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Touchstones of Excellence

Residents of Pukanu, a Mebengokre Indian village in Brazil, faced
numerous hazards before logging on the Internet. Chief Pykati-re made several trips by
single-engine Cessna across 240 miles of rainforest to plug his community’s Macintosh
PowerBook into a phone line. Pykati-re effort has become a paradigm of how the Internet
can be utilized by even the smallest players in the global economy. Whatever the future
role of the Internet in solving the problems of the rural poor, the Pykany Trading Company
is a proof that a small enterprise can do business in the global marketplace and a
practical example for other indigenous and peasant communities. With their use of the
Internet the inhabitants of Pukanu village are responding to their critics and showing the
world that they can be responsible players in the global marketplace, while at the same
time preserving their traditions.
By Brazzil Magazine

The last few years have seen so much new work, so much development in musical
technology, and so many fresh stylistic approaches, that there has been of late a
disposition to ignore, as something out of date and wholly superseded, the work of a
singer whose originality and temperament affected all it preceded. Elis Regina was a
singer who could stamp a song’s meaning with her own personality, bringing to it an
additional dimension and lending it "authenticity." Her voice, a combination of
sensuality, artistic precision, and volcanic emotional power, made sound and image
virtually inseparable. From the very beginning of her career, Regina’s remarkable rhythmic
security and distinctive vocal styling attracted songwriters, one of whom was Joyce.

Anyone who has penetrated the imagery of Joyce’s lyrics can understand why Elis
recorded it. Joyce writes poetry, but poetry in a musical context where words acquire a
particular resonance and reinforcement by the counterpoint or juxtaposition of her musical
accompaniment. She has an uncanny ability to draw the listener into the special world of
her imagination. Like all great musicians, Joyce has the capacity to communicate,
instantly captivating and involving her listeners in the musical moment.

The very personal way she expresses herself combines a distinctive vocal timbre and
subtle sense of timing with the ability to set and sustain a mood. What emerges with great
clarity from any listening to Joyce’s music is her profound instinct for the melodic arc
of a song. An acknowledged master of her craft and one in the full flush of her career,
Joyce has crowned her achievements with the release of Astronauta-Songs of Elis on
Blue Jackel Records.

With this latest challenge Joyce has embraced a celebrated repertoire she is passionate
about. Each tune is a profound marriage of words, melody, and harmony that arrives with a
subjective dimension already built in. Besides two Joyce compositions, the repertoire
includes works, by Jobim, Gilberto Gil, Nélson Cavaquinho, Baden Powell, Edu Lobo, and
Milton Nascimento among others. Joyce’s voice, with its haunting purity and subtle use of
tonal inflection, holds each song up to the light where it gleams anew, as if it were
being sung for the first time.

It takes a fertile imagination to conceive of such an approach to a recording and a
truly great artist to keep the results from degenerating into just another gimmick. And it
is testimony to her great artistry that Joyce’s approach to the Songs of Elis is
fully responsive to its special demands. The unusually consistent artistic level that
prevails throughout this project (in addition to Joyce’s music, voice, and guitar
playing), is due to the exceptional accompaniment provided by the fine musicians who
appear with her and who give us some idea of the respect fellow performers have for her.
This group plays ecstatically, marking these performances among Joyce’s very best.

Renee Rosnes on piano never gets in Joyce’s way with the superfluous or superficial. Sh
    e has the technique and the imagination to complement rather than
complicate. The other pianist on the date, Mulgrew Miller, is a familiar enough figure in
musical circles to eliminate the necessity for formalities. Suffice it to say that what he
plays on piano has an almost frightening logic. Tenor sax man Joe Lovano demonstrates
remarkably creative freedom within the forms, impeccable control, and his infallible
intonation. Romero Lubambo on guitar has influenced nearly every guitar player for at
least the last decade, and as always, his playing on this date is magnificent.

Rodolfo Stroeter, as producer, creates the perfect setting for Joyce’s voice. As bass
player, he is a technical marvel, accomplishing his infinitely fine musical embroidery by
means of understatement. He is strong and direct without ever spilling over into
aggressiveness. Tutti Moreno, a massively accomplished drummer with an unflagging rhythmic
acuity, maintains the project’s momentum with eloquent, yet powerful dynamism. And
percussionist Guello, is simply the epitome of taste married to a superb technique.

