an album by Brazilian singer Marisa Monte, released in 2006. It includes the considerable hits "Infinito Particular", "Vilarejo" and "Pra Ser Sincero"...
(2006) - 350,000 - O Que Você Quer Saber de Verdade (2011)