DESCRIPTION:
Electronic Press Kit (EPK) of the newly released album "Awakening" by Itaiguara Brandao.
For more info, please visit www.itaiguara.com
Available at CD Baby

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/itaiguara
....
Transcript:

Hello,

My name is Itaiguara. I’m a bass player, guitar player, composer, arranger from Brazil, living in New York City. Two years ago I decided to select some of my best compositions and share them with people. And it took me that long to put out this ambitious project involving 20 musicians.

You will hear a variety of musical instruments like flute, clarinet, bassoon, saxophones, trumpet, accordion, piano, bass, percussion, violin, cello, and vocals. There’s also a wide variety of Brazilian styles: bossa-nova, samba, baião, afoxé, chorinho, but strongly influenced by American jazz and classical music.

I recorded some of the guys who helped write the history of Brazilian music in the past 50 years, and also great musicians based in New York City and Brazil.

On the album I play bass guitar, upright bass, classical guitar and, on one song, I’m a back-up singer as well.

There are two songs with vocals. One of them I wrote in English for my daughter Luana saying how I try to live my life today in a way which will make her proud of calling me her father. The other song, with lyrics written by my sister Naná Brandão, expresses her wish for me to go back to Rio de Janeiro.

The title track, “Awakening”, is a composition with a slow build up, like the sun coming up the horizon and awakening us. And I love that concept because the whole project is an artistic awakening in which I’m expressing my own musical vision after being a sideman for so many years.

I worker hard to put this project together, and it’s been a wonderful experience for me. I’m deeply grateful to my wife, Mary, who has been my biggest champion from the beginning. And now it’s time to share the music and put together a tour. It’s an exciting time!


Itaiguara is a New York City-based recording artist and bassist/guitarist. A native of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has toured internationally and recorded extensively with a wide range of Latin and World Music artists such as: Dianne Reeves, Ivan Lins, Marcos Valle, Toquinho, Roberto Menescal, Leny Andrade, Joyce Moreno, Carlos Lyra, Jaques Morelenbaum, Dom Salvador, Angelique Kidjo, Paquito de Rivera, Paulo Braga, Randy Brecker, Leo Gandelman, Claudio Roditi, Jovino Santos-Neto, Emílio Santiago, Elba Ramalho, Guilherme Arantes, Romero Lubambo, among others.