DAVID CHEW
David Chew
The Englishman David Chew was born in a family of musicians. When he first listened the Bachiana nº5, he was 15 and fell in love with the music of Heitor Villa Lobos, beginning to be interested in Brasil.
David studied at the Guildhall School of Music in London, master degree at the University of Hull, and PhD at Kingston University London, focused in brazilian music. In the '70s, David met his first wife in England, the brazilian pianist Claudia Tolipan. Married to her, he came to Rio de Janeiro for the first time and visit his in-laws. The view from the balcony of Claudia`s parents was remarkable and unforgettable for David. From there we could see the famous giant statue of Christ the Redeemer and Urca neighborhood.
Back in London, David sent a tape to the BBC orchestra with his music material, wishing to work as a musician in Rio de Janeiro. His application was accepted, but personal problems didn't let him come to Brazil. Only in 1978, after the birth of his first daughter, David and Claudia decided to bring the baby to Rio de Janeiro to show her to the Brazilian grandparents. During this trip he remembers seeing, from the same balcony at the in-laws' apartment, the England Queen's yacht anchored in Guanabara Bay. In love with the city, David thought the next time he'd come to Rio would be to live forever.
In 1981, he was invited to be the first-cellist of the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra (OSB). So, David and his family moved to Rio de Janeiro, leaving behind a promising career in the BBC Orchestra and The London Mozart Players group. Learning Portuguese was a special challenge for David, who tried to get some fluency talking to the people on Rio's streets and watching Brazilian TV channels, which did not prevent him being considered by his local cello students an excellent teacher.
In 1994, David created the International Cello Encounters of Rio de Janeiro, an annual festival bringing together big cello players and remarkable musicians. It was the beginning of the solid relationship between David and the music in the city. During the 1999 Rio's Carnival parade, David was invited by the samba school Mocidade Independente de Padre Miguel to create and organize a group in honor of the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos. He claims to have experienced a huge thrill during the parade, playing cello up on the car, that ended up winning the Estandarte de Ouro award.
In his career in Brazil, among other activities, David Chew worked and played on many CDs and also produced a DVD recorded in the oldest Church of the historical town of Tiradentes, "Bach in Tiradentes", with violinist Haroutune Bedelian. He also took special part in the creation of several musical groups in Rio de Janeiro, performing various styles. David also got the titles of Citizen of the State of Rio de Janeiro and Heir of Zumbi. He won awards in Germany, France and England, as well, for his performances of the Bachianas Brasileiras in Hyperion, 1986. David Chew was also nominated for a Grammy in 2005 and, in 2010, received an award from the Queen of England for his achievements in Brazil.
Idriss Boudrioua
When he was 5 years old, the saxophonist Idriss Boudrioua still lived in Paris with his parents when he watched the Brazilian movie "Black Orpheus" and got so amazed by the city of Rio de Janeiro and the film's music, that he told his parents he wanted to live in Brazil.
At age of 10, when his mother died, Idriss was given to a foster family and began his classical music studies. Later, Idriss met many Brazilian guys in Paris and used to spend more time with them than with the French pals. A friend introduced him to the musician João Vicente Abreu, from the Brasil's state of Maranhão. This contact eventually led Idriss to the saxophonist Claudio Roditi, also living in Paris, and who became his close friend.
Idriss was 22 when he got an invitation from João Vicente Abreu to come to Brazil. He spent three months in Maranhão learning Portuguese and interacting with people. Soon his friend Roditi invited him to came to Rio de Janeiro for a meeting. Idriss still remembers when he passed by bus along Rio-Niterói bridge:
- I felt a very strong emotion, it was dawn and the Redeemer at Corcovado was lit. I never felt anything like that before.
Idriss performed in bars of Rio's northern zone; as a saxophone teacher; training local sax players; and also worked as luthier (maintenance of instruments), craft he had learned in France.
Walking around the city of Rio is another of Idriss' passions. He used to walk from his home in Santa Teresa to Barra da Tijuca - which is a long distance! But for him it was fine and normal!
- Usually, I schedule appointments during the week and go on foot.
It was in Rio that Idriss found the value of true friendship, when he suffered a serious motorcycle accident and got support from local friends, not only financially, but also for his recovery.
In Rio de Janeiro, Idriss released 7 indie CDs and played in at least 57 other albums with great names of the Brazilian music as Chico Buarque, Ed Motta, Tom Jobim, Johnny Alf, Vinicius de Moraes and João Gilberto, who had great influence in his playing style. Idriss is now considered by experts as one of the great Saxophone players.
Like David and Bruce, Idriss also raised a family in Rio and has one son, Jamal, with his ex-wife Valeria.
Mako
The singer and drummer Mako (Masako) was born in Osaka, Japan. She wanted to be a singer since she was a child and, according to her mom, she used to sing even before talking!
When she was young in Osaka, she joined a musical group to sing Bossa Nova songs. Soon she was working as a singer and started to be interested in Brazil and Brazilian music. Mako fell in love with Brazilian Samba and was influenced by one of its remarkable performers, Clara Nunes.
