Célia
Célia

(Produced, Arranged and Conducted by Claus Ogerman)Not long after the dawn of her career, as a teenager in Rio de Janeiro, Joyce was declared “one of the greatest singers” by Antonio Carlos Jobim. Yet despite reputable accolades and the fact that she has since recorded over thirty acclaimed albums, Joyce never quite achieved the international recognition of the likes of Jobim, João Gilberto and Sergio Mendes, all of whom became global stars after releasing with major labels in the US.There was a moment when it seemed she might be on the cusp of an international breakthrough. While living in New York, Joyce was approached by the great German producer Claus Ogerman. Ogerman had already played a pivotal role in the development and popularisation of Brazilian music in the 1960s, recording with some of the all-time greats like Jobim and João Gilberto, as well as North American idols like Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday and Bill Evans."I met him in New York City, in 1977”, recalls Joyce. “I was living and playing there, and João Palma, Brazilian drummer who used to play with Jobim, introduced me to Claus. We had an audition, he liked what we were doing and decided to produce an album with us.”Featuring fellow Brazilian musicians Mauricio Maestro (who wrote/co-wrote four of the songs), Nana Vasconcelos and Tutty Moreno, and some of the most in-demand stateside players including Michael Brecker, Joe Farrell and Buster Williams, the recordings for Natureza took place at Columbia Studios and Ogerman produced the album, provided the arrangements and conducted the orchestra.But mysteriously, Natureza was never released, and what should have been Joyce’s big moment never happened. As Joyce remembers, “I returned home, but Claus and I remained in contact, by letters and phone calls. He was very enthusiastic about the album and tried to hook me up with Michael Franks. He wanted me to go back to NYC in order to re-record the vocals in English with new lyrics, which I actually wasn’t too happy about. But then I got pregnant with my third child and could not leave Brazil. And little by little our contact became rare, until I lost track of him completely. And that was it. I never heard from him again."While Claus was known to be something of an elusive character, the album’s disappearance might also have been a result of timing. The Brazilian craze was coming to an end, making way for disco and new wave at the end of the seventies, and Ogerman struggled to find a major label interested in a new Brazilian sensation. Additionally, as Joyce mentions, it wasn’t quite finished. Ogerman wanted to add finishing touches to the mix and to record alternative English lyrics for the US and international markets - a critical artistic difference between Joyce and Ogerman.As the military dictatorship’s grip on Brazil began to subside in the 1980s, Joyce had a handful of hits in her home county, including a tribute to her daughters ‘Clareana’, and the iconic ‘Feminina’ - an intergenerational conversation between mother and daughter about what it means to be a woman. But already a feminist pioneer, these successes were hard fought. Joyce had caused controversy as a nineteen-year-old when she became the first in Brazil to sing from the first-person feminine perspective, and the institutional sexism she faced was worsened by the dictatorship who would often censor her music. Even once the Junta was out of the way, Joyce found herself up against the male-dominated major record companies in Brazil, who sought to dictate her career and sexualise her image, before dropping her for refusing to play along.A few years after the success of her albums Feminina and Agua E Luz in Brazil, Joyce’s music began to find its way to the UK, Europe and Japan, and “Feminina” and “Aldeia de Ogum” became classics on the underground jazz-dance scenes of the mid to late-eighties and early-nineties.The full-length version of “Feminina” from the Natureza sessions was first heard on a Brazilian Jazz compilation in 1999 and “Descompassadamente” was licensed for a CD compiling the work of Claus Ogerman in 2002. Following these, word began to get out about an unreleased Joyce album with Claus Ogerman and the legend of Natureza grew.Forty-five years since it was recorded, Natureza finally sees the light of day, as Joyce intended: with her own Portuguese lyrics and vocals. Featuring the fabled 11-minute version of ‘Feminina’, as well as the never before heard ‘Coração Sonhador’ composed and performed by Mauricio Maestro, Natureza’s release is a landmark in Brazilian music history and represents a triumphant, if overdue victory for Joyce as an outspoken female artist who has consistently refused to bow to patriarchal pressure.***Disclaimer! While “Feminina” and “Descompassadamente'' were mixed by legendary engineer Al Schmitt and mastered from the original master tapes, the remaining five tracks are unmixed. Due to significant deterioration of the master-tapes, the best audio source for these tracks was an unmixed tape copy Joyce had kept of the recordings. The best care has been taken in the restoration and mastering of this release, but the sound quality may differ from other releases on Far Out Recordings. We advise listening to sound clips before buying where possible.

