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| Benji & Rita U.S. Album Release Tour Benji Kaplan and Rita Figueiredo Transfix with Bright, Nuanced Portraits of a Hidden Brazil on Benji & Rita Brazilian music has a keen ability to tie the magical and surreal with the grounded and historical. New York-based composer Benji Kaplan and Brazilian singer and songwriter Rita Figueiredo pick up that vibrating, multicolored thread and weave it into fantastical new portraits of Brazil and New York on Benji & Rita (release: May 10, 2019), their album-length debut as a duo. Cinematic and refined, Benji & Rita channels the scents and sounds, the flora and fauna of the couple's homelands, drawing on everything from samba and baião, to waltzes and pop catchiness, much as Brazilian popular composers have over the last five decades. "We were going forward and backward, back to the origin, " explains Benji, "so we could share those worlds, the raw version of ourselves and then some fantasy, paintings, and stories. The arrangements reflect that, and some are simple, while some are very complex. We crafted the album to merge those two worlds and give people the fuller picture." "Some lyrics I wrote after Benji created the arrangement, " Rita says. "I could see images because when you have just a simple melody, you have more freedom to create things. With an arrangement, though, you see landscapes and stories in more detail. Both ways, I felt the narrative." And that narrative, of Amazonian rivers and crazy megalopolises, of sparkling love and quiet grief, shines through the duo's exquisite songs. "a collection of poetic and refined compositions, played with a perfect balance of intellect and emotion" - JazzTimes BENJI KAPLAN: The son of a native Cuban percussionist father and visual-artist mother, Benji Kaplan has followed his arts-filled upbringing with a particular focus upon the classical forms of Brazilian music. Fully informed not only in Brazilian and popular music, but also by Jazz, the emerging composer crafts his own mix of Brazilian music ingeniously spiced with the full gamut of his rich musical understanding. He beautifully expresses his unique vision with ensembles ranging from string quartets to wind ensembles of varying shapes and sizes. His penultimate album – Chorando Sete Chores – features 13 pieces for acoustic guitar and wind quintet. His previous album Uai Sô vividly demonstrates his enormous scope, combining strings, brass and woodwinds in various combinations ranging from seven to twelve instruments. Benji is currently releasing his 5th album entitled Benji & Rita, this time in duo partnership with his wife Rita Figueiredo. Together they explore the intimacy of Voice and guitar, blending intricate harmonies with stories of Rita's homeland, Brazil in all of it'sbeauty, complexity, simplicity and irony. www.benjikaplan.com RITA FIGUEIREDO: Rita is a classically trained singer who shifted to popular forms, recording a 2013 debut album rich in stories that made numerous "best of" lists. (She has dedicated decades to animation and illustration, with works featured in more than 20 international Festivals, had cartoons and vignettes featured on MTV Brazil and USA, Nickelodeon, TV Cultura and many other networks. She has worked with artists such as Marisa Monte, Ed Motta and Cássia Eller, among others). In 2015 Rita moved to New York and has since been intensely dedicated to recording and performing new repertoire in partnership with Benji Kaplan. In the last 3 years she has played in several cities in South and North America and Europe. She is now releasing her 2nd album entitled Benji & Rita. Benji & Rita (Benji Kaplan & Rita Figueiredo) (Big Apple Batucada) Street Date: June 23, 2019 Rita Figueiredo - Voice, Lyrics; Benji Kaplan - Composer, arranger, guitarist, voice, producer; Katrina Owens - Alto, piccolo and bass flutes, Torin Olsen - C flute, Kristen Mather de Andrade, Clarinet, bass clarinet Bill Owens - Flugel horn, trumpet Keith Kile - Tuba Rogerio Boccato - percussion incl: drumset, pandeiro, zabumba, triangle, agogo, surdo, snare drum, Delaney Stöckli - Violin I Francesca Dardani - Violin II Elise Frawley - Viola Reenat Pinchas - Cello Michael O'Brien - Upright bass Joel Kaplan - Percussion, dumbek Anna Pennington - Oboe Manuel Ramos - Clarinet Briana Lehman - Bassoon Owen Summers - Piano, electric clavichord Klaus Mueller, Electric synth Sitar Andrew Hadro - Alto, tenor and baritone saxophones Matthew McDonald - Trombone Max Seigel - Bass trombone Graciliano Zambonin - drum set Scott Still - Marimba UPC Code: 888295868303 write your comments about the article :: © 2019 Jazz News :: home page |