Gafieira Moderna

2001 release. Joyce began her career 30 years ago as a young girl armed with a guitar, a crystalline voice and an immense songwriting talent, singing sambas and feminism. Many years on, she has developed a cult reputation and had a major international career since first coming to recognition through the Brazilian festival scene. She was nominated for a Grammy award for her album Astronauta (1998). Joyce's compositions have been recorded by some of Brazil's biggest stars including: Milton Nascimento, Elis Regina, Gal Costa and Astrud Gilberto. The rediscovery, in the '90s, of her seminal album Feminina (1980) won her a new generation of admirers in Europe and Japan. Throughout Joyce's career she has been always been a strong female voice - the sensuality of the music sometimes betrays the seriousness behind her lyrics, but her songwriting is always full of her characteristic humor and playfulness. Joyce's music is a homage and celebration to the forces of the soul and to everyday life, and she composes among the noise and bustle of day to day, never shutting the world out. Gafieira Moderna is a real signature album, with Joyce back to composing and singing her own lyrics and music. The album features the same horn and rhythm section used on her album Hard Bossa (1999), and background vocals are provided by Joyce's daughter, Ana. Another special guest on the album is the electric lady Elza Soares the goddess of Samba - one of Joyce's own early heroines and inspirations. The theme of the album is based around gafieira - Brazilian ballroom/dancehall music, mostly jazz and samba played with lots of horns. For her modern gafieira, Joyce incorporates all the traditional elements, whilst referencing modern club culture in the lyrics. The album contains a mix of styles, and the lyrics cover gossipy girl talk, to advice on broken relationships and rejoicing in the everyday, humanity, and the creative process. The legendary Elza Soares's crazy swing graces "Samba Da Silvia", an earthy and intoxicating samba, Joyce conjures Bahia on Azul Bahia, and speaks of Brazil's African heritage on the powerful Afro-samba "Forcas de Alma". Comes with an exclusive documentary, shot on location in Brazil, which gives an intimate glimpse of the studio recording and captures the heady atmosphere of Rio in the days before carnival when the album was produced.