Ela", Dom La Nena's first album, was released in 2013. Co-produced with the complicity of Piers Faccini, the album received the highest praise from the international press (New York Times, NPR, Les Inrocks, Wall Street Journal, etc). On the occasion of the 10th anniversary of its release, here is a reissue of the record, now available on vinyl.Dom La Nena is a Brazilian singer, cellist, songwriter and producer based in Paris. Having accompanied artists such as Jane Birkin, Jeanne Moreau, Etienne Daho and collaborated with the likes of Marcelo Camelo, Julieta Venegas and Piers Faccini, Dom's solo work has drawn comparisons as disparate as “a young Brian Wilson” (Wall Street Journal), “a bossa Joanna Newsom” (Time Out New York) and “Cat Power’s lost sister” (Pop Dose).Dom sings in Portuguese, Spanish, French and English. Her lyrics touch upon feelings of longing, melancholy, and nostalgia of a childhood spent living in Brazil, Argentina and France. Performing in a solo capacity alone on stage with her cello, ukulele, electric guitar, keyboard and percussions, Dom employs sophisticated looping techniques, layering vocals and instrumental tracks, building audio soundscapes that create a full band atmosphere in each venue.Dom’s debut solo album, “Ela”, was released during 2013 and immediately praised by the international music press including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Figaro, Les Inrockuptibles, Voir, O Globo and many other media outlets. Dom's second album “Soyo”, an internationally flavored collection of indie-folk songs with wandering melodies and lightly layered vocals, was released in 2015 and co-produced with Brazilian musician Marcelo Camelo (Los Hermanos).Dom's third full length album, titled "Tempo", was self produced and mixed by Noah Georgeson (Devendra Banhart, The Strokes, Rodrigo Amarante) and is scheduled for a spring 2019 worldwide release.

More than simply being band, Addict Ameba is a wide Italian collective that makes brotherhood the weapon to live music together crossing all cultural boundaries. The driving force lies in the heterogeneous background of its members and the relative familiarity with different folkloric areas. The original and ambitious arrangements make the result a delicious soup! In this first work, their personal Afro-latin-beat reveals a sincere meeting between African and Central American traditions… for this reason they are against the drift of continents! The collective is connected to Al Doum and the Faryds, sharing some of their members, the same music label and the Guscio Studio where the album has been cooked thanks to the wisdom of the great master pirate. You can travel halfway between the Atlantic continents, where a gritty guitar deploys a solid knowledge of the stronger Latin-rock - you know the “Santana of Piola” is on board! - but it absorbs Funky and Tuareg riffs too, as well as brilliant psych deviations. Heavy horns abound with solutions and influences, blowing arias of Ethio-jazz or Cuban-Salsa crossings, such as Calypso and Caribbean progressions. However, it’s the rhythmic sailors section that supports all the dynamics of the sound with impeccable qualities of polyrhythm, sending seas of bodies into ecstasy; maybe they learn this rowing on a boat? Panamor represents "a profound union between living beings and objects in an increasingly divided World”. Such pirates of love!

'Spirit Reflection' is the third album LP from Los Angeles singer-songwriterGaby Hernandez. Blissful layers of instrumentation, electronics, vocal harmonies and folkloric percussion intertwine with west coast feel to create aunique, beautiful and multi-layered album.The album features a stellar line-up of LA talent, jazz star Kamasi Washington, Stuart Howard (AKA Lapalux), Kelis and Gaslamp killer collaborator Dexter Story, plus Ninja Tune, Plug Research and Soul Jazz artist Carlos Niño, Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and Gabriel Reyes-Whittaker all accompany Gaby, with stunning results. Even before Spirit Reflection had been finished, the demo mixes caught the ear and gained support from Gilles Peterson, Lefto, Toshio Matsuura (U.F.O.) and JRocc (Beat Junkies). Born, raised and based in Los Angeles and of Chilean descent, Gaby Hernandez has been writing and recording since 2001. She was a founding member of the 'creative music ensemble' Build An Ark alongside others including Carlos Niño, Dexter Story and Dwight Trible.Gaby was the only vocalist on Teebs' debut Brainfeeder release Ardour. She made major contributions to AmmonContact's Ninja Tune releases New Birth and With Voices, plus The Life Force Trio's Plug Research album Living Room. She was also the vocalist on Dimlite's Outernational Duet - released as part of his highly acclaimed Sonar Kollektiv longplayer This Is Embracing.Hernandez was invited by Mia Doi Todd to sing on the Jonathan Wilson produced song Canto de Iemanja, which was included on Todd's City Zen record Cosmic Ocean Ship and the Red Hot + Rio 2 compilation, which also featured Beck, Seu Jorge, Aloe Blacc, David Byrne and Madlib. Among her main musical comrades is the prolific multi-instrumentalist, composer and producer Dexter Story, for whom Hernandez sang on the track Water Bearer from his LP Seasons, on Kindred Spirits. David and Graham from Mr Bongo met Gaby and Carlos Nino at the end of their hugely successful Arthur Verocai album launch and rare record sale at the RAPPCATS venue in LA. Gaby and Carlos passed us a copy of 'Spirit Reflection'.and we put it on the deck. It immediately grabbed us and we couldn't stop listening to it. When we got back to the UK we got in contact straight away and signed the album. We're very proud to be releasing it'... ...this is a future classic, an 'album' in the truest sense of the word. Brilliant.' says Graham.