She also got to know other musical style named Choro and decided to form a musical group called "Telecoteco" in Japan. Since then her musical repertoire includes songs from the best Brazilian composers of those styles.
In January 1995, Mako was caught by the great Kobe's quake and that event made her realize that in life things don't last forever and also what's the worth of life. So, she started to think "life is meaningless if we don't do things we want. And i want to explore the country of Samba that i love so much". Then, Mako decided that the time to fly to Brazil had come and in 2000 she travelled as a tourist.
Later, back in Japan, she decided to come and live in Rio de Janeiro for a while. Back in Rio, Mako took drum classes with a well-known group called Monobloco. Due her great talent, charm and joy, she met many important figures from Rio de Janeiro musical scene, and could develop her musical skills and career as a singer and drummer. She also released the CD "Algumas Cores ", as a singer. To Mako, life is music, music and music. It's as if her heart beats in the rhythm of the Brazilian music.
Bruce Henri
The bass player Bruce Henri was born in New York and started to play at the age of 13. He moved from US to Europe with the family when he was 8. During the 60's his father, a jewish polish guy, came to live in Brazil. Then, in 1966, Bruce also came to Rio to meet his father, finish his studies and later got into University. In 1967, he recorded his first album with the group "The Outcats".
Bruce has been a self-taught musician and started to play in Brazil with artists like Jards Macalé, Gal Costa and Marcos Valle, when he created the fusion style group Soma. He spent sometime touring and playing in England with Macalé, Gal Costa, Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.
Bruce came back to Brazil with Gil when he was released from political forced exile. They played all over the country with the album "Expresso 2222", and later in rock shows and in a tourné in São Paulo with Gal Costa. As the musical turneés ended, Bruce came back to England but felt that Rio was his real home, as he missed the girls, the Pier point at Ipanema Beach, the nice weather, the size and mostly the cultural and musical diversity of the country . Looking at the options of countries to choose to live in, as France, Germany, England, Spain or Brazil, he picked the last one.
In 1974, in association with Morris, Caetano Veloso's english sound designer, they brought to Brazil the first professional sound equipment to record live shows, creating the "Banana Eufórica" company. During this period Bruce produced and managed the sound of live shows of famous Brazilian artists as Fagner, Naná Vasconcelos, Egberto Gismonti, Hermeto Paschoal, Novos Baianos, and also performed in studios recording disks with many remarkable Brazilian musicians and singers.
Bruce studied bass with the spalla of OSB Rodolfo Kroupe (Brazilian Symphonic Orchestra) and Balek, from Prague Conservatory. He also wrote and produced the soundtrack for "Mailbag Blues", a film based on Ronald Biggs' life, the famous Englishmen train burglar, which resulted in an album.
Married to a carioca girl, Bruce spent a period in the seashore city of Búzios, managing a small hotel. He also lived in the south of Bahia, working as a carpenter with sailing boats. From 1977 to 1979, he decided to leave Rio due political movements and police repression and went back to the United States (San Francisco) to study classical music and play latin music and jazz. His son Thiago was born in that period.
Returning to Brazil in 1979, he got back the management of his hotel in Búzios, built some houses and a new hotel with a restaurant (and a bar) called "A Estalagem" where he produced and performed live music shows. He worked as a carpenter too.
In 1985 Bruce got a contract with People piano bar and occasionally played at the Four Seasons, another bar. He kept going to Buzios on weekends to manage his hotel. It was the only way to self sustain to be in Rio.
In 1991, Bruce recorded his first independent Jazz CD in Rio, "Bruce Henri" which got a lot of good reviews and was considered one of the best works by french reviews. In 1993 he recorded his second independent CD.
Next Bruce went on musical tours around Brazil in shows and TV. In 1994 he performed with Luis Eça's orchestra at Free Jazz Festival and records his third independent CD "Buzios Live". He also played in the next edition of Free Jazz, along with celebrities like Tom Jobim, Gal Costa and Herbie Hancock. He joins Ney Matogrosso's band from 1996 to 1998 and recorded three CDs with this artist. During this period he created the show "Jungle Tap", mixing bass player performances with tap dancing.
From 2004 to 2009 he played with the Brazilian singer Fafá de Belém on her national and international tours and released the independent CD "Mailbag Blues" in England.
Bruce also produced and directed the Copacabana Palace's Hotel reveillon party for 2005/2006, performed in Rio International Cello Encounter, worked as a stage producer in Rock in Rio events, Rolling Stones in Rio, Live Earth and other shows. During this period he created and produced the multimedia project "Villa`s Voice", playing the works of the composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, with his own musical arrangements. Based on this project, he released the CD "Bruce Henri & Villa's Voz" in April 2009.
Besides his intense activity as a musician in Rio, Bruce loves to please his family and friends on the weekends as a chef, with some of his delicious dishes.
