In addition to a rare recording of Menescal on vocals, the project also features Leila Pinheiro. The launch will be on July 14, on all platforms.
Conceived by six hands by Roberto Menescal, Diogo Monzo, and Ricardo Bacelar, the album “Nós e o Mar” arrives on streaming platforms on the 14th of July. With a special guest appearance by Leila Pinheiro, guest of the trio on the version of “Bye Bye Brasil” (Menescal/Chico Buarque), the album celebrates Roberto Menescal’s 85th birthday, favoring instrumental versions for partnerships between the master of Bossa Nova and Ronaldo Bôscoli.
In addition to Roberto Menescal and his unmistakable guitar, pianist Diogo Monzo (piano and keyboards) and Luso-Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Ricardo Bacelar (piano, keyboards, and percussion) are added, who take turns in the arrangements.
“The project was born on the initiative of cultural producer Fernanda Quinderé, who brought the proposal to the label. Initially, the idea was to record an instrumental album, but later we decided to include three sung tracks. We conceived this record as a tribute to Menescal and it was a pleasure to receive it in my studio, here in Fortaleza”, says Bacelar, who produced “Nós e o mar” with Quinderé for the label he founded, Jasmin Music.
“When Ricardo invited me, we started putting together the repertoire: he made some suggestions, Diogo his and I mine, but some things were born during the recording of the album. Including the idea of me singing, which came from Ricardo”, points out Roberto Menescal, delivering the biggest surprise of the project. “I asked him, ‘Are you sure’? But as we were in a good mood, I ended up singing “O Barquinho” and “Ah! Se eu pudesse”, he recalls good-naturedly. “Nos e o Mar” therefore provides the rare opportunity to hear Roberto Menescal singing two gems from his repertoire. “The first and only time I sang ‘O Barquinho’ in my life was at Carnegie Hall, in New York, in 1962. I was going to do something else with guitar and stuff, but the producer convinced me to do ‘O Barquinho’. I started and ended my singing career there, at Carnegie Hall”, he jokes.
The pianist, composer, and arranger from Rio de Janeiro Diogo Monzo, a popular musician with an erudite soul, met Roberto Menescal in 2017 when he released an album in honor of the pianist and composer Luiz Eça. “Menescal was one of the first to listen to this record. Working with him now was wonderful, a great learning experience. Menescal is a very generous and kind artist”, points out Monzo, who signs the arrangements of “O Barquinho”, “Nós e o mar”, “Ah! If I could”, “The death of a God of salt” and “Copacabana forever”. “I tried to mix languages linked to classical music and popular music in the arrangements. As a result of the influence I have on Luiz Eça, this work has harmonic aspects linked to impressionist music”, concludes Diogo.
Ricardo Bacelar and Roberto Menescal have known each other for a long time, since the time when the musician from Ceará lived in Rio de Janeiro when he was part of Hanoi Hanoi, a band of great expressiveness in the Rock Brazil movement of the 1980s. “Rio”, “Você”, “Vagamente” e “A volta”. The arrangement of “Bye Bye Brasil” is by Menescal and Ricardo. “As a producer, the idea was to preserve the characteristic swing of Menescal’s guitar as a pillar, and bring new information to Bossa Nova, using a Hammond organ and some keyboards to give the work a more contemporary texture. Menescal gave the motto: we made a different samba, a samba”, defines Bacelar, who worked on both sides of the process. “It’s always a challenge to be an arranger, musician and also a project producer, a function that requires a broader look. “Nos e o Mar” enriches the catalog of the Jasmim Music label, which continues to invest in more sophisticated Brazilian music. We’ve already done reinterpretations of Gilberto Gil in “Andar com Gil” (with Delia Fischer), and now we’re looking at Menescal’s work”, he concludes.
In addition to debuting on digital platforms, “Nós e o Mar” will also have a physical edition, on CD.
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