Zeurítia at Reduta Jazz Club

The idea to pursue bossa nova occurred to me for the first time while I was listening to records by Joao Gilberto and Tom Jobim. I was fascinated by the rhythms, language and lightness of melodies that seemed so familiar. I attempted to learn the Brazilian lyrics by ear and, with my husband, who was at that time still „just“ my classmate, we began to play bossa nova as a duo. We began to really care about the authentic sound, by which I mean the lyrics in Brazilian Portuguese and correct rhythms and chord progressions.

We wanted our music to be growing from its Brazilian roots, but also to be informed by modern trends in jazz and other genres. So we went deeper: we dissected old recordings, contemplated new arrangements and began to listen to recordings by Eliane Elias, Oscar Castro-Neves, Ellis Regina and Maria Rita. Thanks to an offer to perform with a rhythm section, our duo gradually became a quartet. Libor wrote arrangements for the tunes that we played and our band was born....

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The idea to pursue bossa nova occurred to me for the first time while I was listening to records by Joao Gilberto and Tom Jobim. I was fascinated by the rhythms, language and lightness of melodies that seemed so familiar. I attempted to learn the Brazilian lyrics by ear and, with my husband, who was at that time still „just“ my classmate, we began to play bossa nova as a duo. We began to really care about the authentic sound, by which I mean the lyrics in Brazilian Portuguese and correct rhythms and chord progressions.

We wanted our music to be growing from its Brazilian roots, but also to be informed by modern trends in jazz and other genres. So we went deeper: we dissected old recordings, contemplated new arrangements and began to listen to recordings by Eliane Elias, Oscar Castro-Neves, Ellis Regina and Maria Rita. Thanks to an offer to perform with a rhythm section, our duo gradually became a quartet. Libor wrote arrangements for the tunes that we played and our band was born.

At festivals or on a larger stage, the band swells up to a septet, with percussion, ukulele and piano or Fender piano added to the regular line-up. Although the band has been around a short time, we’ve already had successful performances at festivals such as Prague Jazz Week, Jazz Goes to Town, Jazz on the Street, and Žižkov Meets Jazz. In addition to festival performances. Despite of my prevalent singing in Brazilian Portuguese, a language very few people in Czech Republic speak or understand, our jazz club audiences are largely Czech. As Richard Bona puts it: „Music is a language that’s understood by everybody.“

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