Fernanda Porto

Fernanda Porto’s self-titled debut arrived in 2002, fusing electronica—chiefly drum’n’bass—with longstanding Brazilian idioms such as bossa nova, maracatu, and samba. Careful attention to the words, including her adaptations of poetry, lent an extra layer of refinement to this distinctive take on drum’n’bass. Critics responded with broad acclaim, and domestic sales proved robust enough for Trama to issue the recording abroad roughly twelve months afterward; Porto followed with live dates across Europe, the United States, and Japan.

Although the album surfaced after she had passed thirty, Porto’s abilities had not appeared overnight. During her twenties she pursued formal studies in music at the University of São Paulo, concentrating on piano, then spent the nineties writing material and appearing on stages throughout São Paulo and the rest of Brazil; she also supplied scores for several films.

Her follow-up, Giramundo, reached stores in December 2004 and reaffirmed her standing among Brazil’s leading pop innovators. The set favored acoustic textures over synthesized ones—Porto herself termed the approach “acoustic drum’n’bass”—while admitting traces of rock. Bassist Doug Wimbish and drummer Will Calhoun, both of Living Colour, contributed, yet the most conspicuous collaborator was Chico Buarque, who supplied vocals for his own “Roda Viva,” recast by Porto as an urgent drum’n’bass piece. That rendition, together with two additional Buarque interpretations, later surfaced on her soundtrack for Toni Venturi’s Cabra Cega.