Adriana Calcanhotto - a great artist

Self-Portrait
20/08/2004

I am from Rio Grande so I’m fearless. I love Rio de Janeiro. I have a problem saying no. Narrow-minded people snub me. I have a bad memory for names. I barely like music. I’ve been wearing the same pair of black trousers for three years. I cook very well but I’m lazy. I hate pumpkin. I love Elizabeth Taylor. I have never had any collections. I love helping my friends if there is something I can do. I am slow to retaliate. I love colors. I can’t stand work associates to set low standards for themselves. I am punctual. I stop at red lights. I spend small fortunes on art books. I hate people with no sense of humor. Sometimes I give alms. I love Miles Davis. I complain a lot. I know how to say ‘I’m sorry’. I buy records for their covers. I don’t hold grudges. I love animals. I don’t care for money. I live in Jardim Botânico, in a small apartment painted yellow. I listen to all the tapes people send me. I love dancing. I love Balanchine. I can’t stand the retro syndrome. I hate knickknacks. I love Mondrian. I like washing dishes. I sometimes need to be alone. I like Botafogo. I support Gręmio. I don’t know how to play cards. I would love to do a cinema soundtrack. I would like to play golf. I love Tŕpies. I drink too much coffee. I don’t like air conditioning. My mother says I change a lot. I’m gluttonous. I hate baby blue. I love Joăo Cabral. I really don’t know how to play the guitar. I play the guitar beautifully. I have lovely arms. Iberę Camargo painted my portrait. I know and recognize people by their hands. I can’t stand wastefulness. I hate courant d’air. I love Lina Bo Bardi. I don’t like good taste. I hate pills. I am very hairy. I love the Queen of England. I love Brie. Tacky people snub me. I have never known what to do with my hands in the presence of celebrities. My friends say I change a lot. I have always been happy in Love. I love Marlon Brando. I love Gávea’s Guimas. I can’t live without champagne. I have a Lygia Clark “animal”. I sleep less than I would like to. I hate mystifyng people. I love driving. I don’t like trivial mysteries. I despise phony people. I love reds and pinks. I give shelter to trespassers and outcasts. I’ve stopped smoking. I have no superstition. I love John Cage. I have never wanted to have children. The first word I read was "Mexico". I don’t like to perform on TV. I love my hands. I love laughing at myself. I have a soft spot for mad people. I love Issey Myake. I hate old rubbish. Journalists say I change a lot. I despise people who take themselves too seriously. I love aristocrats. I can’t live without fruits. I am very disciplined. I truly want to visit Egypt. I envy elephants. I love Augusto de Campos. I love Mediterranean colors. I love the food of the Provence. I can’t stand Free Shops and all that junk. I hate people fascinated exclusively by fame. I love Merce Cunningham. I want to compose very simple songs. I want to know what’s songs are for. I love Andy Warhol. I am slightly cross-eyed. I postpone very important decisions. My shoe size is 38. I have a “climber” by Lygia Clark. I love wine. I don’t know how to give interviews. I love Mangueira. I want the Dois Irmăos Mountain lighted. I love diving in Angra. I love Mário Peixoto. Uncultured people snub me. I love different shades of blue. I love Klein. I love Klee. I love Matisse. I always say yes. I love playing concerts. I love singing in Rio. I sleep on planes. I am much too generous. I love Gertrude Stein. I’m mad for orchids. I’ve been head over heels in love for seven years. I love Hélio Oiticica. I love Joaquim Pedro de Andrade. I hate aestheticization. I hate undue appraisal of folklore. I don’t like watching myself on video. I love Oswald de Andrade. I have a lithography by Miró. In winter, I never have breakfast without strawberries. In summer I never have breakfast without watermelon. One day I shall have a Calder mobile. I do barbaric things for a Swatch. People say I change a lot.

