The voice of Virginia…
seems to sound polished and refined as a gift from birth. But she has had modest and irregular training in as many Protestant as Catholic church choirs in Salvador. The organizers of these choirs perceivd the singularity of this gift and tried to give her doubled attention. I heard her for the first time at a rehearsal of the Olodum Theatrical Group. She was invited by director Marcio Meireles to participate in the play,”Bye, Bye, Pelo”, after he had heard her in one of these choirs. There she sang, in Latin, “Veronica”, the same song that we heard every year in the procession of Senhor Morto in Santo Amaro. To hear that song in the celestial voice that rose from the plump body of a solid black woman touched me deeply. From that time forward I had it in mind to cooperate in the recording of her art on record. With her voice, which transcends the distinction between erudite and popular, with the dense culture seated at the base of her calm and firm singing, she would be, without a doubt, a phonographic event of great importance. I wanted to bring about the record that she deserves – and that Brazil needs. Uniting a religious soul and a sensitive body from Bahia, her voice, if heard by many,would reveal essential aspects of the cultural spirit of this land.
Everything was done in the most modest fashion imaginable. Celsie went to the headquarters of Natasha Records in Santa Tereza (a house where Manoel Bandeira once lived) and there, armed with his violin – and sometimes counting on the help of Ramiro Musotto on percussion (and his incredible berimbaus!) – captured Virginia’s singing in an improvised studio in an upstairs room, where sometimes the sound of dogs and airplanes interrupted the recording. One time, Zeca Assumpcao came to record the contrabass. Later, Fulana de Tal came to record the harp. Afterwards, Eduardo dubbed the arrangements. Virginia was practically recorded as if she were singing at home, free of worries and without many repetitions. In this sense, the record is almost a documentary. The only luxury that we permitted ourselves was to have Djavan, Gil, and above all, Milton, participating. But this is our wealth: the love that in Brazil those who love music devote to one another. No one takes this from us. And the voice of Virginia is as the expression of this loving substance in a pure state.
Caetano Veloso
seems to sound polished and refined as a gift from birth. But she has had modest and irregular training in as many Protestant as Catholic church choirs in Salvador. The organizers of these choirs perceivd the singularity of this gift and tried to give her doubled attention. I heard her for the first time at a rehearsal of the Olodum Theatrical Group. She was invited by director Marcio Meireles to participate in the play,”Bye, Bye, Pelo”, after he had heard her in one of these choirs. There she sang, in Latin, “Veronica”, the same song that we heard every year in the procession of Senhor Morto in Santo Amaro. To hear that song in the celestial voice that rose from the plump body of a solid black woman touched me deeply. From that time forward I had it in mind to cooperate in the recording of her art on record. With her voice, which transcends the distinction between erudite and popular, with the dense culture seated at the base of her calm and firm singing, she would be, without a doubt, a phonographic event of great importance. I wanted to bring about the record that she deserves – and that Brazil needs. Uniting a religious soul and a sensitive body from Bahia, her voice, if heard by many,would reveal essential aspects of the cultural spirit of this land.
Sol Negro
Everything was done in the most modest fashion imaginable. Celsie went to the headquarters of Natasha Records in Santa Tereza (a house where Manoel Bandeira once lived) and there, armed with his violin – and sometimes counting on the help of Ramiro Musotto on percussion (and his incredible berimbaus!) – captured Virginia’s singing in an improvised studio in an upstairs room, where sometimes the sound of dogs and airplanes interrupted the recording. One time, Zeca Assumpcao came to record the contrabass. Later, Fulana de Tal came to record the harp. Afterwards, Eduardo dubbed the arrangements. Virginia was practically recorded as if she were singing at home, free of worries and without many repetitions. In this sense, the record is almost a documentary. The only luxury that we permitted ourselves was to have Djavan, Gil, and above all, Milton, participating. But this is our wealth: the love that in Brazil those who love music devote to one another. No one takes this from us. And the voice of Virginia is as the expression of this loving substance in a pure state.
Caetano Veloso
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