Biscoito Fino releases Monica Salmaso’s DVD Noites de Gala, Samba na Rua, with songs by Chico Buarque.

Recorded in March of 2008, in Fecap theater, the concert has been through Curitiba, Florianópolis, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Brasília, Goiânia, Salvador, Aracaju, Recife, Fortaleza, São Luis, Belém, Manaus, São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and is now released in DVD by Biscoito Fino.

Joined by the quintet Pau Brasil, with members Nelson Ayres (piano), Paulo Bellinati (classical guitar and cavaquinho), Teco Cardoso (saxophone and flutes), Ricardo Mosca (drums) and Rodolfo Stroeter (bass guitar), Mônica Salmaso goes through the many phases of the artist, with the addition of two tracks that are not on the CD, the instrumental “Pulo do Gato” by Paulo Bellinati and “Moda do Pau Brasil” by Rodolfo Stroeter, where the musicians present themselves.

By Chico, treated in the sixties as the heir of Noel Rosa, Mônica selected four songs. There are the two sambas, “Quem te viu, quem te vê” (with lyrics inspired by the album’s title) and “Logo eu”, the classic, “Morena dos olhos d´água”, and the irresistible and rare maxixe “Bom tempo”.

From the seventies, period when Chico Buarque’s songs began to show strong opposition towards the dictatorship, there are “Construção” (a flirt with what was the contemporary music of the time), “Partido Alto”, “Basta um dia” (from the play “Gota D´água”) and “Olha Maria”, a partnership of Chico with Tom and Vinicius. From the eighties, after incorporating national unanimity, there are “A volta do malandro” (written for the film by Ruy Guerra, “A Ópera do Malandro”), “Beatriz” and “Ciranda da bailarina” (partnerships with Edu Lobo for “O Grande Circo Místico”); “O velho Francisco” and “Suburbano coração”. “Você, você” (partnership with Guinga) is one of Chico’s sophisticated and mature tracks, from the nineties, selected for the repertoire.

The chemistry between Mônica’s vocals, Pau Brasil’s jazz style and the songs of Chico Buarque, covers four decades of the composer’s creations. This same composer, who praised Mônica since the very start of her career, invited the singer to participate in his most recent CD, “Carioca”, to share vocals in the song “Imagina”.

Even with connections with the group, it is the first time the artist works Pau Brasil. She commented on the experience: “Com Paulo Bellinati, gravei meu primeiro CD, Afro-Sambas. Rodolfo Stroeter é o produtor dos meus discos desde Trampolim, de 1998, relançado pela Biscoito Fino em 2006. O Teco Cardoso, com quem hoje eu sou casada, trabalha comigo desde 1998 em discos e projetos, como a Orquestra Popular de Câmara. Ricardo Mosca eu conheço desde 1990, quando comecei a cantar. E com o Nelson Ayres trabalhei pela primeira vez em 1993, quando ele me convidou para participar de uma edição de O Grande Circo Místico (translation: With Paulo Bellinati, I recorded my first album, Afro-Sambas. Rodolfo Stroeter has been producing my work since Trampolim, 1998, re-edited by Biscoito Fino in 2006. Teco Cardoso, with whom I am married to now, works with me since 1998 in albums and projects, like the Orquestra Popular de Câmara. I met Ricardo Mosca when I started singing, in 1990. I met Nelson Ayres when he invited me to participate in an edition of the O Grande Circo Místico, in 1993.)”.

The DVD was directed by Mario de Aratanha, who has almost forty years of experience in the music business and was responsible for a beautiful view at the DVD due to his love for music and cinema. The results were, in the singer’s words, “um DVD de música! Onde a imagem, a luz e a edição colaboram para a escuta. O que a gente queria era um DVD onde a nossa intimidade musical fosse mostrada respeitando sempre a delicadeza da música. Isso acontece no DVD! (translation: A music DVD! Where image, lighting, and editing, are tools for a listening experience. Our goal was a DVD that showed our intimacy, always respecting the delicate structure of the music. That happens in this DVD!)”.