1. A Brazilian MPB singer and s… Read Full Bio ↴There are two artists who use this name:
1. A Brazilian MPB singer and songwriter
2. A Grammy-nominated American jazz singer
1. Maysa Figueira Monjardim Matarazzo (June 6, 1936, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – January 22, 1977, Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), better known as Maysa Matarazzo or simply Maysa, was a Brazilian singer, songwriter and actress, being one of the first female songwriters of Brazil and one of the precursors of the genre samba-canção. She had great success in the 1950s and 1960s, known especially for her pessimistic, hopeless, melancholic and dramatic lyrics and interpretations, very characteristic of her image and career. She is also associated with bossa nova music, but is widely known as a torch song (música de fossa) interpreter.
Maysa's grandfather was Alfeu Adolfo Monjardim de Andrade e Almeida, the 1st Baron of Monjardim, and wife Laurinda Luísa Pinto Pereira. Maysa showed talent at a young age and by twelve had written a samba song, which later became a hit from her first album. She married André Matarazzo Filho, a member of a wealthy and traditional São Paulo family in 1954 at the age of 18 and two years later had a son, Jayme Monjardim. Jayme would later be known as a television director. In the late 1950s she formed a successful bossa nova group and also did television work relying on her magnificent pair of gorgeous green eyes.
Her tour to Buenos Aires first projected bossa nova beyond Brazil's borders but was not without controversy. The tour was a great success and extended to Chile and Uruguay, but Maysa had an affair with the show's producer, Ronaldo Bôscoli, a journalist and composer linked romantically to bossa nova's muse Nara Leão. This led not only to a break between Nara and Ronaldo, but also to a fracture in the bossa nova movement. Nara supported Carlos Lyra's nationalist vertent of the bossa nova movement, to the detriment of Boscoli's more orthodox approach, emphasizing form rather than content in bossa nova compositions. Nara also began courting older composers of traditional sambas, such as morro composers Zé Kéti and Cartola. She also became an idol of the protest song genre against the military dictatorship in Brazil. Nara's pocket show "Opinião" marked the start of a series of protest musical shows, which both in Rio and São Paulo distracted the public from the main themes of "the love, the smile and the flower", typical of the bossa nova years. So Maysa became "persona non grata" both to the bossa-novistas and the protest singers and her career faltered. She reacted by marrying Spaniard music producer Miguel Anzana, with whom she moved to Spain and began a series of presentations not only in Spain, but also Portugal, Italy and France.
Her personal life, already tumultuous, became even more chaotic leading to her being called "the Janis Joplin of Bossa Nova". But she later made a come back with one of the first notable shows in Rio's "Canecão" venue, the equivalent of Carnegie Hall in NYC. Maysa also played the Olympia in Paris to a full house twice and enjoyed considerable success in Europe. She is still considered the best Brazilian "torch song" (fossa) musician, rivaled only perhaps by Nora Ney as interpreter and Dolores Duran as composer. Upon her return to Brazil, Maysa continued to blend her old unique "broken love affair" trademarks with the more current festival style and occasional bossa nova hits. In the 1970s Maysa tapped her actress side and acted on a few telenovelas in Brazil. She also composed the soundtrack for a Rede Globo telenova just as the TV network became the powerhouse of Brazilian soap operas. She appeared more in peace with herself in latter years but died in a car crash in 1977, on the Rio-Niterói bridge, which connects the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Niterói over the Guanabara Bay.
In January 2009, 32 years after her death, a miniseries about her life was broadcast on Brazilian television and spanned two new books about one of Brazil's most charismatic divas. Maysa's style influenced the following generations of Brazilian female singers and composers, with great ascendancy in the works of Angela Ro Ro, Simone, Cazuza, Leila Pinheiro and Fafá de Belém.
2. Maysa Leak (born August 17, 1966) is an American jazz singer better known by her mononym Maysa. She is well known by fans of smooth jazz both for her solo work and for her work with the British band Incognito.
After receiving her degree from Morgan State University, Maysa headed to Southern California to perform with Stevie Wonder’s female backup group Wonderlove, While with Wonder, Maysa was a vocalist on the Jungle Fever soundtrack and performed on numerous television shows including The Arsenio Hall Show, Oprah and The Tonight Show.
It was during an over-the-telephone audition in the early 90s, that Maysa become a member of the acclaimed British jazz/funk/R&B band Incognito and in 1992 she relocated to London and recorded Tribes, Vibes & Scribes, featuring the hit single "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing." Since then, Maysa has appeared on over seven Incognito recordings.
Maysa recorded her self-titled debut in 1995, followed by her second album All My Life in 2000, Out of The Blue in 2002, Smooth Sailing in 2004, Sweet Classic Soul in 2006, and now Feel The Fire, 2007. In 2008, Metamorphosis peaked at No.1 on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz top 100 chart and no.13 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. In 2010, "A Woman in Love", Maysa 8th Solo cd debuted at No.1 on the Contemporary Jazz Charts. Maysa's 9th solo album,Motions of Love, released in November 2011, debuted at No. 1 on Billboards Contemporary Jazz Charts and Number 7 on the R&B charts.