Joyce’s achievements on Astronauta should be praised for their scope and
ambition, but Jack O’Neil of Blue Jackel Records must also be applauded for his acumen. In
a business where there is little margin for error and few are willing to risk, O’Neil’s
Blue Jackel Records has done more to enhance appreciation and awareness of Brazilian music
than any other label in North America. Artists whose works may never have reached our ears
have come to us from Blue Jackel beautifully packaged, well promoted, and with copious
liner notes in English.

At the end of 1998, the top-ten lists of most Brazilian music reviewers here in the
United States reflected this exactly. I had the great pleasure of speaking with Joyce when
she was in New York in January on an abbreviated tour. Our conversation touched on Astronauta,
Elis, the past, and Joyce’s current projects. I found her enthusiasm, wit, and warmth
refreshing.

Brazzil—You’ve always had this close connection with jazz musicians, and
I was wondering if you see yourself more as a player than a composer or a singer?

Joyce—It’s probably more of a musician than just composer, or just singer, or
just a player. The musician stands in the middle with the composing and singing and
playing being different forms of expression for the musician. But, I think, all of those.
Three at a time.

Brazzil—How did you actually get started in music?

Joyce—Well, I have this brother who used to be a guitar player when he was
younger. He’s thirteen years older than me. And I grew up listening to good music because
he had all these great records at home. That really was the start for me. Seeing him play
with other people and bring his musician friends home and hearing the new recordings that
he was always buying, was great encouragement for me.

Brazzil—Who did you hear when you were growing up?

Joyce—When I was a kid I listened to Ella Fitzgerald a lot, right? So, that
was one. And next Miles Davis-forever, always. And, of course, Thelonious Monk too. My
brother and my cousin who lived in our house had wonderful tastes in jazz.

Brazzil—You were listening to my favorites.

Joyce—(Laughs) Oh, okay. And in Brazilian music, I grew up listening to the bossa
nova, which appeared when I was around nine or ten years old. I grew up listening to
this great music, to João Gilberto, to Jobim, and to a wonderful Brazilian singer, the
late Sylvia Telles. She was really a great singer. I grew up listening to those people and
also to samba music because samba is the music of my city. It’s the music from Rio, and it
also made a big impression on me as a child.

Brazzil—And today who do you listen to?

Joyce—Today, I listen to a bit of everything. I listen to Ravel’s music, that
I love very much and directly related to Ravel I could say Bill Evans. I listen to
different types of music. I have a huge collection of records. I still like to listen to
the old bossa nova records more and more because I think everything’s there.

Brazzil—And as you became more involved with the music scene, did you
participate in a lot of the MPB festivals?

Joyce—I did, in the beginning, yes. Not later because the record companies
took over, and then it wasn’t that fair any longer. But in the beginning I did, and it was
very nice. That’s how I met everybody. That’s when I made all my friends who are still
friends today. So, that was initially really nice.

Brazzil—Today you’re playing MCB instead of MPB? What specifically is
that?

Joyce—Creative Music of Brazil is something that has no defined borders as
long as it’s creative. It’s very funny because I just made this label up during an
interview like this one I’m giving to you now. I was promoting my book… Actually, it
wasn’t my book, it was after my book. I was doing a concert in Rio. We were promoting the
release of Ilha Brasil (Blue Note/World Pacific, 1996), and somebody from the
Brazilian newspaper Jornal do Brasil, asked me about MPB. Everybody is very upset
because MPB used to be a way of referring to good Brazilian music, and now everything is
MPB. Whether it’s country music or axé-music from Bahia, or whatever it is, people
call it MPB. So, there are a lot of people who are a bit upset. Musicians especially are
upset about that.

And so I just said, "No, I don’t do MPB any more; I do MCB." I started to use
this label, and people really liked the idea, the concept. Now there are a lot of people
saying, "Oh, I play MCB" (laughs). I think this is great because it fits. We are
creative people. I was explaining it the other day to another journalist who was asking me
about the TV program that I have going on now, Cantos do Rio. He asked me what kind
of music I was going to promote on the program. I told him, "Creative music, no
matter what it was. It could be samba, it could be music from the Northeast, it could be
instrumental music. Whatever, bossa nova, everything. If it’s creative, it’s
okay." MCB is a good label because it doesn’t label at all. It can be used in several
segments without getting stuck in any. It’s creative, and that’s it.

Brazzil—Is Cantos do Rio an ongoing TV series?

