Rosa Passos

Rosa Passos is one of the few singers currently in Brazil dedicated to a genuine evolution of Brazilian music, devoid of fashionable trend and commercialism. She has established herself firmly in the country's artistic scenery, acknowledged by many such as João Gilberto, Maria Schneider, Clare Fisher, Paquito d'Rivera, Johnny Alf, Nana Caymmi (who recorded two of her compositions), and even the number one enemy of bossa nova, the fundamental music researcher J.R. Tinhorão, even if she hasn't had her deserved media exposure. Her dad was very affectionate about music, and he had all his six children started on some instrument. Her perfect pitch capabilities helped her to approach successfully the piano at age three. At 11, she listened to João Gilberto's Orfeu do Carnaval, which changed radically her life. She abandoned the piano studies and decided to be a singer. She began to listen to Gilberto compulsively, and learned the violão through his playing in the records. Her other influences were Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Dinah Washington, Shirley Horn (who has declared to be her fan), Cole Porter, and George Gershwin, but her main influences remained Dorival Caymmi and João Gilberto. In 1968 Passos performed in the TV Tupi from Salvador show Poder Jovem. In 1969 she began to participate in music festivals. In 1972, she inscribed her song "Mutilados" in the Globo Network's Festival Universitário, under pseudonym, and got the first place. As she couldn't find any interest in the media for her delicate, swinging, truthful production free from abusive commercial appeal, she continued to play and compose at home, attending college in the meantime. In 1978, already living in Brasília, where she has settled permanently, she recorded her debut...