All in the family, part one

Elis Regina & Tom Jobim, Elis & Tom: Águas de Março
Maria Rita, Maria Rita: A Festa

This week I'm kicking off a periodic segment that explores the royal families of Brazilian music, of which there are surprisingly many. I don't know what it is, perhaps a huge combination of factors, but Brazil pumps out talented musicians by the generation. In this case, the focus is on the late Elis Regina and her daughter Maria Rita, the new diva of Brazilian popular music.

Both women attract comparisons to some notable, female, American contemporaries, but as is often the case with these comparisons, it ends up reducing their talent to a foreign language translation of the "original," (whatever that means) which isn't fair to anyone.

Regina, often compared to Janis Joplin both musically and in terms of her lifestyle, spanned many different genres and styles, expanding the palette for Brazilian female vocalists beyond what had become the well-established stylings of bossa nova, without forgetting those roots. I highly recommend any of her music that you can get your hands on.

Regina's daughter, Maria Rita, is poised to become the next Brazilian female phenomenon in the U.S. Her album graces world music Top 10's all over the coutnry, right up there with Bebel Gilberto, also of Brazilian musical offspring fame. Rita, an NYU graduate, fell backwards into a musical career but hasn't looked back since. The jazz influence garners comparisons to Norah Jones, but we'll refrain from those here. Enjoy.