Joyce—It’s a monthly feature, a one-hour show divided into three parts. Cantos
do Rio means both Songs of Rio and Rio Corners. It’s all related to the city, to the
people who live and make music in Rio. We never tape anything in studio. It’s all outside.
We go to museums, to theaters, to nightclubs, to places where the music is being played or
where the musicians live. We relate the music to the places. We went to Hermeto’s house,
for instance. Right now we have six programs already taped. One was already aired, the
first one.

The series started in January, and it’s great. I’m very happy. I’ve had great response
from the press. Everybody loved it, wonderful reviews. In the first program, we had, on
air, Época de Ouro, the choro group that Paulinho da Viola’s father plays in. We
went to his house and taped a big story on choro music and the roots of choro
music, and they played. It was lovely. It was beautiful. The second part of each show is a
musical encounter. We call it sarau (soirée) because it’s a very intimate setting.
People who don’t usually play together meet and recall old tunes and play and improvise.
For the second part of the first show, we had a Brazilian pop artist named Paulinho Moska
singing the music of the fifties, like samba-canção that sort of…

Brazzil—No kidding? That surprises me.

Joyce—Yeah, yeah, it was surprising for everybody, and he did it beautifully.
Yes!

Brazzil—You wouldn’t think he had a background in…

Joyce—But he does. He does. He knows a lot of those songs. He played together
with the Brazilian guitar player Maurício Carrilho. Maurício is very specialized in this
sort of music and in choro music too. That was a very nice thing. For the third
part we went to the favela (shantytown) in Madureira, Serrinha, to see the jongo.
Jongo is a very traditional African dance that came to Brazil. It’s only practiced
by a single community in the city, that lives in this place in the hills of Serrinha. It
was a beautiful thing. That was the first program. The next one will feature Hermeto
Pascoal and the Jobim family. There’s a lot of great stuff coming up.

Brazzil—Sounds incredible.

Joyce—Oh yeah. And it’s very easy to do, you know, because all those people
are friends. They’ve all known me for a long time, so it’s very easy to play with them and
do interviews and all that. It’s really fun.

Brazzil—Joyce, you mentioned your book. Can you tell me about it?

Joyce—It’s called Fotografei Você na Minha Rolleiflex. The title comes
from the song "Desafinado." It’s a kind of bossa nova and beyond, with a
collection of essays about people and memories. But it’s not about me. I’m the observer,
the one who’s telling the stories. I talk a lot about how I met musicians and composers,
how I saw them. I don’t know if you’ve read the book But Beautiful. It’s a lovely
book written by an English guy about jazz artists. At a certain point in the book he says,
"I’m talking about them not as they were, but as they appeared to me." I used
this as an epigraph for my book because I talk about Jobim, about Vinícius de Moraes,
about Milton Nascimento, about all those people, primarily about when I met them. Most of
the stories take place, more or less, in the late sixties, early seventies.

Brazzil—What led you to start writing?

Joyce—Well, I did graduate in journalism, but then I dropped it for the music.
I started making records, and I started going on the road and working in music. Just
dropped it. I was twenty-one years old when I graduated.

Brazzil—And at that time what kind of songs were you writing?

Joyce—My very first songs, like the ones that I recorded on my first album
1968, were very much bossa nova oriented. That was the beginning of my career. It’s
very funny to return thirty years later to something that I thought I would never do
again. And because of this book that I wrote, I was invited to write a weekly column in a
newspaper in Rio.

Brazzil—Yeah, you did a piece on the passing of pianist Michel
Petruccianni, no?

Joyce—Oh, yes. Did you see this?

Brazzil—I did. It was a sensitive piece. Joyce, you mentioned Vinícius.
How did you meet him?

Joyce—Well, you know, I met him at the very beginning of my career. He wrote
the liner notes for my very first album. That was 1968, and we became very, very close
friends. And later, in 1975, he invited me to tour with him, to replace Toquinho. He
played with Toquinho most of the time, but Toquinho couldn’t make one tour, so Vinícius
asked me to replace him as the guitar player. Vinícius usually toured with a singer too,
so I was going to replace both Toquinho and the singer. And that was the beginning of a
two-year experience working as a side-musician for him. It was very nice. I really enjoyed
it. He was an adorable, wonderful person to work with. We toured Europe and South America.

Brazzil—Learn any lessons?

