Ana Rita Simonka

Ana Rita Simonka

Songs

Inspired in Sons of Gandhi, famous Afro-Bahia religious carnival team
  • 1 Mais Filhos de Gandhi
  • 2 Dançarei
  • 3 Morena Bengali
  • 4 Govinda Gopala
  • 5 Viagem de Vida e Morte
  • 6 Cascavél
  • 7 Gavião
  • 8 Shiva Nataraja
These are just preview samples. You need a valid account and be logged in to hear the full tracks.
  • country:Brazil
  • region:Minas Gerais
  • style(s):MPB, New Age
  • label:not signed
  • type:Band, Solo, Composer/Songwriter
  • gender:female
  • instrumentation:instrumental, vocal, singer songwriter
  • artist posted by:TV Apaguismo - Brazilian Contemporary Music

Links

Ana Rita Simonka
Contemporary MPB/Brasil

Very few artists are inspired to the point of creating a new musical genre. Ana Rita Simonka is that kind of artist. She goes far beyond writing and interpreting great songs with pleasing arrangements: she has devised a new style in Brazilian music/MPB, influenced by the spiritual music of all people, bringing ancient values into a contemporary language.

Defining herself as an alchemist, hearing her for the first time leaves you with the lasting impression made by her surprising Brazilian voice adorning a meditation mood, punctuated by incredible solo performances. Proficient in many instruments, Ana Rita Simonka plays Acoustic Guitar, Viola Mineira, Indian Tampura, Keyboard, Percussion, Synths and Loops, and, like an artisan, she attends to all levels that compose her art, giving it strenght, fluidity, coherence, purpose and brilliancy.

Working alone in a pioneering adventure and producing outstanding quality music without being tied up to any kind of sponsorship, she enjoys the spontaneity of being absolutely free, stating that: “My music has been created through deep and accurate research into musical language in order to recreate Brazilian popular music, fusing ancient music from all places and ages... from native songs, mantras, kirtan, ragas, sufi music, baul poetry, gregorian chant, shamanic hymns, all sorts of ancestral music where I felt I could find and rescue the pure energy that connects us as people... to inspire my lyrics, to open hearts and minds... I still believe in revolutions and urge us to revisit the meaning of life...”

Complete Ethno Fusion masterpieces, her songs are rooted in Brazilian traditions such as the Clube da Esquina and Congado from the state of Minas Gerais, where her mother was born, the pervasive Afro-Brazilian rhythms and rituals and the sacred hymns of the Ayhuasca religion. Inspired by the New Age movement, Ana Rita Simonka captures Indian Ragas and Arabic Maqams from Eastern cultures to compose melodies and vocals, finding a match for those in the Iberic influence played from Portugual and Spain in Brazilian music; and reproducing the ecstatic atmosphere from rhythms brought by Muslim slaves to Brazil.

Her music repertoire is eclectic touching into a multiplicity of genres: Cirandas, Toadas, Modas, Emboladas, Xotes, Maracatus, Sambas, Tambor Mineiro, all lovingly absorbed to create new, evolving pieces. In the particular case of the Bossa-Nova, she makes a point in saying that it works as the base to gather all these tunes and, through its jazzy influence, remains open to improvisation.

She relates: “Do you think this is a Carnival? Of course it is! My arrangements mix sonorities you have never heard before, such as Cavaquinho with Persian Santur, Viola Mineira and Indian Sitar, Andean Flutes with Tampuras, Tablas, Snujs and Derbaques, proposing new rhythms side by side with Latin and Afro-Brazilian lines - such as Atabaques, Congas, Tamborines, etc… Every song is an invitation to open your heart and try, for the first time, something absolutely new: what do you think about listening to the Tibetan Bowls mingling with my Bossa-Nova Guitar? Bombo-Lenguero from Argentina interacting with Turkish Ney? Indian Sitar contrasting with Berimbau and Pandeiro?”

With a Masters Degree in Arts from São Paulo University, Ana Rita Simonka grew up surrounded by music and dance: her father, “Velho Pietro”, is a renowned traditional dancer who inspired and encouraged her to study music with great Brazilian names, such as Maestro Benedito Costa, Papete, Trio Mocotó, Muri Costa and Carioca, among others. She also started Yoga and Arabic dance while very young, and became deeply involved with meditation. For the last 20 years she has been lecturing in the most important yoga teaching training courses in Brazil, using both original and adapted techniques from Mantra-Yoga, Bhakti-Yoga and Sufism. Singing and promoting lectures and workshops, she has been invited to perform in significant Culture of Peace, Holistic and Health Program events, at Retreats and Seminars in Brazil, and her soundtracks have been performed in TV Shows, Series and even Soap Operas.

Her first album “Bossa Nova Delhi” was worldwide acclaimed by the special “Gardens of Eden – Putumayo” and since then she has been travelling and studying in the East, Middle-East, Europe and USA to improve her music and meditation skills, leading to the publication of the albums “Mantra 1” and “Mantra 2”.

Currently she is involved in the first steps of the creation of “TV Apaguismo”, an independent WebTV, as a unique vehicle where you can watch her new albums and vídeos, such as “OM Line” (which took ten years to complete), “Samba Sadashiva” (music, vídeo-clips and workshops with Contemporary Kirtan/Bossa Nova Fusion), “Labirinto” (Voice and Guitar) and “Pelos Poderes de Jaja”, a single that brings together Brazil and Uganda through their musical strenght. (making-of and vídeo clip).