Vinicius Cantuária - Aracajú

I've always been a fan of music compilations. I've bought many of them over the years, and I've discovered a lot of terrific performers, bands and music that I might not have heard otherwise. One of my favorite series was published by a magazine called College Music Journal. I was a subscriber for a while back in the late 1990's, and as a subscriber, the monthly issues came with a CD compilation bound inside the copy.

One of those discoveries was the Brazilian singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Vinicius Cantuária. Even though he performs the track featured above in his native language Portuguese, a language that I don't understand, I really enjoy this song. It just flows so smoothly from start to finish.

Here's more info from his bio:

Singer, guitarist, composer, drummer, and percussionist, Vinicius Cantuaria is a well-known Brazilian musician in the sphere of Bossa Nova and Jazz.

Born in Manaus, Amazonas, he grew up in Rio de Janeiro, and after several successful records, he moved to New York in the mid-90s. He has proved himself in a number of fields, directly or indirectly linked to Brazilian music. Leader of the rock band “O Terco”, he released six albums in Brazil in the 80s and with his album “Sol na Cara” (Grammavision), was a pioneer of the neo-Brazilian music in 1996. He then became one of the most important downtown New York figures, multiplying collaborations with artists as eclectic as Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, Brad Mehldau, Arto Lindsay

As a composer, Cantuaria has had many successes, with “Lua e Estrela” (recorded by Caetano Veloso in 1981), “Coisa Linda,” “So Você,” and “Na Cançao”; as a sideman, he has performed with Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, to only name a few.

In New York, he has released internationally recognized studio albums that includes “Sol Na Cara,” “Vinicius,” and “Horse and Fish,” and signed an artist contract with Naïve in 2008 which released his album “Cymbals,” recorded with top New York musicians Brad Mehldau, Michael Leonhardt, Dave Binney, and Erik Frielander. Keeping his New York musicians for "Samba Carioca" (2010), Vinicius Cantuaria successfully returned to his Brazilian roots which once again proved to be numerous. Indeed, in addition to his usual New York team (Brad Mehldau, Bill Frisell), Vinicius was this time surrounded by an impressive line-up of Brazilian musicians from all trends and different backgrounds : Arto Lindsay, who produced the album, veterans like Joao Donato or Marcos Valle, and younger musicians, like Dadi or Sidinho.

Vinicius, who owns his studio in New York and frequently travels to Brazil, works every day and progresses in small steps, hence the impression of a simple, melodic, and obvious music, yet so sophisticated.