Joyce—Many, many, but most of them related to life more than music. He was
someone who really enjoyed life in every aspect. Seize the day, that sort of thing. He had
been a diplomat and was a man of the world. He had traveled a lot. And as I told you, we
made these tours in Europe and South America. It was incredible, amazing because every
city we went to, there were friends waiting for him. He knew the best restaurants, the
best places to go, the right spots, where you could hear music, everything. He knew
everything and everybody.

Brazzil—Wasn’t there an album of yours nominated for the Prêmio Sharp
that was connected to Vinícius?

Joyce—That was 1988 with Negro Demais no Coração, the Vinícius de
Moraes album that I did. I was nominated both for best album of the year and best singer.
I received this award in 1994, but that was for best song in a television sound track. It
was something that I did with Edu Lobo for a children’s show called Rá-Tim-Bum on TV
Cultura, São Paulo. Believe it or not the tune is called "Sexy Sílvia" and is
about a snake in a cartoon.

Brazzil—Your tune "Mistérios" has been covered by many
artists.

Joyce—Thank you, yeah, that has been covered a lot.

Brazzil—Have you heard Wallace Roney’s version? He also titled the CD
after the tune.

Joyce—Yes, yes, I’ve heard it. I know, I was very glad about it. It’s
beautiful. It’s a beautiful recording.

Brazzil—Years ago Milton recorded "Mistérios" on Clube da
Esquina #2. What was your connection with the Clube da Esquina musicians at that time?

Joyce—This is something that I also talk about in my book. MPB was a bit
segmented in the late sixties and early seventies. There were different groups of very
creative people, the generation right after the bossa nova. And this generation was
absolutely brilliant, in all aspects. You had people who were the second generation of the
bossa nova, like Edu Lobo, Dori Caymmi, and Francis Hime, and even Chico Buarque as
a part of this group; although Chico was also related to the samba. And in the samba
generation we had people like Paulinho da Viola and Élton Medeiros. And there were the
guys from Bahia like Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil who were doing it more in a pop
environment.

And then the guys from Minas, Milton in the front and all his disciples like Toninho
(Horta) and Beto Guedes, Lô Borges and all the others. It was interesting because none of
these groups got along very well with each other. Later they all became very good friends.
But at the very beginning, you know, sibling rivalry was happening. It was interesting
because I was friends with all those people, and I used to play in all their groups. But,
I think, musically I belonged a little more to the second generation of bossa nova
like Edu and Dori, those guys. I think my music was more into their field.

But at the beginning, for instance, Milton was a part of this group too, before he
started to compose more "Beatleish" music, which was a different point of view
for the same developments of post-bossa nova music. So anyway, I was in the middle
of all that when Milton covered my music, and I was very, very happy. Also, I participated
on some of his earlier albums doing backing vocals. His recordings were big feasts.
Whenever he recorded, he called all of his friends. Everybody would go there and sing and
play-huge records with big casts.

Brazzil—Speaking of siblings, would you comment on the tune
"Clareana" from your Revendo Amigos album?

Joyce—It was a very unpretentious tune, really just a lullaby that I had
written for my daughters. There were two then, one named Clara and the other named Ana.
So, I wrote this, and yeah, it was a smash at a song festival and a huge, huge hit
nationally when it came out. I didn’t expect that. It’s amazing, because it’s been almost
twenty years now, and when I finished the concert at S.O.B.’s, there was one table with
like nine or ten Brazilians (laughs) who started screaming, "Clareana!"
"Clareana!" And I had to do it.

Brazzil—On the new album you covered "Essa Mulher," which also
appears on Revendo Amigos. That harmony with Wanda Sá on Revendo just
knocks me out. Are there any plans to work with Wanda again in the future?

Joyce—Oh yes, she’s coming to Japan with me in July. She’ll be my guest at the
Blue Note. We’re doing one week at the Blue Note, Tokyo, and two or three at Blue Note,
Osaka. And talking about this tune, it has just been recorded by David Sanchez—you
know, the tenor player from Puerto Rico. He’s been nominated for a Grammy with this album,
so I’m very happy because I think that the jazz musicians around here are beginning to
discover my music. And it’s great.

Brazzil—On Astronauta you also repeat the words Essa Mulher at
the end of "Samba Pra Elis."

Joyce—It’s a quote. We’re just quoting because Elis Regina recorded this tune
beautifully, and it was like a trademark for her.