Maysa has also collaborated with well-known jazz performers like Gerald Veasley, Rick Braun, Will Downing, Jason Miles' Soul Summit, Rhythm Logic, Jonathan Butler and Pieces of a Dream.
In 2009, Maysa won the very first new Soul Train Award named for the brand's new owners, CENTRIC. The Cenric Award : Soul Approved /Underground.
Maysa Leak was a spokesperson for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a disease that can be fatal to premature babies. She appears in RSV PSA commercials, with her son Jazz, sponsored for the March of Dimes.
In 2013, Maysa received her first Grammy nomination in the "Best Traditional R&B Performance" award category for the song "Quiet Fire" from her album Blue Velvet Soul.
Willow Weep for Me
Maysa Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Willow weep for me
Bend your branches down along the stream
That runs to the sea
Listen to my plea
Listen willow and weep for me
Gone are lovers dreams
Gone and left me here
To weep my tears into the stream
Sad as I can be
Hear me willow and weep for me
Oh whisper to the wind
And say they love has sinned
To leave my heart a breaking
And a making a moan
Murmur to the night
And hide her starry light
So none will find me sighing
And a crying all alone
Weeping willow tree
Weeping sympathy
Bend your branches down along the ground
And cover me
Will the shadows fall?
Bend the willow and weep for me
Whisper to the wind
And say they love has sinned
To leave my heart a breaking
And a making a moan
Murmur into the night
To hide her starry light
So none will find me sighing
And a crying all alone
Weeping willow tree
Weeping sympathy
Bend your branches down along the ground
And cover me
Will the shadows fall?
Bend the willow and weep for me
Willow weep for me
Willow weep for me
Willow weep for me
Willow weep for me
Willow weep for me
Willow weep for me
The song "Willow Weep for Me" speaks about heartbreak and loss, and the comfort that can be found in nature. The opening lines are a plea to a willow tree, asking it to bend its branches and weep for the singer's pain. The willow tree symbolizes the depth of the singer's sadness, as it is known for hovering low over water, much like tears. The lyrics then go on to express the emptiness that the singer is feeling, with the loss of lovers' dreams and the loneliness that follows.
The second verse describes the singer's desire for her lover to feel remorse for leaving her alone to deal with the hurt. She asks the willow tree to whisper to the wind, which could carry the message of her pain to her ex-lover. The night is asked to murmur and hide its stars, as the singer does not want anyone to see her crying.
The final verse again calls upon the willow tree for comfort, asking it to cover the singer in shadow as she weeps. The repetition of the song's title throughout the lyrics emphasizes the singer's desire to be heard and comforted, as well as the depths of her despair.
Line by Line Meaning
Willow weep for me
Maysa is asking the willow tree to cry for her and empathize with her pain.
Bend your branches down along the stream
Maysa wants the willow tree to bow down and lean towards the water as it flows towards the sea.
That runs to the sea
Maysa is referring to the stream flowing towards the sea, as a metaphor for her own life and the inevitable journey towards her destiny.
Listen to my plea
Maysa is requesting the willow tree to hear her desperate cry for comfort and solace.
Gone are lovers dreams
Maysa has lost her dreams of love and is experiencing a sense of defeat.
Lovely summer dreams
Maysa refers to the wonderful memories of summer, where love was present and flourished.
Gone and left me here
Maysa's loved ones have left her alone to face her sorrows on her own.
To weep my tears into the stream
Maysa is crying her heart out and her tears are mixing with the flow of the stream.
Sad as I can be
Maysa is in a state of deep sadness and despair.
Oh whisper to the wind
Maysa is asking the willow tree to communicate a message through the wind.
And say they love has sinned
Maysa believes that her lover has done wrong by leaving her and allowing her heart to break.
To leave my heart a breaking
Maysa's heart is shattered and wounded because of her lover's actions.
And a making a moan
Maysa's suffering is causing her to make sounds of grief and pain.
Murmur to the night
Maysa wants the willow tree to speak softly to the night sky.
And hide her starry light
Maysa wants the night sky to hide its stars, as they remind her of her loneliness and despair.
So none will find me sighing
Maysa does not want anyone to know about her sadness and heartbreak.
And a crying all alone
Maysa is weeping in solitude and feels abandoned by the world.
Weeping willow tree
Maysa is addressing the willow tree, as it symbolizes a source of comfort and empathy in her time of need.
Weeping sympathy
Maysa sees the willow tree as an embodiment of compassion and sympathy.
Bend your branches down along the ground
Maysa wants the willow tree to bow down and provide her with shelter from the world's harshness.
And cover me
Maysa wants to be concealed under the willow tree's branches so that she can grieve in privacy.
Will the shadows fall?
Maysa is asking if darkness will surround her, symbolizing both the physical shadows which the willow tree provides, and the emotional darkness of her sorrow.
Willow weep for me
Maysa repeats her plea to the willow tree to empathize with her and cry for her pain.
Contributed by Julian S. Suggest a correction in the comments below.