Margareth Menezes
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Margareth Menezes (born October 13, 1962) is a Brazilian singer from Salvador, Bahia.
Her style is considered axé but her music also steers into samba and MPB territory, also drawing on African rhythms and reggae at times.
Menezes is best known in Brazil for her song "Me Abraça e Me Beija", a major hit in 1990. She also scored another hit with "Dandalunda", a song which became the unofficial anthem of the 2003 Salvador carnival.
Menezes has achieved superstardom in her native Bahia but only moderate success in wider Brazil. She is famed for her energetic live performances and regularly tours and performs at carnival celebrations.
In 1990, one of Menezes's tracks "Elegibô (Uma Historia De Ifa)" was used in the Mickey Rourke film Wild Orchid. This prompted Island Records in the US to release a compilation album of some of her older material from Brazil on their subsidiary label, Mango. The album, simply titled "Elegibô", was an instant hit, reaching # 1 on the Billboard World Music chart at a time when David Byrne was championing Brazilian music in the US. The single itself became a regular staple at clubs playing so-called world music throughout the US and Europe. The album also received a full release in the UK, Germany and France. Menezes toured internationally on the back of this album, generating a lot of press in the process. A second US-released follow-up album "Kindala", released late 1991, but repackaged in some territories from the Brazilian release of the same name, also achieved some success. This release also gave Menezes a minor hit album in France too.
In 2002, Menezes released the highly acclaimed "Afropopbrasileiros" (also known as "Maga") showcasing her trademark fusion of afro-Brazilian beats. The album was produced by Carlinhos Brown of Tribalistas fame and was well received in Brazil and internationally.
Menezes also co-wrote and performed on the 2003 Tribalistas hit "Passe Em Casa", the third (but least successful) of the four major hit singles on the Brazil's chart to be lifted from the million selling "Tribalistas" album.
Her 2005 comeback single, "Como Tu", a duet with Brazilian superstar Ivete Sangalo was released amidst much hype due to the fact that Sangalo was achieving platinum album sales at the time. The track reached the lower reaches of the Top 40 in Brazil but failed to emulate the success of recent Sangalo hits. The hit single was lifted from Menezes' 2005 album release "Pra Você"; the album received lukewarm reviews, possibly owing to a more poppier sound than previous releases. A second single, the reggae-tinged "Miragem na esquina" performed poorly at radio, resulting in the song only scraping the lower reaches of the Hot 100 Brasil towards the the end of 2005.
In 2006, the album "Pra Você" received a Grammy nomination for "Best Brazilian Contemporary Pop Album".
Menezes remains one of the most dynamic and popular of the contemporary Brazilian artists achieving international recognition.
