Pulse of the Blue Planet to spotlight Rebeca Matta of Brazil on Sunday, March 23, 8 to 10 pm

REBECA MATTARebeca Matta holds a special place in the Brazilian contemporary musical scenario. The composer revealsin her work a singular opening to different rhythms and musical influences, such as trip-hop, rock, industrialpop and MPB (Brazilian Popular Music). In 1998, her first record was introduced, “Tantas Coisas”, whichrendered her the prize of revelation singer from the Association of Art Critics of São Paulo (APCA).The CD “Tantas Coisas” was an independent production, totally recorded in Salvador, and had significantimportance in the affirmation and incentive of the independent music production setting, in a city which ismassively directed towards main stream productions, such as axé music.The connection with creative independence was maintained in the CD “Garotas Boas Vão Pro Céu, GarotasMás Vão Pra Qualquer Lugar” (2000/ Lua Discos Recording), also totally produced in Salvador,strengthening even more the local independent production options and stimulating musicians and producerstowards a greater involvement with alternative productions. Here, her composer angle was enhanced – halfof the songs are her own, but there are also re-recordings of music by João Bosco, Ataulfo Alves, Tom Zéand Chico Science.These two CDs by Rebeca Matta were produced by andré t with the co-production of Guimo Migoya and thesinger herself.Rebeca took part, together with Loop B, Anvil FX and Arnaldo Baptista (from “Os Mutantes”), of the Tribute toRogério Duprat, in the Hype Festival (Sesc Pompéia/São Paulo, 2002). In February 2003, she hosted andwas co-producer of the Tranz Project, heating up the independent scene in the summer of Bahia, performingshows with Moisés Santana, Tom Zé and Arto Lindsay. During the carnival, she represented Bahia at theRecBeat, in Recife, where she shared the stage with Silvério Pessoa, Naná Vasconcelos and Arto Lindsay –with whom she started to produce her third CD.She was a prominent figure at the “Projeto Com:Tradição” (São Paulo, 2003), which had the purpose ofpresenting the new tendencies appearing in the MPB. Her participation, on the “Pós-Femynysta” night,sharing the stage with Mim, Donazica and Elza Soares, was described as follows by the B*Scene site: “Toomuch rock to be MPB, too much MPB to be rock, and too much electronic music to be both, the unclassifiablesinger offered one of the best shows of the festival”. The journalist and music critic Alexandre Matias (Folhade São Paulo and site “Trabalho Sujo”) also commented, when choosing this show as one of the best in 2003:“Free and alone at the Sesc Pompéia theater, the voice sounded like a supernatural apparition, diving theshow into an air of profane mass. Short (for me anyway), with a smile and shy offstage, Rebeca seems toembody all the women in the world and grows above two meters high, so much is the authority sherepresents during the show.”Alongside with Sérgio Dias (from “Os Mutantes”), Lula Queiroga, Ceumar, Otto and others, Rebeca took part,in 2005, of the event Golden Record (awarded by APCA), reproducing in a show the album Tropicália orPanis et Circenses, also at the Sesc Pompéia. “...what happened on stage at the closing of the GoldenRecord Award was so beautiful, so beautiful, beautiful enough to make one cry" (Pedro Alexandre Sanches –Carta Capital).In 2006, Rebeca’s third CD was recorded, “Rosa Sônica”, with a more authorial content and reaffirmingtendencies presented in the prior recordings, with emphasis to electronic music. The new album wassponsored by Petrobras, after being selected in the Petrobras Cultural Program of 2005 under the category ofcontemporary musical production and included the musicians from Bahia Gilberto Monte and Ängelo Thomaz(Boing) as the main producers, and Arto Lindsay as associate producer.“Rosa Sônica” was indicated for the award of best independent record of 2006 by the magazine LaboratórioPop and was elected among the 5 best national records of the year by Bruno Saito (Folha de São Paulonewspaper) and among the 10 best of the year by the newspaper Estado de São Paulo (Lauro LisboaGarcia).After the show to present her new record in Salvador, in December 2006, Rebeca Matta began her nationaltour by participating, in April, 2007, of the Abril pro Rock Festival, the most important Brazilian rock andindependent music festival. In the “Rosa Sônica” show, she performs with Boing (programming and laptop),Cássio Nobre (guitars), Marcos Kiêta (bass) and Emanuel Venâncio (drums).Sponsored by Petrobras she made her “Rosa Sônica” tour in cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, BeloHorizonte (2007), Porto