Tania Maria Correa Reis (born May 9, 1948 in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil), p… Read Full Bio ↴Tania Maria Correa Reis (born May 9, 1948 in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil), professionaly known as Tania Maria, is a Brazilian jazz and MPB singer, pianist, composer and bandleader, singing mostly in Portuguese or English. Her style combines an original fusion of jazz, funk and pop with Brazilian genres such as samba, bossa nova and Afro-Latin influences.

Tania began playing the piano at the age of seven and became a bandleader at the age of thirteen, when her band of professional musicians, organized by her father, won first prize in a local music contest and went on to play for dances, in clubs and on the radio. Her father, a metal worker and a gifted guitarist and singer, had encouraged her to study piano so that she could play in his weekend jam sessions, where she first absorbed the rhythms and melodies of samba, jazz, pop music and Brazilian chorinho. Since then, she has never worked in anyone else's group. She has a degree in law, married early and had children.

Maria's first album, Apresentamos (We Present), was released in Brazil in 1966, followed by Olha Quem Chega (Look Who's Here!) in 1971, but it was a move to Paris, France, in 1974 that exploded her onto the international scene. At a concert in Australia, her formidable musical precision and freewheeling spirit caught the attention of the late American guitarist, Charlie Byrd, who recommended her to the late Carl Jefferson, founder of Concord Records.

Tania's 1983 album Come With Me started her international breakthrough with the title song becoming a 1980's dance-floor classic that has since been covered frequently. The 1985 album Made in New York increased her popularity worldwide.

Maria has played virtually every important jazz festival in the world and has appeared on countless television and radio programmes. She has recorded more than 25 albums and in 1985 was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category "Best Jazz Vocal Performance, Female". She has performed at venues such as the Blue Note and festivals including the Monterey Jazz Festival in 1981, 1983 and 1989, Saratoga Jazz Festival, JVC Jazz Fest 1991, Montreux Jazz Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, Newport Jazz Festival in 1975, Puerto Rico Heineken Jazzfest 2001, Malta Jazz Festival 2003 at Maltese Islands, Novosadski Jazz Festival 2004, Belgium's Jazz Middelheim 2007. She performed at the annual North Sea Jazz Festival in The Hague in 1978 and has returned there at least 10 times. She has played with such as Steve Gadd, Anthony Jackson, Sammy Figueroa and Eddie Gómez.

Chorinho Brasileiro
Tania Maria Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

O que й qu'eu faзo desse amor
Que me maltrata
Me aluscina
E me mata devagar

O que й qu'eu faзo da saudade
Dos momentos
Onde a gente so queria

Se amar

Desse chorinho brasileiro, eiro, eiro, eiro
Frabricado no estrangeiro, eiro, eiro, eiro
Apoiado no pandeiro, eiro, eiro, eiro
Que me faz tanto chorar

Meu Bem
Volte por favor
Vocк sabe qu'eu estou
Sofrendo, escondendo a dor
De mais uma ilusaх
Se a falta foi minha ou sua
Ai naх estб a questaх

Me liga, estou esperando
No amor ninguem tem razaх

Overall Meaning

The lyrics of Tania Maria's song Chorinho Brasileiro reflect the struggle of a person caught in a love that they cannot do without, even though it pains them. The first stanza talks about someone who is tormented by love, which drives them crazy and slowly kills them. It is a self-destructive love that they cannot seem to shake off. The second stanza reflects the pain of missing someone they used to love. They reminisce about the moments they shared with this person when all they wanted was to love each other. This stanza shows that the person has moved on but cannot help but feel the pain of the memories.

The chorus of the song talks about a Brazilian choro, or a traditional Brazilian music style, and how it makes the person cry. The choro mentioned is manufactured or created outside of Brazil and is reliant on the pandeiro or Brazilian tambourine, a traditional instrument used in choro music. The person is expressing how this music style, which is supposed to bring joy, happiness, and memories of home, instead makes them cry, reflecting their internal pain.

Overall, the song depicts the agony that comes with an intense and complex form of love which one cannot easily let go of. It shows the emotional pain that results when one is trapped by love, and how sometimes even things that should bring joy can instead trigger deep sorrow.

Line by Line Meaning

O que й qu'eu faзo desse amor
What do I do with this love that mistreats, dazzles, and slowly kills me?

Que me maltrata
That mistreats me

Me aluscina
That dazzles me

E me mata devagar
And slowly kills me

O que й qu'eu faзo da saudade
What do I do with this longing

Dos momentos
Of the moments

Onde a gente so queria
Where we only wanted

Se amar
To love each other

Desse chorinho brasileiro, eiro, eiro, eiro
Of this Brazilian Chorinho, eiro, eiro, eiro

Frabricado no estrangeiro, eiro, eiro, eiro
Made in a foreign land, eiro, eiro, eiro

Apoiado no pandeiro, eiro, eiro, eiro
Supported by the pandeiro, eiro, eiro, eiro