Adriana Calcanhotto (formerly Calcanhoto) is a MPB/pop singer/composer revealed in 1990 who had great success in Brazil, and helped bring Brazilian music again to the hit parade after the 1980s were characterized as the Brazilian rock period.

Her father, a jazz drummer, accompanied Elis Regina in her early career, and influenced Calcanhotto's taste for music. She started out in Porto Alegre playing and singing at small bars then moved to Rio, where she was invited to sing at bars of the same style. Her novice repertory of only ten songs wasn't enough for a gig, but she insisted anyway. The widespread notion that she began her career as a barbecue restaurant singer is not true; she sang only one night there and never returned, due to her small repertory.

In 1990, she recorded her first album, Enguiço. There she revealed a young singer with unusual taste for MPB as the album had "Nunca" (Lupicínio Rodrigues, also a gaúcho). Those were still Brazilian rock times and other musics didn't have a chance. Fortunately to her, other singers like Marisa Monte were making the same choice, which dislocated the popular taste during the 1990s to a re-approximation with Brazilian music. The album also brought "Sonífera Ilha," a cheesy hit by the Os Tităs improved in her rendition, and "Caminhoneiro," another corny hit by Roberto Carlos that reaffirmed her capacity for creating sensitive performances of uneven material. Ronaldo Bastos' "Naquela Estaçăo" was the big hit of the album, but national exposure came with the second album, Senhas. The title track was included on the soap opera soundtrack for Renascer, reaching dozens of millions in Brazil. The third album, A Fábrica do Poema, brought her compositions and partnerships along with renditions of songs by established composers such as Chico Buarque. The interpretation of profound songs like Buarque's "Morro Dois Irmăos" revealed a true MPB artist, not a performer restricted to the pop idiom. The album also brought the concrete poetry of Augusto de Campos (who participated on one track). 1996 marked the beginning of national tours and also performances in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Calcanhotto recorded the song "Tema de Alice" (Péricles Cavalcânti), which was included on the soundtrack to the film Mil e Uma (Suzana Morais), and "Dona de Castelo," a nostalgic cançăo by Jards Macalé/Waly Salomăo and the theme song of the 1996 film Doces Poderes (Lúcia Murat).

Maritmo was an experimentation where she mixed drum machines, ska, funk, incidental electronic noise, Olodum-type percussion (maracatu), samples, synthesizers, an old kitsch Jovem Guarda hit (Roberto Carlos' "Porisso eu Corro Demais"), dance grooves, and MPB, with the participation of icons Dorival Caymmi (on "Quem vem pra Beira do Mar"), and the great multiinstrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal. Her fifth album, the live recorded Público (2000), is strongly MPB-based, where she accompanied herself at the violăo. It included the samba classic ("E o Mundo năo se Acabou" by Assis Valente), a poem by the Portuguese Mário de Sá Carneiro (with music by her), and another by Waly Salomăo, a re-recording of "Versos" (which had been released by Maria Bethânia of her classic Âmbar), and previous hits "Esquadros" (1992), "Cariocas" (1994), "Vambora" (1998), and "Vamos Comer Caetano" (1998). On this album, she also re-recorded "Dona de Castelo." ~ Alvaro Neder, All Music Guide

Adriana Calcanhotto last work "Publico" , an studio and live recording it's just delicious , inteligent , subtle , Finesse ,
an "artist" not just a pop musician , sometimes ironic , melancolic , deep emotions higly refinated Writer , performer , singer ,
a seer of new futures , a painter with sounds and words ,
the song Devolva me it's a poem of such beleza ( beauty ) you just get touched deep deep in your senses , Remix seculo xx innovative and absolutely creative tune , Adriana covers a wide spectrum of spectatives in musical and creativity expectations
an absolute proof of inteligence and talent in Brazilian Popular music, please also try her album " Maritimo " a must too.
I am rewiewing the album " Publico " couse it's just good and I didn't find it here , people at amazing Amazon where it's this CD ?
This collection it's fine but I will higly recomend Publico and Maritimo , enjoy !