Sonantes (Dig)

Sonantes | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (May 20, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 2008
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Six Degrees
• ASIN: B0017V211M
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #263,242 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

About the Artist

As Brazil celebrates its 50th anniversary of bossa nova music in 2008, there continues to be a streaming output of new talent and innovation from this rich musical country. A perfect example is Sonantes , a São Paolo based musical collective featuring the vocal talents of CéU in collaboration with members of Brazilian groups Nação Zumbi and Instituto. Guest stars include Siba, Lucio Maia, Beto Villares, Apollo 9, and more.

In between touring the world in support of her debut album, CéU continued to work with local musicians and friends to create a new album and project called Sonantes. For this project, she needed to look no further than her own back yard: her neighborhood, São Paolo's Perdizes quarter, home to brothers Gui Amabis (an accomplished composer and producer of film music, including the scores to Andrew Niccols' Lord of War and James Foley's Perfect Stranger) and Rica Amabis (a member of the São Paolo band Instituto and an acclaimed soundtrack composer in his own right), as well as the duo Denge and Pupillo (bassist and drummer, respectively, for Nação Zumbi, Brazil's most popular rock band). Only in Brazil is one likely to find this kind of talent in this small an area, and it is difficult to imagine any country other than Brazil giving rise to a sound like what was created when this group of friends began making music together.

That sound began to be born when CéU was invited to sing on one track of a recording project by 3 Na Massa, an electro-bossa-nova trio consisting of Amabis, Denge and Pupillo. The chemistry was so promising that they decided to keep on working together and, in Amabis's words, "see what happened." Says Amabis, "we are very similar musically, and like all the same stuff." His brother Gui ("a great composer," according to Rica) was invited in to contribute music as well.

For CéU, this collaboration was a chance to get outside of herself, musically. She characterizes her debut album like "a personal diary," whereas with Sonantes she says that she "wanted to make sounds that were different, that didn't just come from my own point of view." It was also an opportunity for her to take some musical chances. As she puts it, "I have a great deal of admiration for artists who have conducted their careers by taking risks without losing their identity." Recording with a band for the first time, she found an opportunity to surrender some of the musical control to "people that I've always listened to, always wanted to be close to. The idea [for this project] was for each of us to leave control to the others, without losing our own identities - that is, all of us added our own ideas to the process."

Given the trust and musical openness expressed by all involved, it should come as no surprise that the group's compositional process has tended to be relaxed and unpredictable. "Whenever someone has a song, everyone works on it," Amabis says. "The whole thing started in our apartment, where we have a home studio. Whenever someone feels like working on it, they go to the apartment and turn on the computer - we didn't go to a big studio to record the album; almost everything was done at home."

The result is spectacular. As fresh and exciting as CéU's debut was, the Sonantes album is even more varied in tone and style. Here the delicacy and smoothness of CéU's debut are still present and audible, but are layered with something a bit more crunchy and experimental: notice, for one example, the staggered rhythm on "Miopia," and notice also that the slightly abrasive tone of that track's guitar solo would sound perfectly at home on a Tom Waits record.

Product Description

Sonantes is a Sao Paulo based musical collective featuring the vocal talents of Grammy nominated Céu in collaboration with members of Brazilian groups Nação Zumbi and Instituto as well as Brazilian guest stars Siba, Lucio Maia, Beto Villares, Apollo 9 and others.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredible spy-vibe CeU music, August 15, 2008

By 

Dan Bergevin (danbergevin dot com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Sonantes (Dig) (Audio CD)

It's fair to say I'm obsessed with CeU's music, which is a buffet of musical styles all infused with funky, sultry soul and her gorgeous vocals. For that reason, no one could realistically expect her sound to stay the same from song-to-song, let alone from album-to-album. It's no surprise, then, that Sonantes differs so much from her self-titled album.

Sonantes isn't completely CeU's music. She didn't write any of the music and, following the liner notes, didn't write all the vocals either. But this doesn't matter at all - the sound is very, very CeU. It's smooth, like her solo album, but in a very different way. It's like a Brasilian James Bond film soundtrack, complete with spy guitars (reminiscent of early Portishead) and a distinctly cinematic vibe.

A couple caveats: This album is short. Way too short. But this is no reason not to buy it at full price, because it's all about quality and not quantity anyway. You'll get your money's worth after many repeat listenings, which is almost guaranteed to happen. Also, there are a couple of tracks with male vocals, which aren't terrible or distracting but aren't CeU either. Nonetheless, these are good songs and I think you'll like them all the same.

In summation, with Sonantes CeU strikes again and does so with her trademark sound of ridiculously smooth vocals over constantly shifting soundscapes. It's different in the best way possible and will grow on you, so give it a few listens if you don't get it the first time around.

Buy Sonantes immediately if you like CeU, modern Brasilian music, or good music in general. CéU

5.0 out of 5 stars Ceu...Su voz..., December 22, 2008

By 

Germania Herrera Cedeno "GermanyEcuador" (Quito, Ecuador) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sonantes (Dig) (Audio CD)

Quiero decir que este disco tiene mucho que ver con la producción de Tres na massa, simplemente viene con la increible participación de CEU, su voz es totalmente impecable...Muy recomendable

4.0 out of 5 stars Soothing, uplifting, and "re-sonante", August 30, 2008

By 

N. Lopez "Nerdo" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sonantes (MP3 Download)

Just by featuring Céu as their lead singer, Sonantes vibrates with warmth and exuberant rhythms, that transport the listener to the sensual sounds of Brazil. The Amazon freshness resonates in every track. Sensual, sexy, yet fun "Carimbó",the playful "frevo de saudade", and "miopia" is a soothing song about bliss in the beautiful voice of Céu. If you like this cd or mp3 (both available here), you should get her album Céu. It's a rest from those other female Iberian singers saturating the market. If you are like me, sample the songs, if you like it, get the cd. The quality of a cd is a good investment because of the lyrics, artists info, and the album art.