maguinha: News

Hi Barack,

I just did not know where to send this to - so I am putting this message out to cyberspace - as you go off to Hawaii to visit your grandmother.
I just have to tell you that you will be the most beloved president of the United States of America. One day, when your integrity, character, strength, intellect - all of your virtues - are fully revelead, all people will contemplate the awesomeness of you.
You will restore faith in the presidency all over our land because you are fair and just, ethical, hardworking, and because you are a uniter, not a divider.
Under your leadership, our nation will find its way to self-reliance, accountability, responsibility and compassion.
Under your leadership, we will be once again proud of our country and of each other - because we chose, when we could, the way to a greatness that we have not yet seen: the greatness of a people who overcame doubt and fear and put their hearts into creating a harmonious environment for all of Earth's peoples and creatures. Yes, this will be a new Era.

With you, we will know what it is like to live in Love, and in Peace.

May all living creatures bless your name forever.

Maguinha
www.maguinha.com
p.s. I will be singing with Ivo Carvalho and Richard LaGuerre at 1:15 pm, at the VoteFest '08, a show of bands we are having in honor of democracy on Sunday, Oct.26th, at the North Shore Band Shell at 73rd Street and Collins Ave, on Miami Beach. :-) People will come hear the music and walk a block to vote. It starts at noon and will go on until after 8:00 pm.
p.p.s. I am passing your message on to my friends.



----- Original Message -----
From: Barack Obama
To: Magda Garshol
Sent: Thursday, October 23, 2008 5:17 PM
Subject: Deadline: midnight


Magda --

We cannot afford to spend the next four years wishing we had done more in the final push of this campaign.

Change never comes without a fight. And the status quo is not going to go quietly.

The McCain campaign and the RNC have been stepping up their hateful "robocalls" and attack mailings -- they're throwing the kitchen sink of false, negative attacks.

The margins of victory in crucial battleground states will be small. And your support today can make all the difference.

We can't risk coming up short. The stakes are just too high.

Your donation of $25 or more will have a bigger impact now than at any other time:

https://donate.barackobama.com/finalfight
Thank you for everything you're doing,

Barack

Dilvugada a lista dos ganhadores do PRESS AWARD 2008 de
ARTE & CULTURA
March 6th, 2008. Released the list of winners
in the Art and Culture categories
Brazilian International Press Award 2008


Lifetime Achievement Awards 2008

• Jorge Ben Jor
• Rhythm Foundation 20 Anos
• Empresário Paulo Rocha – Fundador da BACCF

Mérito Cultural Press Award

• CCBUF – Centro Cultural Brasil-USA da Flórida
• Joana Bueno

Prêmio Especial do Board

• Tom Gomes – Pela criação dos prêmios brasileiros no Grammy Latino

Prêmios de Arte & Cultura

Destaque Show Brasileiro / MPB - Outstanding Brazilian Music / MPB Concert in the USA
• Caetano Veloso – “Cê”

Destaque Show Brasileiro / POP - Outstanding Brazilian Music / POP
• Jota Quest

Destaque Show Brasileiro / AXÉ - Outstanding Brazilian Music / AXÉ
• Babado Novo

Destaque de Show Brasileiro / SERTANEJO - Outstanding Brazilian Music / COUNTRY
• Bruno & Marrone

Destaque Empresa de Produção trabalhando com Música Brasileira nos EUA
Outstanding Achievement by a Production Company working with Brazilian Music in the US
• Ipanema Productions (MA)

Destaque Cantor Brasileiro - Outstanding Brazilian Performance Male Singer
• Márcio Mendes (NJ)

Destaque Cantora Brasileira - Outstanding Brazilian Performance Female Singer
• Silvana Magda (NY)

Destaque Músico Brasileiro - Outstanding Performance by a Brazilian Musician
• Gílton Martins (CT)

Destaque Música Brasileira Local Duo, Trio ou Grupo Brasileiro
Outstanding Local Brazilian Music Performance by Duo, Trio or Group
• Brasil Brazil Show (CA)

Destaque CD por Artista Brasileiro nos EUA
Outstanding CD by a Brazilian Artist in the U.S.
• Maguinha & Douglas Lora – “Viagem a Vera Cruz” (FL)

Destaque no incentivo à Música Brasileira nos EUA
Outstanding incentive for the Brazilian Music in the U.S.
• Orquestra de Samba (IL)

Destaque em Literatura - Outstanding Performance in Literature
• “Tatuagens” – Chico Moura (FL)

Destaque no Apoio do Idioma Português - Outstanding Support for the Portuguese Language in the U.S.
• Fundação Vamos Falar Português (FL)

Instituição que apóia a Cultura Brasileira nos EUA
Outstanding Institution support for Brazilian Culture in the US
• Berklee School of Music (NJ)

