Artist Profiles: Fernanda Cunha

Fernanda Cunha

Fernanda Cunha is a Brazilian singer from Rio de Janeiro. She is the niece of Brazilian composer Sueli Costa and daughter of singer Telma Costa. Thus, she was brought up in a rich musical environment.

Fernanda started her career in 1997. Her first performance was in Vinicius Bar – Rio de Janeiro (favorite bossa nova club in Rio) with a trio of piano, bass and voice, followed by others performances in Mistura Fina, Hipodromo up, Museu do Telephone, Juiz de for a, etc.

In 2000 Fernanda had an opportunity to sing in Cleveland, Ohio with guitarist Michael Manderen (Director of Oberlin Conservatory). Also she performed at the Rock and Roll Hall of fame, Blossom summer festival, Shaker jazz fest, Nightown, and other places in Ohio accompanied by Grupo Brasil (Kip Reed on bass, Gary Aprile on guitar, Matt Perko on drums).

In July 2002 Fernanda decided to record her first solo album. She invited Grupo Brasil to play and the Brazilian pianist Marcio Hallack to play and make the arrangements. The CD O tempo e o lugar was recorded in Cleveland at Clockwerke studios and was released in Brazil (Rio de Janeiro, Sao Paulo and Minas Gerais). The repertoire includes some sambas like “Muito Obrigado”(by Djavan), ballads like “Velas icadas” (by Ivan Lins and Vitor Martins), bossa novas like “Tim tim por tim tim”(by Haroldo Barbosa), among others.

In January 2004 Fernanda was invited to record a new album, a tribute to Sueli Costa and Johnny Alf. Back in Brazil she released Dois corações (Two hearts). The album received critical and popular acclaim throughout Brazil

In 2012 she released Coração do Brasil, acompanied by Cristóvao Bastos(piano), Jorjão Carvalho(eletreic bass), Ze Carlos(guitar), Jurim Moreira (drums) and special guests; Sueli Costa(piano), Camilla Dias(piano), Marcio Hallack(piano) and Tom Szczesniak (acordeon).

In 2015 she released Olhos de mar. Her album Jobim 90 celebrated the 90th anniversary of Tom Jobim.

Discography:

O tempo e o lugar (2002)
Dois corações (2004)
Zíngaro (2007)
Brasil Canadá (2009)
Coração do Brasil (2012)
Olhos de mar(2015)
Jobim 90 (2017)

Author: Angel Romero

Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.

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