MÔNICA VASCONCELOS

Candid Recording(s):

Biography:

‘…her voice has such a light, dancing quality (and a quick, clipped articulation like a string of vocalised punctuation marks) that she blends into the music’s breezy shuffle as if she were a rhythm instrument herself.’ - The Guardian

Mônica Vasconcelos first came to the UK from Sao Paolo nine years ago but had been singing since she was a teenager. ‘The first year was really hard - it was a big challenge to leave Brazil and come here…I just came to study English, but I met many musicians and one guy asked me to be in his band. A while later he went back to Brazil and I stayed! I thought “I need a band!” so I got one. I was very, very lucky, because I met some very great people.’

The first musician to join her ‘band’ was the young German sax ace Ingrid Laubrock, with whom she started doing duo gigs around London under the name ‘As Meninas (‘the girls’). The empathy between them that was apparent from the start is still going strong, Dave Gelly recently noting in the Observer that ‘…the voice of Mônica Vasconcelos and saxophone of Ingrid Laubrock are so well suited that words and notes seem to melt into one another’ and Footloose stating that ‘in As Meninas, we have the best proponents of Brazilian Music on our own doorsteps’

Next came Ife Tolentino, whose gentle guitar sounds like waves breaking on the shore. The fourth member of ‘As Meninas’ was percussionist Chris Wells who, though young, was already a veteran of tours with Paul McCartney, Pavarotti and Randy Brecker. The four piece gelled very well together but Mônica still had an urge to grow musically, hence she continued adding musicians until her band was a nine piece. The band-name, Nois, means ‘us’ or ‘we’ in Brazilian Portuguese. ‘though the way we say it is Portuguese. But it’s the way people say it in some areas of Brazil, like Minas Gerais. They say ‘noyce’ but in fact the word is ‘nos’ but ‘noyce’ sounds more intimate.’

The band has held firm ever since. Also on board are piano star Steve Lodder and Ashanti Paul Jayasinha both Zappatistas in guitarist’s John Etheridge’s band dedicated to the music of Frank Zappa. Lodder is also central to the Annie Whitehead Experience, a longtime collaborator with Andy Sheppard, and recently released his own album.

Nois specialise in the unadulterated sound of Brazil, the only Portuguese speaking country in Latin America, where the sounds coming from Africa and Europe blended with the native soul to produce truly great music - from Samba to Bossa Nova, Music Popular Brasileria to the more rootsy north-eastern forms. Vasconcelos sings mostly in Portuguese, mixing up well-chosen classics by Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso and Antonio Carlos Jobim with original band compositions. Just like Brazil, Nóis is a multi-cultural project. Les Noisettes come from Brazil, England, Italy and Germany. They are composers and arrangers with solo careers who combine their various backgrounds to create Nóis originals or to give the Nóis treatment to the great Brazilian classics.

The eponymous first album, ‘One of the most warmly received discs of the year’ – Jazz UK, was released on the Triple Earth label to great reviews: ‘Vasconcelos’ airy, bright originals, all sung with sensuous grace and played with subtle vigour by her stellar band. Their contributions add lustre to a consistently assured debut album’ - Chris Parker in The Times, ‘Entrancing’ – Musician. The bigger band lead to bigger gigs, and soon Nois were an established part of the festival circuit. In Brazil where the album was released by the prestigious Eldorado label. ‘I go to Brazil every year, and try to stay there as long as I can. When I go there its for recharging, being in touch with music and the atmosphere’.

The originally entitled Nois Dois album followed, hailed as ‘A treat for Latin fans’ by Jazz UK while the Guardian said it ‘Delivers the classically cool jazz-samba style in that solemn effervescence that Astrud Gilberto defined – but brings an extra flush to its atmospheric pallor’. Both albums are being reissued, this time on the Candid label.

Also on Candid is the album Mônica recorded last year with the As Meninas quartet, ‘Bom Dia’ which Music Week called. ‘This is one of the most satisfying and accomplished listens of recent months’. Praise has been unending ‘…this album could have been a ‘Greatest Hits’ of Brazilian music, but they’ve unlocked the door to some hidden gems rather than more blatant hits…as warm and soothing as a cup of Brazilian cappuccino…’ -The Leeds Guide ‘As gentle, lyrical, sexy and chic as Getz/Gilberto in their heyday…Ingrid’s mellifluous, elegant work is instantly attractive’ – City Life

‘Vasconcelos’ smoky voice caressing rather than singing the lyric…As Meninas really has got to the heart and soul of Brazilian music and this new generation of musician are bringing a fresh, more subtle approach to the jazz-samba idiom without breaking with past traditions’ – Jazz Journal

‘This is an album warmed by Brazilian sunshine and its lovely’ - Yorkshire Post

‘As Meninas stand out for their honesty, their ambition and skill with which they interpret the music of the Brazilian masters’ - Mike Bradley in The Times

By day Mônica works at the BBC World Service as an arts producer, travelling the world interviewing people for the arts programmes of the Portuguese section as well as travelling the world with her band.