By Maíra Amorim, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO – Despite the fact that Maria Rita is the daughter of Elis Regina, one of Brazil’s greatest singers of all time, she claims she never wanted to be compared to her mother, who died from a cocaine overdose when Maria Rita was only five.
However, when she moved to the USA and graduated in Communication and Latin American Studies, she soon discovered she could no longer fight her desire to sing and decided she would also become a singer. “I realized I would go mad if I didn’t sing,” she has stated in recent interviews.
Her debut in 2003, with the album ‘Maria Rita’, was widely praised in Brazil. It sold over one million copies and prompted a world-wide tour. In 2005, she released her second album, “Segundo” (Second), and the third came in 2007, “Samba Meu” (My Samba). It is the third album that she will be presenting for the first time in Circo Voador, on October 2 (Saturday).
Maria Rita’s latest album represents a turn in her singing career. If on the first two CDs, she could have been defined as an MPB singer, singing Rodrigo Maranhão’s “Caminho das Águas” and Marcelo Camelo’s “Cara Valente”, in the third one she unabashedly fell in love with samba, digging deep into its rhythm.
“Samba Meu” is filled with hits such as “O Homem Falou”, “Num Corpo Só”, “Maria do Socorro”, “Corpitcho” and “Casa de Noca” – some of which flirt with pagode and samba de raiz. Many of the songs were written by Arlindo Cruz, a veteran samba composer.
Maria has also accumulated quite a collection of awards for the albums. In 2004, she won three Grammy Latino trophies for Breakthrough Artist, Best MPB Album and Best Song in Portuguese, while “Samba Meu” was elected the Best Samba Album at the ceremony.
Maria Rita’s father, César Camargo Mariano, is also a famous musician and her brothers João Marcelo Bôscoli and Pedro Camargo Mariano work in the industry as well. She has always claimed that her father has been one of her greatest influences.
She had no professional training when she started her music career, but learned from her father in an informal way. Later, Maria Rita decided to take singing lessons to improve on her technique.
Her voice can sound very similar to her mother’s and lot of the buzz around her was due to the fact she was Elis Regina’s daughter. But now she has proved to be an artist with a talent of her own and all her energy and love for Brazilian music and Samba will be on display on Circo Voador’s stage on Saturday.
Maria Rita at Circo Voador
Saturday October 2 – 10PM
Circo Voador
Rua dos Arcos S/N, Lapa – Tel.: 2533-0354
Tickets from R$30