Well into the second half of her 100-minute performance, Brazilian jazz pianist and vocalist Eliane Elias presented the famous song ‘Desafinado’, composed by the legendary Antonio Carlos Jobim. The audience was familiar with the tune, and the pulsating bass solo and riveting drums added to their joy. The encore, comprising Jobim’s huge hits ‘The girl from Ipanema’ and ‘So dance samba’, had them singing along.
Elias had, of course, reserved the familiar pieces for the end. Most of her show at Mumbai’s Tata Theatre recently consisted of tunes from her own catalogue, written in Portuguese by composers popular in Brazil. There were bossa nova composer Carlos Lyra’s ‘Voce e Eu’, Dorival Caymmi’s ‘Saudade da Bahia’ and Ary Barroso’s ‘Aquarela do Brasil’.
There were film tunes such as ‘To Each His Dulcinea’ from The Man Of La Mancha , which opened the show, and ‘A Felicidade’ from Black Orpheus , written by Jobim. Looking graceful on the Steinway Grand Piano, Elias kept the crowd engaged with her deft playing, giving information about the compositions to help listeners appreciate them better. There were some hiccups too, as her voice seemed low in the mix in the first few numbers.
Leandro Pelegrino’s guitar wasn’t heard consistently, and he didn’t get a solo too. There was also an early, unplanned break when Elias was unhappy with presence of a videographer. Eliane Elias was on her first visit to India recently.
Once she settled down, .