Brazzil—You’re kidding?

Joyce—Yeah, you don’t know that?

Brazzil—No, no, everyone knows Billie Holiday had "Strange
Fruit" and Ella Fitzgerald had "A-Tisket, A-Tasket," but I was wondering if
Elis had a signature tune.

Joyce—She had many signature tunes, and this was one of them. And I happen to
have written it! So, that was great. That was the title tune of her 1979 album Essa
Mulher on Warner Brothers. It’s one of her best, and best selling albums. This one is
my favorite Elis album, and it’s not because of my tune. It’s the whole thing. I think
it’s a very, very nice album.

Brazzil—When you were young, you listened to a lot of Ella Fitzgerald.
Would you have liked her to record one of your tunes?

Joyce—Oh, yes. She was one of my favorites. Definitely.

Brazzil—How would you compare her with Billie Holiday?

Joyce—Well, this is very difficult. I think, Billie Holiday is what we call
"diseuse" in French. Diseuse is a person who speaks the lyrics,
not only sings, but speaks the lyrics. Billie understood the full meaning of the lyrics,
and she had this quality, which I think was really amazing. It was emotion all the time.
Ella had a different quality. Ella was perfection as the instrumental voice. She was a
trumpet. She was a flute. She was really beautiful. I have been listening to her music
since I was a child. So, she did influence me very much.

Brazzil—When you said in the liner notes that all human pain and
sweetness is in the voice of Elis Regina…

Joyce—We can say that about Billie, right?

Brazzil—Yeah, and with Elis, the way she always seemed to get inside a
song, to enmesh herself in the lyrics.

Joyce—Absolutely.

Brazzil—When I hear other people record tunes that Elis recorded, it’s
sometimes hard for me to disentangle it from the memory of Elis’s version.

Joyce—Sure. I understand that.

Brazzil -Were you worried about that at all?

Joyce—No, I never thought about this because it’s a musician’s approach all
the time. So, it’s not just the way I sing those songs, but the way I arrange them, the
way I play them, the way I changed some harmonies, the people who are playing, the
interplay happening between them and between myself. So, I think it was much more than
just that. And besides I felt very at ease because vocally I wasn’t influenced by Elis at
all. We were contemporaries. She was only three years older than me.

Brazzil—Was it a challenge to bring out your own voice in tunes that
really had Elis’s stamp on them like "Upa, Neguinho" and "Águas de
Março"?

Joyce—You know, I already sang those songs. They were already part of my usual
song list, so they were already mine too. I was really having fun choosing songs for the
CD based upon my own taste. There are a lot of songs that were important in her career, in
her way, the way she sang, and that were made famous by her. And some of those songs, I
really didn’t feel like singing very much. Actually, what I did was single out those that
I feel passionate about, the ones that really give me pleasure. I like everything that is
there, and everything is there for a reason. It’s all music that I like very much. I
wouldn’t skip one track.

Brazzil—If you could have included one more tune, which would it have
been?

Joyce—I would have included "Atrás da Porta" (Chico Buarque).
Lovely tune.

Brazzil—You usually write the compositions for your recordings. Was it
unusual for you to have just two of your tunes on Astronauta?

Joyce—A little bit, yes. But also it was fun, you know, because I really like
to take other people’s songs and make my own arrangements and make them my own a little
bit.

Brazzil—How did the concept for Astronauta come about?

Joyce—The whole story is that I was about to make a new album, and the general
idea of the new album was to have exactly this blend of American and Brazilian musicians,
but there was nothing decided yet about repertoire or anything. It was already a
co-production between the Japanese company Omagatoki and Blue Jackel, and I invited
Rodolfo Stroeter to produce it and to help me with the choice of songs. He is a great
producer and has a label in Brazil that deals directly with Blue Jackel.

Brazzil—Pau Brasil.

Joyce—Exactly. So, being able to put all those people together was a very nice
coincidence.

Brazzil—There seems to be a lot of homage recordings lately, like Ivan
Lins doing Noel Rosa and Eliane Elias doing Jobim. Did the commercial aspect play into the
choice of material?

