Tulipa’s Efemera to be released internationally!
11 January, 2011São Paulo is a city which nurtures and challenges its artists. The collective blaze of creativity there galvanizes and inspires, while the frenzied pace demands tenacious energy and vision.
Out of the raw concrete megacity, an iridescent flower has emerged – in the 18 months since her first ever live show, young singer-songwriter Tulipa (her name means Tulip) has made a spectacular impact. Her debut album Efêmera (released in May 2010 in Brazil) is one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year in Brazil. We featured it in our Top 10 albums of the year (see HERE)
Her album launch show in June was a sell out at Niemeyer’s prestigious 800 capacity concert hall Auditório Ibirapuera, followed by many club, festival and TV performances. Efêmera will be released internationally in Feb 2011 on Totolo (the label that gave us Orquestra Imperial).
Tulipa’s sound is a playful, tropical pop where melody is king. In that inimitable Brazilian way, it’s infused with fun while being seriously savvy, inventively cracking pop’s codes.
Efêmera spotlights Tulipa’s liquid vocals, the radiant, gliding notes that have made her one of the standout new voices of Brazil. The album features a stellar cast of top young Brazilian artists including Ceu, Mariana Aydar and Thalma de Freitas (from Orquestra Imperial) on backing vocals and Kassin on bass. It’s also a family affair, with her father, Luis Chagas (from Itamar Assumpção’s band Isca de Polícia) and brother Gustavo Ruiz on guitars.
Born in Santos, on the coast of São Paulo state, in 1978 and raised in the countryside in Minas Gerais, Tulipa was always drawn to the arts, from backyard theatre groups to the church choir and college radio. She moved to São Paulo in 2000, graduating in graphic design, she worked in art-education, illustration and co-founded The Lullaby Museum. By 2008 she was singing regularly, and fast became a leading artist on the independent scene, appearing on important indie platforms such as Trama’s web TV show, and playing her first ever live concert at Sesc Pompéia in June 2009. The visual arts remain an essential element to Tulipa’s work, the live show features acclaimed VJs Ciça Lucchesi and Fred Siedwerdt AKA Cinema de Mão and the CD cover art is by Tulipa.
Tulipa’s influences include the progressive music movements of 1960s Minas Gerais (Clube da Esquina) and 1980s São Paulo (Vanguarda Paulistana) which combined Brazilian currents with rock and protest politics. She grew up with LPs by Gal Costa, Joni Mitchell, The Beatles, Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil on the record player. The open-ended category known as MPB (Popular Brazilian Music) is a generous place for artists, who can draw on the incredible riches of the past and still create emphatically contemporary music. Efêmera features 11 original songs, 10 written or co-written by Tulipa. She drops playful quotes into a couple of songs, like the cry on “Aqui” – an echo of Moreno Veloso’s “How Beautiful Could A Being Be”. She channels 1970s Gal Costa (“A Ordem das Árvores”) and nods to Tropicalia (“Efêmera”) but this album is stamped with Tulipa’s own personality – optimistic, smart and enchanting. Expressing her love for fleeting pleasures, the album title translates as Ephemera, its impact is set to be enduring.
Watch Tulipa in action:
Listen to Tulipa:
www.myspace.com/tuliparuiz
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