Maguinha has been nominated Noteworthy Brazilian Singer in the USA for the Brazilian International Press Award 2007
You can support my work by going to www.pressaward.com and Voting for Maguinha on Category Seven

Maguinha and Douglas Lora's CD Voyage to Vera Cruz/Viagem a Vera Cruz has also been nominated
Noteworthy (Destaque) CD of Brazilian Artists in the US in 2007

You can support my work by going to www.pressaward.com and Voting for Maguinha and Douglas Lora on Category Ten

===============
The Songs of Silence

All of my life I have been asking for silence so I can hear the songs.
That delicate note, that night bird, those leaves in the wind, those stars.
Silence to hear, in the core of the memories, the sound of things loved and lived:
Waves breaking in the sand, the fluster of swallows at nightfall,
the dance of high grass in the savannah.

I ask for a deep breath, I ask for silence.

I want to hear the heart of life beating in my chest.
I want to hear that calm singing... That unhurried singing
In which every note embraces time and distance
To be heard faraway, and from afar...

I am aware of the infinite immaterial time
And of the real material time flowing relentlessly
Like blood from a fatal, deep wound.

I know this: Hurrying is complete foolishness.
The only way to quiet the demons of anxiety
Is to sing a beautiful, clear, unhurried song,
Warm like the morning of a night that seemed endless.

This is why now, more than before,
I ask for silence to listen to the songs of magicians and mermaids.

Maguinha
Miami, January 4, 2008
www.maguinha.com www.cdbaby.com/maguinha2
in portuguese:

Maguinha indicada Cantora Brasileira de Destaque nos EUA ao prêmio Brazilian International Press Award 2007
Você pode apoiar o meu trabalho
acessando o site
www.pressaward.com e votando em Maguinha na Categoria Sete
O CD Viagem à Vera Cruz, de Maguinha e Douglas Lora também indicado ao prêmio CD de Destaque de Artistas Brasileiros nos EUA 2007
Você pode apoiar nosso trabalho
acessando o site
www.pressaward.com e votando em Maguinha e Douglas Lora na Categoria Dez
Pode ouvir o CD aqui: www.maguinha.com e
www.cdbaby.com/maguinha2 Para ouvir Douglas Lora, em duo com João Luiz,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_--E-Vo6Jhw&mode=related&search http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHOOKRWIo3M&feature=related

As Canções do Silêncio

Durante toda a minha vida venho pedindo silêncio para escutar canções.
Aquela nota delicada, aquele pássaro noturno, aquela folha ao vento, aquelas estrelas.
Silêncio para ouvir, no âmago das lembranças, o som das coisas amadas e vividas:
o quebrar das ondas na areia, o alvorôço das andorinhas ao entardecer,
a dança do capim alto no cerrado.
Peço pra respirar fundo, e peço silêncio.
Quero escutar o coração da vida batendo no meu peito.
Quero escutar aquele canto calmo, aquele canto sem-pressa,
cada nota abraçando o tempo e a distância,
ouvida de longe, e ao longe...
Tenho consciência do tempo imaterial infinito
e do tempo material real que se esvai inexorável,
como sangue de uma ferida fatal e profunda.
Hoje sei: correr é uma grande bobagem.
A única coisa capaz de aplacar demônios
é uma canção linda, vagarosa,
cálida como a manhã de uma noite que antes parecia não clarear jamais.
Por isso, agora, e mais ainda, peço silêncio para o canto das magas e das sereias.
Maguinha
Miami, 3 de Janeiro de 2007

VOYAGE TO VERA CRUZ

This is beautiful and delicate work, and my gratitude goes to Douglas Lora, with whom I partnered to do this CD - and to Claudio Spiewak, who recorded, mixed, edited, and mastered the sessions.

Douglas and I had wanted to do an album together for a couple of years but we actually did most of the work during his last three weeks in Miami, just before he moved back to São Paulo. We knew that, once he left South Florida, it would be difficult for him to come back for a long period of time. Now that the Brasil Guitar Duo won the 2006 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, he and Joao Luiz have a very busy schedule. (Douglas is half of the Duo, the other half is João Luiz) .

We worked non-stop for two weeks on the songs (his and mine) and then took them to Claudio Spiewak's - and we spent the third week in the recording studio. I am very glad that we accomplished what we set out to do.
Douglas's work is absolutely beautiful and mine... well, this is my voyage to Vera Cruz... :-) and only the heart can take me there.

The CD flows naturally like an ebb tide that softens the wake of Portuguese and Spanish ships. The songs evoke memories of our Iberian heritage - with a pinch of Moorish flavor (after all, the Moors occupied Spain for over 700 years), and another little pinch of indigenous sounds.

It's quiet and introspective; tranquil, intimate. It offers the soul the kind of gentle reconciliation it needs - it's raw nourishment for spirit and mind.

The insert carries all Portuguese lyrics and their English translations.