Joyce—Yeah, that happens too, but I think it’s more an
"end-of-the-century syndrome." I think people are beginning to miss the century,
the great things that happened in this century. I did a Jobim album myself, for instance,
but that was 1987 and he was still alive. He wrote the liner notes for the album. That’s
when he turned sixty, and we paid tribute to him. It’s very nice when you pay tribute to
somebody who’s still there, you know? There’s a Brazilian song that says, "Give me
the flowers in life." It’s nice to give the flowers in life. And I had the chance to
do this with Jobim. He wrote beautiful liner notes for the album. It was very nice. That
was before this "end-of-the-century syndrome."

Brazzil—That’s a very good explanation, but I’ve seen so much of it
lately. And I was starting to…

Joyce—Yeah, but it’s not only in Brazil. You can see that also in American
music. For instance, Etta James did this beautiful record of Billie Holiday, and Tony
Bennett did Frank Sinatra. And you always see people doing each other’s music. It’s a lot
like that, I think.

Brazzil—There is great chemistry among the Brazilian and American
players on the new CD. Were there a lot of rehearsals?

Joyce—(Laughs) Isn’t that amazing. You know what? When musicians are good, no,
not good, but great like those I got for this recording, you don’t have to rehearse too
much. I just came with charts and everybody played, and that was it. We did it in three
days. It was actually very easy to do because the music was good, the musicians were
great, the studio was great, the sound engineer was great. So, that made things very easy.

Brazzil—Was there one tune that was harder to record than others?

Joyce—I can’t say so. They all went easily. Everybody understood the meaning
and how we wanted it and how the thing was supposed to roll. And it really did.

Brazzil—So you enjoyed collaborating with the North American jazz
musicians?

Joyce—Very much. Very much. And what I enjoyed the most was the situation, the
environment that was created. Because although we recorded in New York with American jazz
musicians, I felt like we were hosting them. We had invited them to come to our house, and
they were really guests who presented their best. But it was our house, and the food that
was being served was our food. That’s what I loved about it, especially having a Brazilian
rhythm section. I think it was the most important element because we never lost the pace,
you know? We never lost the meaning of what we wanted to do.

Brazzil—Guello’s cuíca on, "Samba Pra Elis" is
unbelievable, sounds just like a human voice.

Joyce—Yeah, that was very lucky because we got the perfect notes to respond to
Lovano’s playing and to the harmony, to the chords that were being played. That was really
nice. Yeah, I really enjoyed that.

Brazzil—Is he a regular member of your group?

Joyce—No, no, not really. He plays more with Zizi Possi. He’s a regular member
of her band.

Brazzil—She did a piece for just voice and cuícas. Was that him?

Joyce—I don’t know. She used to play with Marcos Suzano. Guello replaced
Suzano in her band. But anyway, he is regular with her, so it’s always kind of hard to get
him. We were just able to have him for the recording.

Brazzil—When did you first meet Elis?

Joyce—I met her at the very beginning of my career. I was nineteen years old
and she was already big, very famous. She became famous very early. I was taken to her
house. I showed her a few songs, and she liked them. She said maybe she would record them,
but she didn’t. It took her two years to record a song of mine for the first time. It’s
called "Copacabana Velha de Guerra." It’s on her album called Elis em Pleno
Verão (1970), the album where she launches Tim Maia. Yeah, so that’s the first song
of mine that she recorded. But we became friends, quite close for awhile. Then she moved
to São Paulo in the mid-seventies. I was still in Rio, so we couldn’t see each other that
much, but we always kept in contact.

Brazzil—What is your most memorable image of Elis?

Joyce—Oh, there are many. There are many. What can I say. When I think of her,
I see a very feminine woman and one very, very concentrated on her family. She was very
involved with being a mother. She was always concerned about her house and loved that sort
of thing too. She was not only into her career. Although she was a great career woman and
a huge star, she didn’t want to miss this other part of her life. She wanted to be perfect
in everything and really wanted to take care of her kids and of her home and was very much
into all of those things.

Brazzil—Joyce, I know your fans on the West Coast were hoping you would
come out and…

Joyce—Yes, and so was I. We were supposed to make a longer tour this time, but
the dates didn’t match, and it was kind of complicated, so we decided to save the West
Coast for later.

Brazzil—I know San Francisco was looking forward to having you.

Joyce—Yes, and me too. That is a city that I just adore, so I am looking
forward to playing there. Hopefully, around June or July I’ll be able to play the West
Coast.

Brazzil—Thank you very much for taking your time. It was a pleasure.

Joyce—You’re very welcome.

