Luisa Maita: Street Smart Brazilian Music

I recently fell in love with the music of Luisa Maita. Her first album Lero-Lero is as Street Smart as it gets. Do you know what "lero-lero” means? It means a casual conversation without a goal in mind; or simply chit-chat :) How could I not love this album?

Lero-Lero has a marked urban characteristic. Having grown up in São Paulo, Luisa Maita uses casual language to sing about life in the city. In an interview with Alexandra Makowski (video below), Luisa said that the urban quality of Lero-Lero came about both naturally and as an intentional choice: Luisa created this album looking at people and observing them as they went about their lives in the city. I find this very beautiful and poetic.

Luisa started singing lessons at age 19. It probably wasn’t a surprise to anyone: She comes from a family of musicians and musical producers.

Before launching her first solo album, Luisa worked in pretty much everything that would give her an opportunity to grow as a musician, from singing at weddings to performing voz e violão in barzinhos. Have you enjoyed voz e violão in Brazil? This is when artists perform at a bar with only their singing (voice = voz) and their guitar (violão). This is a very common bar scene in Brazil. I would have so loved to see Luisa Maita in such setting!

One of my favorite songs from the albums is Alento. I translated the lyrics for you guys :) The music video is below. Let me know how you like it!

Now let's hope she will be back to the SF Bay Area soon. She performed at the Stern Grove Festival in August and at Yoshi's in September. 

Momento Aula Viva

Sing with Luisa Maita. Pay attention to how she pronounces the words, try to sing in perfect sync with Luisa. You will see your fluency and pronunciation improve. Not to mention you will have tons of fun :) I especially recommend the songs Alento (lyrics above, video below) and Anunciou (to practice the simple past). Let us know how it goes!

 * Virar = to change directions, to change path; to turn into something or someone else, to transform; to go through sudden change

Photo source: The Pop Sucker Blogspot

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