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CeU

Just when you think that Brazil must surely have exhausted its supply of irresistibly jazzy, funky, sexy, soulful electro-pop singer-songwriters, someone like CéU comes along and makes you think that maybe that particular well is bottomless after all.

Her full name is Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças, but she goes by the simpler moniker CéU. It's a name that can be translated into English in a couple of subtly but significantly different ways. CéU means either "sky" or "heaven," depending on context, and either translation applies quite nicely in this case: think of her as "Sky" when you hear the soft blue clarity of her voice, or "Heaven" when one of her sweetly bubbling melodic hooks takes you by surprise and makes you shiver with delight. CéU's U.S. debut comes hot on the heels of a Latin Grammy nomination for “best new artist” of 2006. She is also riding high on a wave of international success in France, where the influential Les Inrockuptibles recognized her as one of the top 5 musical revelations of 2005, Holland, and Italy, as well as in Canada, where she was recently the fourth highest-selling artist for the Archambault chain of music shops while simultaneously holding the number 32 slot on the pop charts. Originally issued in 2005 on the São Paulo-based Urban Jungle label Jungle and Beto Villares’ Ambulante Discos, CéU was picked up by Six Degrees when members of the staff heard the album and found themselves entranced by the warm, fresh sound of her voice.

The momentum didn’t stop there, as Starbucks Entertainment selected CéU as the fourth artist to be featured in the innovative Starbucks Hear Music™ Debut CD series. Her self-titled debut will be a co-release by Starbucks Hear Music and Six Degrees Records and will be released simultaneously at traditional retail and Starbucks Company-operated locations in the U.S. beginning April 3, 2007. CéU is the first international artist featured in the Starbucks Hear Music™ Debut series.

CéU's stateside release gives a whole new population the opportunity to be equally entranced. The album opens enticingly with "Vinheta Quebrante," a brief introductory track that builds itself up in delicate rhythmic layers. With "Lenda," the album's first full-length track, CéU stakes out her musical territory more assertively: anchored by the juxtaposition of a subtly chromatic melody and a lazy funk groove and ornamented with a gracefully understated turntable scratch, the song sways seductively like seaweed in a warm ocean current, hints of reggae and dub lurking tantalizingly in the background. Next comes the album's first single, a sweetly tuneful and more explicitly reggae-flavored song titled "Malemolência" (if you're lucky enough to have satellite access to the TV Globo network, then you may recognize it as a featured song in the soundtrack to Cidade dos Homens, the television adaptation of the celebrated film City of God). Then, as if she's unwilling to let go of a good thing, she follows up on that track with the slightly more muscular "Roda," on which she delves deep into the rich soil of dub-funk groovaciousness again. Yet despite its quietly chugging and soulful rhythms and its insinuating touches of turntablism, this song is actually quite spare in texture: its basic structure consists of little more than turntable scratches, a percolating bassline and a straightforward drum lick, while guitars and keyboard are allowed to lurk around the outside edges of the sound.

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210
Live Review

Ceu at The Highline Ballroom

Read "Ceu at The Highline Ballroom" reviewed by Ernest Barteldes


Céu Highline Ballroom New York City July 21, 2009

On her first US tour in support of her recently released CD Vagarosa (Six Degrees, 2009), the São Paulo-based singer-songwriter took the stage backed by a solid quartet formed by DJ Marco (sampler, turntables), Zé Nicro (bass), Samuel Fraga (drums) and Guilherme Ribeiro (guitar, keys). The group kicked off with a dreamy psychedelic-funk number that immediately got fans moving, and followed that with another new ...

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Performance / Tour

Brazilian Sensation Céu Hits Road And Announces North American Tour This Summer For New Travel-inspired Record

Brazilian Sensation Céu Hits Road And Announces North American Tour This Summer For New Travel-inspired Record

Source: Kelly Krueger

Brazilian sensation Céu announces her North American summer tour in support of her new travel-inspired record, Caravana Sereia Bloom which debuted at #1 on the iTunes Brazilian Chart. After completing the European leg of her tour with stops in France, Germany and the UK where she performed on the legendary program Later...with Jools Holland, Céu returns to play the US and Canada on June 9th. Céu will be joined by fellow Brazilian musician and Six Degrees label mate Curumin, who ...

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Recording

Brazilian Sensation Céu To Release Third Album Caravana Sereia Bloom on April 3

Brazilian Sensation Céu To Release Third Album Caravana Sereia Bloom on April 3

Source: Kelly Krueger

The open road, the bohemian atmosphere, the existential mythology of travel—these were the visions the Brazilian singer Céu had in mind while creating her latest album, Caravana Sereia Bloom. Numerous road trips from her São Paulo home to Brazil's Northeast proved to be the perfect inspiration for her new sonic adventure. Caravana Sereia Bloom is due out April 3 on Six Degrees Records. Céu stretched her musical vocabulary by exploring a multitude of Latin American sounds and incorporating styles such ...

