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International Artists

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Rosa Passos

Rosa Passos is a Brazilian singer and composer of worldwide renown. She was born in Salvador, Bahia, where she grew up surrounded by local music and, inspired by Joao Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim, she switched from piano to guitar and began writing her own material as a teenager. Her first album was released in 1979, with the collaboration of her long-time lyricist Fernando de Oliveira. After taking several years off to devote herself to her husband and children, she returned to performing and recording in 1985, jump-starting a career that has ever since reaped praise and recognition in his country and the world.

. In 1996 she debuted in the United States at Oscar Castro Neves’s side, and also in that year gave her first concert in Japan, this time with saxophonist Sadao Watanabe, which led to successful appearances in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, as well as Colombia, Cuba, Uruguay and the United States. In 1999, she was invited to perform during the 50th anniversary celebration of German democracy, joining Paquito D'Rivera and the WDR Big Band for shows in Bonn and Cologne. In Brazil, Rosa Passos has been one of the stars of the “Words and Melody” project, a series of recordings honouring the legacies of the great Brazilian songwriters. Her discs of the songs of Jobim and Ary Barroso were instant hits, featuring distinctive new interpretations of such worldwide hits as “Aquarela de Brasil”, “Desafinado” and “Garota de Ipanema”.

In 2004 she released Amorosa, featuring versions of Joao Gilberto’s album Amoroso (1977), along with Gershwin’s “S Wonderful”, the Spanish classic “Bésame mucho” and her own tribute to Gilberto, “Essa e pro Joao”. Later on she participated in the much praised Japanese cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s albums on Brazilian music, Obrigado Brazil and Yo-Yo Ma Obrigado Brazil Live in Concert.

. In 2006, she released a vibrant guitar and vocals album called Rosa. This year Rosa emerges with Romance, recorded with a trio, featuring such songs as Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins’s “Doce Presença”, Dorival Caymmi’s “Nem Eu” and Tom Jobim and Adilea da Rocha Macedo’s “Por Causa de Vocé”. For this latest work, the Brazilian singer has been nominated to a Latin Grammy.

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