Bruce Gilman, music editor for Brazzil, received his Masters
degree in music from California Institute of the Arts. He leads the Brazilian jazz
ensemble Axé and plays cuíca for escola de samba MILA. You can reach him
through his e-mail: cuica@interworld.net 


WEB RESOURCES

Omagatoki Home page: http://www.dango.ne.jp/omagatok/
 

Joyce’s pages at Omagatoki: http://www.dango.ne.jp/omagatok/Joyce2.htm
  http://www.dango.ne.jp/omagatok/Joyce.htm
 

Pau Brasil home page: http://www.paubrasil.com/
 

Joyce’s page at Pau Brasil: http://www.paubrasil.com/artistas/Joyce/Joyce.html
 

Joyce’s column in the newspaper O Dia can be found at: http://www.odia.com.br 

Blue Jackel web site: http://www.bluejackel.com
 

The following are Elis Regina web sites: http://www.caravanmusic.com/Articles/ReginaE_StLouis.htm
  http://www.geocities.com/Nashville/Opry/4841/index.htm
 

Additional information concerning Brazilian music can be found at: http://www.thebraziliansound.com
 

 

SELECTED DISCOGRAPHY

Astronauta-The Songs of Elis…Blue Jackel /Omagatoki/Pau
Brasil……1998

Performance ………………………..EMI-Brasil
………………………………….1998

The Essential Joyce (1970-1996) Mr. Bongo
………………………………..1997

Tardes Cariocas ……………………Far
Out……………………………………….1997
(Remastered. Originally released in 1983 on Feminina/PolyGram)

Meus Monentos Vol.2
…………….EMI-Brasil…………………………………. 1997

Meus Momentos Vol.1
……………EMI-Brasil…………………………………. 1996/7

Ilha Brasil …………………………….Blue Note/World
Pacific……………….. 1996

Sem Você……………………………. Omagatoki
………………………………….. 1995

Joyce: Live at the Mojo Club ..Motor Music/PolyGram Verve ………….1995

Delírios de Orfeu ………………….NEC Ave.
…………………………………….1994

Revendo Amigos …………………..EMI-Odeon
………………………………….1994

Language and Love ………………Verve-Forecast
……………………………..1991

Music Inside………………………… Verve-Forecast
……………………………..1990

Joyce ao Vivo ……………………….EMI-Odeon
………………………………….1989

Negro Demais no Coração
Joyce/Vinícius de Moraes ……….BK/CBS
………………………………………1987

Joyce-Jobim
………………………….Songs/CBS………………………………….. 1987

Wilson Batista-O Samba
Foi Sua Glória ………………………Continental……………………………………
1986

Saudade do Futuro
………………..Pointer/RCA………………………………… 1985

Tardes Cariocas
…………………….Feminina/PolyGram……………………….. 1983

Água e Luz
…………………………….EMI-Odeon………………………………… 1981
 

Feminina
……………………………….EMI-Odeon………………………………… 1980

Passarinho Urbano ………………..Fonit Cetra
……………………………………1976

Nélson Ângelo e Joyce
……………EMI-Odeon………………………………….. 1972

Encontro Marcado………………….Phillips…………………………………………..1969

Joyce…………………………………… Phillips
…………………………………………..1968


Mistérios

(Joyce/Maurício Maestro)

Você chegou feito um silêncio
Pra seduzir minha canção
Feito uma folha na correnteza
Feito um vento varrendo o chão

Você chegou feito um mistério
Pra confundir minha visão
Feito um presente da natureza
Quem mandou, coração?

Um fogo queimou dentro de mim
Que não tem mais jeito de se apagar
Nem mesmo com toda água do mar
Preciso aprender os mistérios do fogo
Pra te incendiar.

Um rio passou dentro de mim
Que eu não tive jeito de atravessar
Preciso um navio pra me levar
Preciso aprender os mistérios do rio
Pra te navegar.

Vida breve, natureza
Quem mandou, coração?
Um vento bateu dentro de mim
Que eu não tive jeito de segurar
A vida passou pra me carregar
Preciso aprender os mistérios do mundo
Pra te ensinar.


Mysteries

 

You came as a silence
To seduce my song
Like a leaf in a current of air
Like a wind sweeping the ground.

You arrived like a mystery
To confuse my vision
As if you were Nature’s gift
Who sent you, Heart?

