| Luísa Maita | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Luísa Taubkin Maita |
| Born | April 27, 1982 São Paulo, SP, Brazil |
| Genres | MPB, pop, world music |
| Occupations | Singer, songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocal |
| Labels | Cumbancha / Oi Música |
| Website | www.luisamaita.com |
Luísa Maita (Portuguese pronunciation: [luˈizɐ] is a Brazilian singer-songwriter whose debut album was released in US and Europe by Cumbancha [1] and in Brazil by Oi Música in May 2010.
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Luisa was born in São Paulo, Brazil on April 27, 1982, into a musical family. Her father, Amado Maita, was a composer and musician and her mother, Myriam Taubkin, is a music producer.
The samba was very present in Luisa's early days because of the experiences with her father in Bexiga, a working class neighborhood in São Paulo famous for its culture, food and music, and where Vai-Vai, São Paulo’s most traditional samba school, is based.
Luisa starts singing her father's compositions and also classic sambas and bossa nova. Her professional career begins at the age of seven, singing in some jingles.[2]
Her main influences come from the personality and energy of western black music, notably the samba. The dance, the instruments, the melodies, the drumming, the body language in samba it’s a huge influence to Luisa's music as the pop music from Michael Jackson,[3] Prince and Stevie Wonder. Luísa also has another passion: the bossa nova that "has a certain silence that I love, sensuality and a certain expression of peace that I find quite clear in my music too".
In 1999, Luisa founded her first band called Urbanda (the group recorded an album in 2003), starts to sing with Daniel Taubkin and also as backing-vocal for Jair Rodrigues. After that, Luisa collaborates with artists from her generation like Max de Castro, Mariana Aydar, Ricardo Teté and Danilo Moraes, Ricardo Herz, among others.
In 2006, the Brazilian singer Virgínia Rosa recorded two songs by Luisa in her album "Samba a Dois".[4] The songs stand out in the CD and encouraged Luisa to compose more. In 2009, Mariana Aydar released her second album with a composition of Luisa and Rodrigo Campos, "Beleza", one of the best songs of th year by Rolling Stone Brazil magazine.[5] Luisa also appears in four songs of Rodrigo Campos debut album "São Materus Não É Um Lugar Assim Tão Longe" and as the singer of the promotional videos for Rio 2016 Olympic games directed by Fernando Meirelles.[6] Because of these works, Luisa had some great reviews in the Brazilian press without having yet released any solo album.
After the release in US, NPR's All Things Considered said that Luísa is "The New Voice of Brazil"[7] and "if Maita keeps making records this good, she could well be on her way to international stardom".
On November 2010, Luísa made her first North America tour, receiving great reviews from The New York Times,[8] The Washington Post[9] and Boston Globe.[10] During the tour, she also appear on NPR's Tiny Desk Concert[11] and KCWR's Morning Becomes Eclectic show.[12].
In Brazil, the album figured in the list of best albums of 2010 – including the magazines Veja[13] and Rolling Stone Brasil[14].
In July 2011, Luísa received the award for Best New Artist[15] in the twenty-second edition of the renowned Brazilian Music Award and went to her first European tour playing in important festivals like Nuits du Sud in France and Musicas do Mundo in Portugal.
In August 2011, the singer returned to North America, performing 30 shows in 26 cities over 45 days and, once again, sell out festivals and concert halls, get enthusiastic review from LA Times[16].
