Brought up in an artistic environment, music has always been present in Mariana Aydar’s life - as a source of expression and personal freedom - a connection of sorts as if there were no words – an almost osmotic link - without rules. “Ever since I was quite small, I’ve always wanted to be close to the stage, or on it. I learned a lot just watching and seeing” she remembers “In my house, the music was quite varied, and we listened to everything. Bobby McFerrin, Frank Zappa, Dominguinhos, Luiz Gonzaga, Elis, Ella , Gal, Beatles, Yo-Yo Ma, Donald Fagen, Branca di Neve, Candeia, Lulu Santos, among many”. She studied the violoncello and music for infants and for teenagers from 10 to 15 years of age at the Brooklin Musical Conservatory in São Paulo. In São Paulo she attended the Waldorf School, known for encouraging artistic activities. There she studied theatre, choral work and general arts. She spent a year at the St. Marcelina College, but decided her time would be better spent and she’d get a more practical education, at the Groove School, in São Paulo. It was at the age of twenty, that she understood that after all her previous education what she really wanted to do was singing. In 2000, she began her professional career as a back vocalist with the guitarist Miltinha Ediberto, whose repertoire was on the whole, the north-eastern musical style, Forró. This lasted three years. During this time she had the opportunity to share the stage with some great names of Popular Brazilian Music such as Dominguinhos and Elba Ramalho. She was also a back vocalist for Daniela Mercury during the Carnival of 2004. At the same time, she was part of the musical group of São Paulo composer Dante Ozzetti. At 24, she found herself at a crossroads; she could continue her work with Caruá and record the first CD of the band or she could really expand out on a more varied musical journey. With her demo CD under her arm, she moved out of Brazil, quite alone, to look for new challenges, new points of view, new horizons. She chose Paris for its cultural effervescence and soon saw she had made the right choice “I met a whole range of musicians and heard music from all around the world: African, Asiatic, French; it was a year of personal maturing and musical learning” To see Brazil with “foreign” eyes was very important for her continuing education.... ( more )
