Brazilian Night Magic in the City of Angels

Marisa Monte at Royce Hall, University of California Los Angeles, March 27, 2022

Perhaps because I was so very excited about the reason I was visiting UCLA, it initially didn’t occur to me that I had never been to the place before, even though I’m a longtime Southern California resident. It’s a lovely campus, filled with beautiful architecture that makes it feel, as my wife remarked, just the way a college campus should. 

But so far as new experiences go, seeing Brazilian songbird Marisa Monte live for the first time was the true prize. Inconsequential was my not being a member of the rapturous Los Angeles Brazilian community that properly raised the roof of Royce Hall as they sang along, because the music of Marisa Monte crosses borders as irresistibly as it gets deep into you. 

And that it did. Strolling onto stage in a shimmering gown and looking hardly a day older than she did 30 years ago, Monte took a moment to acknowledge the cheer that greeted her arrival as a heavenly thunderous intro from the band reached its peak. Then it was into the title track of the latest album Portas and likewise into an evening of music rich with Brazilian roots even amid sprinklings of contemporary sheen and influences well beyond Brazil.

Monte has sung everything from opera to Gershwin, and her range was evident in a setlist that reached all the way back to her 1989 debut as well as showcasing newer numbers like the characteristically slinky “Deja Vu” and jazz-infused “Calma.”

The biggest crowd favorites, though, seemed to be songs she co-created via her many collaborations with other noted musicians, including the Arnaldo Antunes and Arto Lindsay partnership of “Beija Eu” and “Pra Melhorar,” for which she was joined onstage by Flor, a Brasileiro denizen of Los Angeles and possessor of a voice that blended with Monte’s to perfection. (Pity that Seu Jorge, third composer and vocalist on that one, wasn’t passing through town.)

A couple of tunes from the Monte/Antunes/Carlinhos Brown super trio Tribalistas reminded us all of how landmark those works were. And as the vibe heated up toward an all-out samba fueled celebratory finale, every available inch of Royce Hall’s floor space became repurposed into dance floor at the drop of a foot. Between songs, Monte addressed the audience with gracious patter that told the stories behind the music and showed the love between her and her fans to be entirely reciprocal.  

There were costume changes and rear screen projections that made this as much a genuine show as a concert, but the music was the real center of it all. Monte’s band- which included veteran bassist Dadi Carvalho, multi-instrumentalist Chico Brown (progeny of Carlinhos) and an extraordinary horn section at the front of the stage where they belonged -played with orchestral precision that made every song sound as perfect as a studio take. 

This being the first major concert event I’d attended in what seemed ages, It felt like a homecoming of the highest order. (Special thanks to Cindy Byram.)     

(headline image: Marisa Monte live at Royce Hall – Photo by Eduardo “Orelho” Wave Degree) 

Author: Tom Orr

Tom Orr is a California-based writer whose talent and mental stability are of an equally questionable nature. His hobbies include ignoring trends, striking dramatic poses in front of his ever-tolerant wife and watching helplessly as his kids surpass him in all desirable traits.