SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Mari Froes started playing music at an early age.
MARI FROES: I had a YouTube channel when I was a kid, and I used to do a lot of covers of songs for fun. I think I started when I was like, 8 years old or...
SIMON: (Laughter) Oh, my word.
FROES: Yeah. I started very young.
SIMON: She was growing up in Brazil and uploading covers of Amy Winehouse and Beyonce.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
FROES: (Singing) Got me looking so crazy right now. Your love's got me looking so crazy right now.
SIMON: But eventually, she settled into playing Brazilian music and writing her own songs.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOGUEIRA")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
And then things started getting out of hand, and now I'm here (laughter).
SIMON: Touring North America with a debut album, "Esquina Do Sol," and joining us now in our studios. Thanks so much for being with us.
FROES: Of course. Thank you for having me.
SIMON: Let me ask you about the first song on this album, "Dezenove Veroes." It's about someone who's been away from home for 19 summers, on the road.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEZENOVE VEROES")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
SIMON: The lyric says she knows everything and knows nothing. She made the world her home. Is this song about missing home or the freedom of leaving home?
FROES: I really think it's about both things at once. This is a song I wrote in a very special moment in my life when I went to Europe for the first time to tour. And - yeah - I was 19 back then. And so I was feeling all of this - these different emotions being far from home, away from my family, but at the same time, living such an incredible moment for me.
SIMON: So both homesick and excited.
FROES: Exactly.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DEZENOVE VEROES")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
SIMON: There's a word that pops up in your lyrics - saudade. Help us understand what it means.
FROES: So saudade is a word in Portuguese - actually, one of my favorite words in Portuguese. And it means a very specific kind of longing for something.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "GAROA")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
It's filled with nostalgia, you know? It's a longing, but in a more melancholic, nostalgic way.
SIMON: You had a hit song last year - "Vaitimbora" - became a hit far beyond Brazil.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VAITIMBORA")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
SIMON: And what's this song about?
FROES: This song talks a lot about Brazilian folklore and Brazilian folkloric elements, such as animals that protect the forest. We hear these stories a lot as kids in Brazil, that we have these beings - spiritual beings - that protect our forests and our land. So this song talks a lot about this. Actually, vaitimbora means go away. So it's basically the animals telling the people to go away that are trying to do bad things to the forest.
SIMON: You mean leave us alone, is what you're saying?
FROES: Exactly. Something like that. Like, leave us alone. It's basically talking about protecting nature.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "VAITIMBORA")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
SIMON: Some of your songs include Yoruba. That's a West African language that was brought to Brazil by enslaved people.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DONA DO MAR")
FROES: (Singing in non-English language).
SIMON: What leads you to include Yoruba?
FROES: I was talking, in this song, about Yemoja, which is a sea goddess in Brazil. She is from a religion called Candomble or Umbanda. Both religions have this figure, the sea goddess, and these religions were brought to Brazil by enslaved Africans. And so Brazil has a lot of things put into their culture from Africa. And since she's a figure from this religion, she sings in Yoruba.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DONA DO MAR")
FROES: (Singing in non-English language).
SIMON: You've been touring Europe, and now you're touring North America. Is there something you hope that people who hear you will take away about Brazilian music, Brazilian life?
FROES: I think that what I try the most to bring to people is emotion. This is the thing that I think is kind of lacking nowadays a bit, and I try to bring that as much as possible. So I want people to feel something, you know?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RIO LUA")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
I try to make my things as authentic as possible, and I want people to have this feeling of being welcome and feeling free, as well. I think my songs talk a lot about this feeling. And I think that's the most important thing. Also, specifically from Brazil, I think that we have a very unique way of seeing life, and we're very intense and very loving. So I think my songs also have a lot of that in them.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RIO LUA")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese).
SIMON: Mari Froes - her debut album is called "Esquina Do Sol," and it's out now. Thanks so much for being with us.
FROES: Thank you so much. It was a pleasure.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RIO LUA")
FROES: (Singing in Portuguese). Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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