Alegre, Florianópolis, Curitiba (2008) and again in Salvador, during the Carnival.Critical reaction to ROSA SÔNICA“There is a parallel universe where the appetite for tropicalism anthropophagi has not cooled down. Here the rural roots ofBrazilian music are surrendered to the fertilization of the urban and global pop language, and the offspring is a soundwithout scruples and without limits, at the same time cybernetic and primitive, technologic and passionate, tropical andsomber. The portal to this parallel universe is Bahia and Rebeca Matta is the guardian.” (ALEX ANTUNES – Bizz Magazine)“... while proposing the shock between two kinds of music, Rebeca provokes dangerous sparks. She could burn herself in these sparks but with the strong and firm hands of her two accomplices – producers Gilberto Monte and Boing – she dominates and slowly creates musical juggles with the flames that produced the sparks. Rosa Sônica, Rebeca Matta’s third record, ignites, destroying IDM as well as MPB, even when having to appropriate concepts and line up clichés and stereotypes – in order to knock them down. This had already begun on her first CD, “Tantas Coisas”, presented in 1998. The nü-metal compressor which razed “Nada Será Como Antes" by Milton Nascimento and Ronaldo Bastos and the whispers of "Como Uma Onda no Mar" by Lulu Santos and Nelson Motta already hinted that this route could be radicalized and transformed into a manifest of musical renovation – the phoenix which catches on fire to be reborn.” (ALEXANDRE MATIAS – Trabalho Sujo, Folha de São Paulo).Rebeca Matta does not like repetitions in music, nor classifications that place artistic production into specificcompartments of the industry. Unclassifiable, she aims towards constructing her own musical universe whichextrapolates notions of regional frontiers, statistics, sounds, etc. The limit is what has not yet been established.(HAGAMENON BRITO – Correio da Bahia).“Rosa Sônica, the third record of Rebeca Matta from Bahia, subverts any habit. Contrary to other Brazilian singers that use electronic music as a support for MPB, or pop/rock, she inserts here and there essences of rock, pop and MPB in an essentially electronic environment. (...) From the sonorous attack of "Deixa" ... to the electronic rap "Boca pouca", Rebeca’s CD with the Sonic Orchestra impels to the formation of its own original calligraphy, differentiated from the machine standard of the plugged ghetto. Confront her reading of the classic "Vapor barato" (Jards Macalé/ Waly Salomão) and register the esthetical passage of time. (TÁRIK DE SOUZA – Jornal Musical, Jornal do Brasil - RJ).“In her new independent CD, Rosa Sônica, the singer and composer from Bahia and her Sonic Orchestra fall upon our heads like an avalanche of sounds and poetry, opening the way for a new musical order in the country.” (JORGE BARBOSA – Jornal International Magazine – RJ).“There is one thing that does not change in Rebeca Matta: after listening to her third record, there is the same sensation of strangeness as in her prior works. The sound is dirty, chaotic and disturbing; it can disquiet, please or displease profoundly, especially for those who expect a singer with a limpid voice, a new diva. In Salvador, where she was born and raised, she survives as an urban alien. Rosa Sônica is a perfect model of how to disarrange the channels of a recording and sound modern. Rebeca Matta is an excellent singer, as evidenced in the title track and throughout the 13 songs. Nevertheless, her voice either hides in the loops, textures and electronic waste or drains through crazy filters.” (MÁRIO MARQUES – Jornal do Brasil, Laboratório Pop – RJ).“A beautiful affiliation to electronic music.” (NELSON GOBBI – Jornal do Brasil – RJ).“Matured in her objectives, Rebeca Mattar from Bahia did a beautiful experimental work in her most recent recording. In fact, all of the music seems to be involved in arrangements by an orchestra because there are so many nuances and details of expression, arrangements and harmonies. Nevertheless, different from s symphonic, the compositions are enriched by a theatrical interpretation by Rebeca.”(DIÁRIO DE PERNAMBUCO).“I have been accompanying the singer from Bahia, Rebeca Matta, for several years. She maintains herself loyal to the “indie” style without concessions. This year, sponsored by Petrobras, she recorded Rosa Sônica, with the samedisposition of not accommodating ever. The sound is sometimes disquieting, sometimes pleasant, but always rich ininformation. I saw her show at the “Concha Acústica” of the Castro Alves Theater in Salvador, with more punch and more punk than on the record. Talent and attitude.” (JAMARI FRANÇA – O Globo – RJ).