Bossa Negra is a musical concept created by producers Howard Lee and Sérgio Luiz Brandão with the aim of making Brazilian music accessible outside of Brazil without compromising the integrity of the music. The result of this pioneering collaboration has resulted in the first ever studio recording of well-known Brazilian songs rearranged, reinterpreted and sung with Chinese and English lyrics. In addition to the project’s lyrical reinterpretation of well-known Brazilian songs, the producers have also created the first ever fusion of Chinese, Australian and Brazilian music into one album. By taking popular songs from China and Australia, Bossa Negra has pioneered a new direction in world music by recording these songs with a Brazilian arrangement and incorporating instruments from each of these countries.
Giants of the Brazilian music industry were recruited to write the arrangements for this album including Renato Fonseca (who toured with Djavan on keyboards), Luiz Brasil (whose arrangements have appeared on the albums of Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil & Gal Costa), Marco Brito (Ivan Lins’ current pianist) and Sérgio Luiz Brandão. The album was recorded in Rio de Janeiro Brazil in 2009 and consisted the crème de la crème of Brazilian musicians including the following Grammy winners: Armando Marçal - multiple recipient of numerous Grammys for his role as the percussionist of Pat Metheny’s band during the 1990’s; Renato Fonseca - “Best Brazilian Song” received in 2000 for his role as the keyboardist and programmer on Djavan Ao Vivo album; and Marco Brito - “Album of the Year” & “Best MPB album” as the pianist for the album Cantando Histórias with Ivan Lins received in 2005.
Other musicians include Cassio Cunha (Alceu Valena), Carlos Balá (Djavan), João Viana (Djavan’s son), Cesinha (Caetano Veloso), Pantico Rocha (Lenine) on drums, Luiz Brasil (Gilberto Gil, Gal Costa), João Castilho (Djavan, Simone) on guitars, Jesse Sadoc, Marcelo Martins, Aiduas Ayres (Joao Bosco) on horns, Marco Lobo on percussion, William Barton on didgeridoo, Aria nominee Jacqueline Gawler and “asian new talent” recipient Joanna Dong on the vocals. Special guests include Samba legend Tia Surica of Portela Samba School, Paulinho da Viola’s daughter Eliane Faria, Brazilian rock legend Evandro Mesquita plus Grammy recipient and Brazilian pop sensation Jorge Vercilo.
Sérgio Luiz Brandão (co-producer - Brazil): With hundreds of albums and thousands of performances to his credit, Sérgio Luiz Brandão, the multi-instrumentalist, bass virtuoso, arranger, composer and producer has been a monumental figure in the Brazilian, latin and jazz scene for the past 40 years both in Brazil and the USA. They include; Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sérgio Mendes, Jaco Pastorius, Astrud Gilberto, Jeff “tain” Watts, João Bosco, Gilberto Gil, Marcos Valle, Johnny Alf, Wanda Sa, Michele Camillo, Kenny Kirkland, Flora Purim, Chico Freeman, Airto Moreira, Paquito D'Rivera, Gato Barbieri, Jon Lucien, Herbie Mann, Toots Thielemans, Naná Vasconcelos, Randy Brecker, Carlos Franzetti, Dom Um Romão, Trilok Gurtu, Jorge Dalto, Nara Leão, Leny Andrade, Cyro Baptista, Romero Lubambo, Toninho Horta, Café, The Black Eyed Peas, Will.I.Am, John Legend and Tania Maria. Sérgio Luiz Brandão also co-produced Ivan Lins’ album Juntos with Quincy Jones in 1984. The album was a blockbuster with both critical and commercial acclaim in this USA/Brazil coproduction. Sérgio was instrumental in recruiting the musicians that performed on this record including: Nana Caymmi, Djavan, Tim Maia, Elba Ramalho, George Benson, Verônica Sabino, Erasmo Carlos, Simone, Patti Austin, Paulinho da Viola, Beth Carvalho and Marcus Miller.
Howard Lee (co-producer Hong Kong- China): Musician, promoter and producer Howard Lee was first exposed to Brazilian music whilst playing with various jazz bands in China and Australia. To further explore his curiosity in Brazilian music, he travelled to Brazil in 2003 for almost 2 years. The aim of the trip was to study the many facets of Brazilian music, culture, and the historical/social context in how music plays a role in Brazilian society. These cities included Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Recife, Porto de Galinhas, Olinda, Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, Manaus, Foz do Iguaçu and Sao Paulo. During this period he had the fortunate opportunity to study with some of Brazil’s most respected musicians including the drummer of Hermeto Pascoal’s band for the past 20 years Márcio Bahia, Edu Ribeiro from Yamandu Costa’s band as well as percussionists from Mono Bloco and Mangueira samba school.
Upon the return of this trip, Howard Lee has made it a mission to promote Brazilian music wherever he goes. This included the formation of the Hong Kong Bloco, the first samba percussion ensemble of it’s kind in the region as well as being the founder of the band Bossa Negra.
Album information:
Lead Vocals Mandarin: Joanna Dong
Lead Vocals Mandarin: Joanna Dong
Lead Vocals English Jacqueline Gawler
Guitars: João Castilho
Bass: Sérgio Luiz Brandão
Keyboards/Piano: Renato Fonseca
Percussion: Armando Marçal
Sax: Paulo Levi Teixeira
Drums: João Viana
Arranger: Renato Fonseca (based on Marcos Valle’s live performances)
Backing Vocals: Jacqueline Gawler
Recording Engineer: Fabricio Matos
Mixing Engineer: Nicolas Kalwill
Mastering Engineer: Greg Calbi
Recording Studio: Fibra Studios - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Recording Studio (Joanna's vocals): Resonance Audio – Singapore
Mixed at Estudios Panda - Buenos Aires, Argentina
Mastering Studio: Sterling Sound New York
English Lyrics: Norman Gimbel