São Paulo – Musicians Sergio Mendes and Tania Maria should participate in the 8th edition of the Rhythms of the World festival, from May 15th to 23rd, in Rabat, Morocco. Sergio Mendes, from Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, a musician and composer famous for his bossa nova style, has had a large part of his career, and of his success, outside Brazil. Tania Maria, born in São Luiz, Maranhão, is an actress, singer, composer and pianist, and became better known for her blending of samba and pop with jazz.
Both Brazilians are going to participate in the festival in the Moroccan city, together with artists from around 40 countries, according to information disclosed by news agency Maghreb Arabe Presse (MAP), from Morocco. They should be playing alongside three international stars, like the North American Stevie Wonder, the Italian Ennio Morricone and the Australian Kylie Minogue, as well as the Arab Hussein El Jasmi, Kadhim Saher and Samira Saïd.
Last year, according to the association responsible for organisation of the event, Maroc-Cultures, the festival received 1.2 million people. This year, to provide incentives to the artistic creation, Rhythms of the World should promote a competition to reveal new young talents in music. There should also be an art exhibition called Crossings, with contemporary Arab artists from Morocco, Iraq, Palestine, Tunisia, Lebanon, Egypt and Bahrain.
Musician Sergio Mendes, despite representing Brazil in the festival, has lived in Los Angeles, in the United States, since the mid 1960s. He still lived in the United States, though, when Bossa Nova was born, and was one of the first Brazilians to sing the style, alongside Tom Jobim, João Gilberto and Vinícius de Moraes. Mendes recorded four songs with Jobim, among them Água de Beber and Águas de Março.
In the Brazilian musician’s last record, "Encanto", released in 2008, Sergio Mendes sings in several languages, like Portuguese, English and Spanish. Song Acode, for example, includes the participation of Brazilian singer Vanessa da Mata, and of singer and musician Carlinhos Brown. Mendes has a very Brazilian style, with a mixture of fast popular rhythms, like those from Bahia, to the calm bossa. On his site, Mendes himself defines "Encanto" as a record with the sensibility of Brazilian music.
The Brazilian Tania Maria should also play at the event in Morocco. She sings in English and in Portuguese and, despite mixing several rhythms, her strong point is jazz. Like Mendes, Tania became widely popular abroad. She has been a pianist since she was seven and began singing in her father’s band when she was an adolescent. The singer launched her first record in 1971 and became successful in France, in the same decade. She is a guaranteed presence in the main jazz festivals worldwide.
*Translated by Mark Ament
