Brazilian Interlude: Tiê, Clara

Special Brazilian correspondent Luciane on two fellow filles:

The moment I heard Tiê (pronounced "tee-eh"), I knew she was filles material: sweet, enticing, delicate, playful. She studied music in New York and toured extensively around the world with Toquinho, a major name in Brazilian music, before releasing a self-titled EP, in 2007. Her debut album, aptly called Sweet Jardim (Sweet Garden), was released the following year and fulfills the promise. She plays piano, acoustic guitar and signs all the ten songs with an intimate, autobiographical tone. At 28, we can only hope for more! Tiê flirts with English and Français besides composing in her native tongue, portuguese. Le pont (The bridge), from her EP, is an upbeat and playful french tune to sing along to the piano. Aula de francês (French class), from her debut, is as cute as it comes for low-fi charm. Her wordplay combines the honest mistakes of beginner students with a clear intention to communicate her desires and wills. Secretly, perhaps, but just enough. What is she a beginner at? Love, French or both?

This tasty wordplay with French and Portuguese brings us to another Brazilian fille, Clara Moreno, daughter of celebrated singer Joyce and previously featured here on FS. But now the invitation is to samba - and barefoot, no less! Why? Because we can! That's the story behind Pourquoi, an irresistible hip samba with a French spice from Clara's sixth album, Miss Balanço (Miss Groove). The song talks about this rebellious girl who wants to samba without her sandals on. But is it really so? Hmmm... You can't tell for sure if samba means dancing, flirting around when hubby is out of town or both. Either way, he comes home and doesn't like it. But this girl is the proud owner of a free spirit and the french chorus clearly states that she'll do as she pleases 'porque sim', a common portuguese expression to use when you don't want to explain yourself too much. It's very similar to saying 'pourquoi pas' or 'why not', but using 'yes' to make it more defiantly affirmative. Indeed, it takes a lot of attitude to samba barefoot, but not when you have the groovy sambas of Clara Moreno to lead you on. ;)

Tiê - Aula de Francês
Tiê - Le pont
Clara Moreno - Pourquoi