VOLUME 14 - NINA BECKER

One of the stars of the "Orquestra Imperial", Nina Becker has two passions that lead her life: music and fashion. But this two passions don't walk separatly, she mixed them up in everything she does. So, in every fashion show of hers, she produces a special soundtrack, usually, sang live on the runway; in the Orquestra Imperial, she's the header of the clothes - mainly women's. And here, this two passions gets as clear as anything else.

SIDE A - JANELA
(window)
september 2007 - são paulo (sp) - on the flower' stand

Between the softness and fun, Nina got them all. Her side A was recorded in a really crowd street in São Paulo called Dr. Arnaldo, near a flower' stand. As flowered as her dress and even better: it was the first day of spring. Everybody was worried about the sound, 'cause it was a saturday night and the cars and bus were going really fast through the street, but Nina said that when she first recorded the demo of this song, she wanted this kind of enviroment for this song. So, there're the engines doing all the instrumentation for the sweet voice of Nina to sing "Janela" (Nina Becker/Domenico Lancelotti), the first song that she wrote.

SIDE B - VOSSA AUTORIA
(your authorship)
september 2007 - são paulo (sp) - in a karaoke bar

For the side B, she brought a pre-recorded base for a song called "Vossa Autoria" (Nervoso), that was played in a empty karaoke room. Wearing a silver long dress and doing the best she could do with the sound of the place (far from the ideal), Nina made a (in a good way) weird and atractive video, making a small concert for nobody.

EXTRAS

• Nina Becker's official website
• Nina Becker's myspace
• Orquestra Imperial's official website
  

VOLUME 12 - MAIA HIRASAWA

Since last year in the first "Swedish Invasion", promoted by Coquetel Molotov from Recife, we were at the first row in Jens Lekman, El Perro del Mar, Hell on Wheels and José González' shows. And now, after tons of e-mails and phone calls, we accomplished to mix up Pocket Music with a different musical project, which promotes the reunion of brazilian fans with the independent musical scene in Sweden.

And it was the spirit of this reunion that we tried to capture from, putting the artists in public places in São Paulo in a fun and spontaneous way. It couldn't be different, because with bands with names like Suburban Kids With Biblical NamesHello Saferide, the criativity and originality are visible instantly. And as the most fun and gentle people they are, we, as fans, couldn't get more satisfied with the results.

SIDE A - CRACKERS
september 2007 - são paulo (sp) - at the news-stand

Maia is part of the band Hello Saferide but, here, she shows her solo project. She has this rare quality in her voice, which can be sweet and tender and, at the same time, strong in a way that hipnotizes everybody around her. For this reason, "Crackers" (Maia Hirasawa), our side A, called the attention of lots of people that got lucky in a wednesday night, near a news-stand. Taxis stopped right in the middle of the street to hear her, cars went backwards to understand what was happening and even the microphone couldn't get far away from her.

SIDE B - ROSELIN
september 2007 - são paulo (sp) - at night

To end up the Swedish Invasion special in Pocket music, Maia Hirasawa closes with her side B "Roselin". We didn't know exactly what to ask her, so we said to her to sing a song that was more comfortable and suitable for her. When she sat down next to the hotel's swimming pool, Maia started playing the first notes of "Roselin", and with a melancholic and sentimental mood of the song she captivated all of us in this trully magical night.

EXTRAS

Maia Hirasawa's official website

Maia Hirasawa's myspace

VOLUME 07 - MARIANA AYDAR

Before the release of the cd "Kavita 1" (2006), her debut album, and became critic and public acclaimed, Mariana Aydar had already colaborated in a project of one of the components of pockemusic.

Mariana is always trying to reinvent herself, so, she opens her arms to partnerships and influences from artists of her generation or others, from Brazil to abroad.

SIDE A - UN, DEUX, TROIS
(one, two, three)
july 2007 - são paulo (sp) - in the garden

She quickly asked Duani to colaborate with her on the side A "Un, deux, trois" (Camille), a beautiful french song of the singer Camille. Mario Manga, Mariana's father, was also there to support her with the beautiful sound of the cello. This "threesome" in this song was already made in a live concert and here, it could be register in Mariana's backyard.

SIDE B - NA GANGORRA

(in the seesaw)
july 2007 - são paulo (sp) - on the swing

As a side B, we went to playcenter, which is an amusement park, and we made a espontaneous and fun video. Mariana and Duani sang playing and played singing "Na gangorra" (Giana Viscardi/Michael Ruzitschka), it reflects the creative freedom and pure fun for which, sometimes, the music exists.

EXTRAS

• Mariana Aydar's official website
• Mariana Aydar's myspace
• buy the cd "Kavita (2006)
  

VOLUME 03 - MART'NÁLIA

Mart'nália is from Rio de Janeiro and is the samba in person. She's spontaneous like few people could dream of being and she can make samba in the stage of Carnegie Hall, just like she would do it in her backyard. She has the hability of transforming a simple and raw song in an amazing experience for those who hear it.

It was a rainy day in São Paulo when we went to shoot Mart'nália. At the night of that day, she would have a show, so, this bad wheather and her manager, Marcia Alvarez's threat "if you take my singer to the cold, i'll kill you all", made us stay inside Mart'nália's hotel room.

SIDE A - PRETINHOSIDADE
("blackousity")
june/2007 - são paulo (sp) - in the hotel

"Pretinhosidade" (Mart'nália/Mombaça), our SIDE A, is a union of the words preciousity and black, something like, blackousity. It's a declaration of love for someone who understands who you are. In Mart'nália's bed, this samba was played with everybody from her band: Alfredo "Doca" Machado, Analimar Ventapane (her sister), Jorge Ailton, Menino Ovídio, Cassiano, Macaco Branco and Junior Crispin.

SIDE B - CHEGA
(enough)
june 2007 - são paulo (sp) - in the hotel

"Chega" (Mart'nália/Mombaça), our SIDE B, is kind of the continuation of our SIDE A: Mart'nália goes away from her bandmates to go on solo outside her room. This song is about the end of a relashionship, when it's just embearable to be with someone. Like the song, she wants to go away to get free, so she goes from her hotel room to the top of the building and the cold light of that day arrives at the same time that the character from the song gets free. It was a beautiful moment when we took the singer out in the cold.... Her manager didn't killed us, Mart'nália did a beautiful show late that night and now we have a beautiful spontaneous video to show.

EXTRAS

• photos
  
• official website
• mart'nália's myspace
• making of: