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With African, Syrian/Lebanese, Portuguese and indigenous roots, Monica Freire is a proud example of Brazil’s cultural fusion. She grew up in the nourishing environment of Bahia, cultural cradle of Brazil, of Afro-Brazilian music and the land that inspired Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso and Joao Gilberto.

At the age of 17, Monica took over from major Brazilian star Daniela Mercury to become the new lead singer of the celebrated band Bloco Pinel, performing with them at the Salvador Carnival. One year later, she left for the Caribbean island of Saint-Martin, where she sang for a few months before boarding a yacht and sailing to France, where she lived for nearly two years.

Monica came to Montreal in 1993 and first sang with the Paulo Ramos Group. This is where she met bassist, composer and essential collaborator Dan Gigon. She then enjoyed enormous success in Japan, making it possible for her to record two albums, which appeared in succession in 1996 (Monica, Samson Records) and 1997 (Monica II, Apes Records). The first CD became top-selling world-music album of 1997 in Japan.

Bahiatronica, Monica’s first album with the independent label Audiogram, is a musical hybrid where forceful Afro-Brazilian rhythms embrace delicate electronic tones. Tribal and electronic sounds whisper sweet nothings to each other, while Monica’s warm tropical voice permeates and caresses the senses. The album is the fruit of a collaboration with some of today’s best Brazilian musicians (among others, Luiz Brasil, (winner of a Grammy with Cassia Eller and guitarist/arranger for Caetano Veloso), percussionist Marcos Suzanno (Lenine, Sting), Marcio Vitor (percussionist with Caetano Veloso), and two of the best Canadian musicians : co-producers Marc Lessard et Guy Dubuc. Singer Ariane Moffatt joins in for a surprising rendition of Antonio Carlos Jobim and Georges Moustaki’s Les Eaux de Mars. Bahiatronica is a perfect symbiosis between North and South America, a colourful sonic mosaic!

Mônica created Na Laje, an album that has captured the full arc of this thrill seeker’s artistic evolution. Produced by Brazilian musical titan Liminha, Na Laje expresses a profound respect for traditions, coupled with a passion that cannot resist shaking them up: a soul that is infused with the past even as it faces far into the future.