Amália Baraona 

4 years ago today I was having one of the most joyful days of my life: the launch of my 2nd CD "MENESCANTANDO - A Tribute to Roberto Menescal". "Menescantando" was the only CD that I published in Portugal, with the label Numérica. Ironically, the record label closed down (without a word to the artists under contract!!!) and the album had little distribution in Portugal and abroad. But compared to the fulfilment of my dream to record Menescantando with the support and particip

Bossa Nova would not have been entirely what it was without Nara Leão, known as "the Muse" of this movement. Nelson Motta called her "the most intelligent voice of Brazil", discrete, balanced, profound and sensitive. She was all that, and much more! As a middle class young lady back in the mid-50s in Rio de Janeiro, she broke barriers for the women of her time who were not allowed to mix with musicians ("not a respectable profession"...this still sounds familiar...), let alon