BUY IT at
www.cdbaby.com/maguinha

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I have always liked to bring together people of different races, backgrounds, and cultures... and watch new friendships emerge, beautiful and strong. I believe that we are all the same child, and we all yearn for the same thing: to love and to be loved. We come in different colors, sizes, shapes, sexes, but the spirit within, if we close our eyes, doesn't even know what kind of body is its keeper.

We are born in different places, learn different languages, vibrate with different musical sounds, move our limbs in a different kind of dance, inherit a distinct DNA pool, and yet... we are, each of us, marked and moved by the same human feelings.

The way I do the bridging is through song.

I believe that when a human being hears a beautiful sound, and listens to it, his heart opens up. That sound changes his perception of things around him and a qualitative jump happens in a way that defies intellect and logic. The heart is now able to comprehend and accept things that were threatening just a moment ago. Music is purely divine, it is given to us to make us, in one instant, transcend all divisiveness, all separation. It elevates us from our earthly concerns and it liberates us from our prison of fears.

The first time I left my country, to live abroad as an exchange student, I was 17.
It was with joy that I shared with all the songs from my faraway land and those songs built us many bridges, so strong that to this day, 40 years later, we are still connected to each other.

The second time I left my country, I was 20 years old, and I carried with me a great deal of pain. The secret police had stormed our house with machine guns in the very early morning and taken my 19-year-old bother from his bed. They took our books and our records off the shelf as proof of our dissent and lack of patriotism and, for months, we did not hear a word of my brother's whereabouts. Next, while on the highway to a military prison where my brother might've been kept, a car accident took my mother's life. During my mother's funeral, a group of secret police took my father away and sent him to prison. Under surveillance myself, I arranged for my uncles to care for my younger siblings and I left my homeland again. With the pain, I carried with me hundreds of beautiful songs.

I learned to transcend pain through my songs. Everywhere I went, New York, Italy, France, Switzerland, Greece, England, I found many people who, just like me, had left a faraway country and many things and people they loved. I sang to all of them. Through my songs we became brothers and sisters and every song brought us closer together. I taught them my songs, and I learned some of theirs.

Brazilian culture taught me lessons about peace making and peace keeping. It taught me about forgiveness. It taught me about sadness, about putting it on and wearing it, like a dress, only to take it off and finding joy when it's inside out. With my songs, I teach people to be so quiet that they can hear their own heart whispering its lamentations and its losses, only to rejoice at being alive at last.

When I came to Miami, I saw a very fragmented conglomerate of varied ethnicity and I described it as a perfect recipe for a wonderful cake - only there wasn't anyone baking it. I vowed that I was going to bake the cake. That I would put all of my resources into mixing the fine and distinct ingredients until the most beautiful and aromatic and delicious cake would emerge - warm and oozing sweetness, for all to taste. I proposed to the Coral Gables Congregational Church to start a music series that I would call the "Baking-the-Cake Music Series" but my project, 6 years ago, had a much wider scope than just Hispanic and Anglo relations and maybe it was seen as too ambitious.

Since then, I have spent the past six years singing, here in Miami, with musicians from all over the world, and have sung to people from all over the world. I have taught Hispanic and Brazilian songs to Haitian, Israeli and Russian children; I have sung Brazilian songs to Haitian audiences and Haitian songs to Brazilians. I have recorded, in Creole, with Manno Charlemagne, a Haitian songwriter. I have sung in Italian to the French. In French, to the Italians. And I have sung in Hebrew to ladies from Iraq.

The response is always the same. There is silence and there is communion. Tender smiles and luminous glances. Their eyes say: "I understand, we are all One. When our fathers die, we cry. When our children die, we go mad. We rejoice in finding love, and despair at losing it".

But most of all, the eyes say: "I am at peace with you, my friend. My soul is at peace, for we understand each other".


p.s.
 Part of my repertoire is Afro-Brazilian, with deep acknowledgement of the experience of slavery, the sadness and the desperation created by the African diaspora, and finally, the birth of a new and creative life in the New World.

 I grieve, with my songs, with all those who have lost their homeland, and their beloved. Through songs, I take them to the point of reconnection with the hope within their hearts.

 When I sing, there's profound synergy between performer and audience, and the songs become a spiritual experience. These experiences prove that "understanding" is much more a matter of the heart than of the intellect.

 The time that I, as the singer, spend together with those who listen to the songs, is like a journey past conditioning, linguistic barriers, cultural mores and attitudes - into the human heart. We reach the end of that journey with the notion that in our emotional core lies the essence of our same exact humanity.

*
*
This new CD is now with the graphic designer at the duplication house. All else is ready to go.

The graphic design was almost ready, but Teo was in a hurry to come into this world and Estefi had to e-mail me the artwork from Sao Paulo just a couple of hours before Teo was born. So now, the artwork is in New York, in Jess's hands -and very soon the CD will have its own nice packaging.