146

Performance / Tour

Grammy/Latin Grammy-nominated CeU to tour U.S. this Spring

Grammy/Latin Grammy-nominated CeU to tour U.S. this Spring

Source: Kelly Krueger

Brazilian phenomenon CeU is returning this Spring to the U.S. for a run of dates in Las Cruces, Miami, New York City, Minneapolis, San Francisco and Los Angeles. CeU is truly radiant on stage and her live performances showcase a beautiful blend of Samba, Reggae, Electronica, Afrobeat and Jazz. She captivates her audiences with a laid-back yet mesmerizing disposition, not unlike the wonderfully light nature of her recordings reflected in the title of her album Vagarosa, which translates to “slow, ...

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Performance / Tour

Landon Knoblock's Realistic Band and Austin McMahon's Many Muses Perform at the Brooklyn Lyceum

Landon Knoblock's Realistic Band and Austin McMahon's Many Muses Perform at the Brooklyn Lyceum

Source: Michael Ricci

On Wednesday, June 16th, hear Austin McMahon's Many Muses and Landon Knoblock's Realistic Band at the Brooklyn Lyceum, starting at 8pm. The Brooklyn Lyceum is located at 227 4th Ave in Park Slope, Brooklyn. R Train to Union St. $10 cover. The Landon Knoblock Realistic Band performs music composed entirely on a 1987 Radio Shack Realistic Concertmate 650 Sampling Keyboard. Blurring the lines between jazz, avant-garde, rock, and ambient, the group invents a new sound that ...

147

Performance / Tour

Ceu's Spring Us Tour Includes Performance at Coachella Music & Arts Festival

Ceu's Spring Us Tour Includes Performance at Coachella Music & Arts Festival

Source: Michael Ricci

Brazilian phenomenon Ceu is returning to the US this Spring for the second time since her gorgeous sophomore album Vagarosa was released in July 2009 via Six Degrees Records. The cross-country tour kicks off with two shows in Seattle at the Triple Door on Monday, April 12 and Tuesday, April 13, and includes a performance at Coachella on Friday, April 16, in addition to covering Portland and San Francisco on the West Coast. Ceu and her five-piece band will also ...

174

Performance / Tour

Nicholas Urie Celebrates "Excerpts from an Online Dating Service" on Wed., Nov. 4 at the Brooklyn Lyceum

Nicholas Urie Celebrates "Excerpts from an Online Dating Service" on Wed., Nov. 4 at the Brooklyn Lyceum

Source: Braithwaite & Katz Communications

Join composer Nicholas Urie in concert as he celebrates his highly acclaimed debut CD Excerpts from an Online Dating Service, in concert at 8:00 and 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4 at the Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4th Avenue, Brooklyn. Joining Urie are on winds: Jeremy Udden, Aaron Kriziki, Kenny Pexton, Noah Preminger, and Brian Landrus; on Trumpets: Kevin Bryan, Tba., Dave Smith, John Carlson Bones: Lolly Bienenfeld, Randy Pingrey, Matt Plummer Tuba: Mike Christianson; Christine Correa on voice and rhythm ...

266

Recording

Ceu Sings out to the World Vagarosa

Ceu Sings out to the World Vagarosa

Source: Michael Ricci

On her sophomore project, Vagarosa, the Brazilian singer-songwriter continues to embrace music from far and wide.

If you've set foot in a Starbucks lately, chances are you've caught a few bars of Ceu's music. The Brazilian singer-songwriter's self-titled debut album was picked by the coffee chain to be the first release from an international artist featured in its Hear Music Debut CD series.

Critics showered praise, the disc rose to the top of Billboard's world music chart and Ceu (pronounced ...

263

Performance / Tour

Jessica Lurie New CD Release - Shop of Wild Dreams, December 3 2008, Brooklyn Lyceum

Jessica Lurie New CD Release - Shop of Wild Dreams, December 3 2008, Brooklyn Lyceum

Source: All About Jazz

WHAT: JESSICA LURIE ENSEMBLE - SHOP OF WILD DREAMS CD Release

WHEN: Wednesday December 3, 2008 8 pm

WHERE: Brooklyn Lyceum, Park Slope 227 4th Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11215 (718) 857-4816

COST: $10

WHO: Jessica Lurie - saxophone, flute, songs Todd Sickafoose - bass Allison Miller - drums Art Hirahara - piano Brandon Seabrook - banjo ...

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Performance / Tour

Dave Allen Quartet at Brooklyn Lyceum

Dave Allen Quartet at Brooklyn Lyceum

Source: All About Jazz

Dave Allen Quartet June 29th at Brooklyn Lyceum with: Marc Mommaas - sax Chris Lightcap - bass Henry Cole - drums Dave Allen - Guitar/compositions Brooklyn Lyceum, 227 4th Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11215 Phone: 866-gowanus R to Union Street Corner of President Street “Dave Allen is one of a number of spitfire jazz guitarists raising the bar on that ever- popular instrument. But Allen ...

157

Performance / Tour

Mike Baggetta Quartet at Brooklyn Lyceum

Mike Baggetta Quartet at Brooklyn Lyceum

Source: All About Jazz


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Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

CéU

Six Degrees Records
2007

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CéU

Issue Project Room
2006

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