Some of our favorite Brazilian jazz musicians come from Argentina. We’re adding Karen Souza to the list.
Karen Souza’s bossa muse is our muse, too.
by Scott Adams
Midday Host, The Sounds of Brazil’s streaming station at Connect Brazil
Are you a fan of Bossa Nova covers?
If you’re like me, then you’ve heard Karen Souza’s velvet-smooth voice countless times. And you’re not alone. She is among a handful of South American female vocalists from the Music Brokers system who battle for YouTube’s Bossa Nova cover bragging rights on a weekly basis.
In fact, our streaming station and our network of streaming Brazilian music channels at Connect Brazil have been playing her music for more than a decade now.
Don’t miss our streaming radio debut for Karen Souza this Friday. I’ll give you details on how to listen, below.
The artist formerly known as…
‘Every Breath You Take’ (Police), ‘Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?’ (Culture Club), ‘Ain’t No Sunshine’ (Bill Withers), ‘Get Lucky’ (Daft Punk)? These are all Karen Souza redos.
But even if you were a frequent visitor to our live, interactive playlist, you probably didn’t know it.
That’s because, just like so many Brazilian stars (including Rosalia de Souza), her early recordings were either uncredited or done under pseudonyms. FTV (FashionTV), Pacha Ibiza, and Privé are a few examples.
And fairly, most of those early-Millennium projects were European dance floor hits: House, Electronica, Trance, and Europop.
But that’s not the case today. Karen Souza has established herself as a fan favorite jazz and Bossa Nova singer, songwriter, and producer. Even Bossa Nova evergreens like ‘Corcovado’ and ‘Dindi’ are part of her well-regarded repertoire today.
Her jazzy, sultry smooth cover of Radiohead’s ‘Creep’ was featured in the film The Zero Theorem. And her international fan base continues to grow because of her concert tours throughout Europe and Latin America. If we could page through Souza’s passport, we’d see it’s been stamped in Brazil, China, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Spain, and Venezuela. Where else? She has also headlined at Tokyo’s legendary Blue Note Café.
Language and love
Late last fall, Karen Souza’s Bossa muse struck gold again with the release of her 5th solo album, Language Of Love. It debuted as livestream event from The Lunario in Mexico City.
Shot on the visually stunning, Pacific coast beaches of Nayarit, the title track is the latest video single for the album. Karen recently shared the story behind the song.
“’Language Of Love’ is a dream made in 15 minutes, both the lyrics, and music,” she said. “We wrote and composed it with Davy Nathan and Pamela Phillips Oland, whom I adore with my soul and admire deeply. I couldn’t believe we created that beautiful song in just a quarter of an hour.
“As soon as we created it, ‘Language Of Love’ became one of the most important songs for me personally. It has a perfect mix between bossa nova and noir lounge that simply fascinates me.”
Listen to the streaming radio debut
Smoothly sophisticated, dreamy, and demur, Karen Souza’s ‘Language Of Love’ will make its streaming radio debut at Connect Brazil this coming Friday. May 30th. Join me during The Midday Show. Listen at top of the hour at 11 am, 2 pm, and 5 pm Central US time.
Listening Tip: ‘Always Live, Always Free’, worldwide
Visit the Listening Lounge to listen live, for our real-time playlists or to send me a request for your favorite song, style or musician.
Our thanks to Altafonte’s Lourdes Ubeda for her assistance with this article.
Karen Souza’s Bossa Muse
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