Rosa Passos, a Brazilian contemporary singer, is committed to the true evolution of Brazilian music. She is not interested in commercialism or trendy trends. She is a well-known artist in Brazil, having been recognized by Joao Gilberto and Maria Schneider, Clare Fisher and Johnny Alf. Passos’s father loved music so he began all six of his children with an instrument. Passos was able to pitch perfectly and she began playing piano at age 3. She was 11 when she first heard Joao Gilberto’s Orfeu do Carnaval. It changed her entire life. Passos gave up studying piano to become a singer. Passos began to listen to Gilberto obsessively and learn the violao by listening to Gilberto records. She was also influenced by Ella Fitzgerald and Nina Simone, Etta Jim, Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington. Shirley Horn, who has stated that she is a fan, Cole Porter, George Gershwin were other vocal influences. Rosa is influenced mainly by Joao Gilberto, Dorival Caymmi and others. 1968 saw Passos perform on Poder Joven, a Salvador-based TV program. She began participating in music festivals in 1969. She entered “Mutilados”, her song, in the Globo Network Festival Universitario under a pseudonym, and won first place. She continued to compose and play at home while attending college, but couldn’t find any interest from the media because of her delicate, swinging, honest style. Recriacao, her debut album was recorded in 1978 while she lived in Brasilia. It was composed of compositions she had written with Fernando de Oliveira. Eight years later, she released Amorosa. This album was a tribute to Joao Gilberto’s composition with the same title. She recorded Curare in 1994, featuring hits by Antonio Carlos Jobim (“Fotografia,” “Dindi,” “A Felicidade,” “So Danco Samba,” “O Nosso Amor”) and Johnny Alf (“Ilusao a Toa”) as well as Carlos Lyra/Vinicius De Moraes (“Coisa Mais Lina”), Ary Barrroso, Djavan, among others. She recorded Pano pra Manga for Velas in 1996, mostly using her own compositions and some classic hits by Chico Buarque, Jobim, and Ary Barrroso. She recorded an album in honor of Ary Barroso for label Lumiar. It was part of the series Letra e Musica. The next year she recorded Rosa Passos Canta Antonio Carlo Jobim: 40 Anos de Bossa Nova, with 14 Jobim classics. She was accompanied on a European jazz tour by Paquito de Rivera in 1999. Morada do Samba was her 2000 release. She resumed her writing in 2000. Eight of her compositions were included on the album, along with “Beiral”, “La Vem a Baiana”, “Calmaria”, “Saudade da Bahia”, (Dorival) Caymmi, and “Retiro” (Paulinho da Viola). She booked a tour of ten European countries for 2000. One show was in the U.S., and one tour through Japan. Passos is never satisfied and continues to record. She released Entre Amigos/Among Friends in 2003 with Ron Carter as bassist, as well as a 2004 reissue of her pivotal Amorosa album on Sony Classical. Rosa was released on Telarc in 2006. You can also access user-contributed text under the Creative Commons By–SA License.