A fire burns inside me
That cannot be doused
Not even with all the water from the sea
I need to learn the mysteries of the fire
To inflame you

A river passed inside me
But I had no way to cross
I need a ship to take me
I need to learn the mysteries of the river
To navigate you.

A short life, nature
Who sent you, Heart?
A wind swept inside me
But I had no way to hold it
Life passed by to carry me
I need to learn the mysteries of the world
To teach you.

 

Clareana

(Joyce/Maurício Maestro)

Um coração de mel, de melão
De sim e de não
É feito um bichinho
No sol da manhã
Novelo de lã
No ventre da mãe
Bate o coração de Clara, Ana
E quem mais chegar
Água, terra, fogo e ar.

Clareana

A heart of honey, of melon
Of yes and no
Like a little bug
In the morning sun
Spool of wool
In the mother’s womb
Beats the heart of Clara, Ana
And whoever else arrives
Water, earth, fire, and air.

 

Essa Mulher

(Joyce/Ana Terra)

De manhã cedo, essa senhora
se conforma
Bota a mesa, tira o pó
Lava a roupa, seca os olhos
Ah, como essa santa não se esquece
De pedir pelas mulheres, pelos filhos,
pelo pão
Depois sorri meio sem graça
e abraça
Aquele homem, aquele mundo
Que a faz assim feliz.

De tardezinha, essa menina se namora
Se enfeita, se decora
Sabe tudo, não faz mal
Ah, como essa coisa é tão bonita
Ser cantora, ser artista, isso
tudo é muito bom
E chora tanto de prazer e de agonia
De algum dia, qualquer dia
Entender de
ser feliz.

De madrugada, essa mulher
faz tanto estrago
Tira a roupa,
faz a cama
Vira a mesa, seca o bar
Ah, como essa louca se esquece
Quantos homens enlouquece
nessa boca, nesse chão
Depois parece que acha graça
E agradece ao destino
Aquilo tudo que a faz
tão infeliz.

Essa menina, essa mulher,
essa senhora
Em quem esbarro a toda hora
no espelho casual
É feita de sombra e tanta luz,
De tanta lama e tanta cruz
Que acha tudo natural…

That Woman

In the early morning, that woman
reconciles herself
To set the table, to dust
Wash clothes and dry her eyes
Ah, how this saint remembers
To pray for the women, the children,
and for bread
After, she smiles a little embarrassed
and hugs
That man, that world
That makes her so happy

In the afternoon, that girl goes out
She dresses up, puts on her finery
She knows everything, it doesn’t matter.
Ah, such a pretty thing
To be a singer, to be an artist,
that is all so nice
She cries as much for pleasure as for pain
If only some day, any day
She can understand what it means
to be happy.

At dawn, that woman
does so much harm
She takes out the clothes,
makes the bed
Turns the table, dries the bar
Ah, how this crazy woman forgets
So many men are maddened
by that mouth, in that place
After, she finds it funny
And thanks Destiny
For everything that makes her
so unhappy.

That girl, that woman,
that lady
Who I run into all the time
in an occasional mirror
Is like a shadow and so much light,
So much mud and so much trouble
Who finds everything is natural…

 

Samba Pra Elis

(Joyce/Paulo César Pinheiro)

Clarão
Luar
Vulcão
No vesgo do seu olhar
Quem vê
Não diz
Quem é Elis,
Essa mulher.

Mourão
Pilar
Brasão
Da música popular
Quem viu bendiz
A voz de Elis,
Essa mulher.

É uma santa garganta que Deus fez
E quando ouviu, não quis nem copiar
Raio de luz que passa
uma só vez
Mas que deixa um sagrado som no ar
Não tem mais nem pra nós
nem pra vocês
Essa voz que o Brasil amou demais
Feito estrela voltou
pro céu talvez
Ou foi cantar pros Orixás.

Samba for Elis

(Joyce/Paulo César Pinheiro)

Lightning
Moon
Volcano
In the squint of your eye
Who sees
Says not
Who is Elis,
That woman.

Beam
Pillar
Family crest
Of popular music
Who saw blessed
The voice of Elis,
That woman.

A sacred voice that God created
And when heard, wanted not even a copy
Like a ray of light that appears
once in a lifetime
But leaves a hallowed sound in the air
No longer exists for us
or for you
That voice that Brazil loved too much
Like a star that returned to
the heavens perhaps
Or went to sing for the Orixás.

 

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