Mayra Andrade

Mayra Andrade can be booked through this site. Mayra Andrade entertainment booking site. Mayra Andrade is available for public concerts and events. Mayra Andrade can be booked for private events and Mayra Andrade can be booked for corporate events and meetings through this Mayra Andrade booking page.

Unlike most middle agents that would mark up the performance or appearance fee for Mayra Andrade, we act as YOUR agent in securing Mayra Andrade at the best possible price. We go over the rider for Mayra Andrade and work directly with Mayra Andrade or the responsible agent for Mayra Andrade to secure the talent for your event. We become YOUR agent, representing YOU, the buyer.

In fact, in most cases we can negotiate for the acquisition of Mayra Andrade for international dates and newer promoters providing you meet professional requirements.

Mayra Andrade Biography

One evening in January 2004, spurred on by a sort of rumour that had started a short time ago, I called in at the Satellit Café, a live music nightclub in Paris’ Oberkampf district, terrific at launching young ‘world music’ hopefuls. And there, a shock. The kind of discovery that doesn’t even happen once a year: Mayra Andrade, redefining her country, Cape Verde’s musical contours with grace, self-assurance and, rare for a girl not even 20 years old, with a great sense of measure. Admittedly, it is thanks to Cesaria Evora that we all know where this archipelago is (500km off the coast of Senegal) and have discovered little by little that this parched land sings in many parts, abundant with rhythms, Morna, Coladera, Funana, Batuque, and that it is rich with authors and performers who have rarely remained in their country, but have rather settled far from home, sometimes in exile.

Mayra is not an exile. She has been living in Paris since 2003 and her parents gave her a taste for being constantly on the move: born in Cuba, she grew up between Senegal, Angola, Germany and… Cape Verde too. The first nursery rhymes of her childhood years were Brazilian. But it was with a song from her own country, in Cape Verdean Creole, that she won the Gold Medal in the Francophonie Games held in Canada, competing against 35 other contestants. She was 16. Mayra Andrade went from concert to concert, in Praia and Mindelo (Cape Verde) then in Lisbon. In France from 2002, she went from Paris’ small venues to the major summer festivals. She was also the supporting act for Cesaria Evora at the New Morning. In Brazil she represented her country once again on a single released in support of the fight against AIDS, with Lenine and Chico Buarque amongst others. In 2005 Charles Aznavour invited her to sing on his new album in a duet in French. Wherever she went, she captivated.

The rumour ballooned, and yet still no record. The situation became critical. Mayra, who has character, didn’t give in to the pressure and, rather than succumb to the lure of unreliable productions, preferred to wait for a more solid proposal. It finally came her way in 2005. So here is “Navega”, “upon the waves”. A treat of an album, a far cry from huge productions. On the contrary, it goes for simplicity and is almost completely acoustic. An album in which she fiercely asserts her freedom. Admittedly 93% of the album draws from the archipelago’s national tongue, but this is a record by an urban Cape Verdean who, what’s more, is Parisian.

Hence she dug into this abundant Parisian breeding ground, alongside two of its figureheads (the Cameroonian bass player Etienne Mbappé and her stage cohort, the Brazilian percussionist Zé Luis Nascimento), and took with her a remarkable compatriot guitarist, Kim Alves. Some selective high-flying guests : the Brazilian virtuoso Hamilton de Holanda (bandolim, the local mandolin), the Malagasy imp Régis Gizavo (accordion), the cellist Vincent Segal (one half of Bumcello), her stage accomplices, Brazilian guitarists Tarcisio Gondim and Nelson Ferreira. As a bonus, a song in French, the only one, written by the unexpected Téte Comme s'il en pleuvait , in a playful rendition. An album subtly produced by an expert of the genre, Jacques Ehrhart (Henri Salvador, Camille, …).

These jazz, Afro and Brazilian ingredients lend other tones to music that in part comes from the archipelago (four are written by the colossal songwriter Orlando Pantera, recently departed, while others come from the country’s young talent). Three other tracks emanate from the nimble pen of Mayra Andrade herself (one in collaboration with Patrice Larose). So when going through this record, glean the translations of the lyrics in these liner notes. The dramatic rubs shoulders with the mischievous, exile in which you lose your head comes up against democracy losing its mind, ageless characters cross paths with figures from another age.

With “Navega”, in a voice made to overwhelm souls and sway hearts, standing at the helm Mayra rules her world and surfs…(upon the waves) to conquer the seas and lands.