Homegrown Ensemble Brazilian Voices Celebrates the Natural World Through Song

Twenty-two years ago, a group of women came together, united by homesickness, a love for music, and a mutual desire to develop deeper connections to their community. Designers, lawyers, and teachers — music lovers but not yet professional singers — gathered in weekly meetings around the piano of Brazilian Voices cofounder Beatriz Malnic's Weston home in fellowship and song. From these meetings have emerged seven original CDs, opportunities as artists-in-residence in area hospitals, a performance last year at Carnegie Hall with Brazilian composer Guilherme Arantes, and a celebration of Brazilian culture.

On Friday, October 20, their new show at the Sandrell Rivers Theater in Miami, Amazonas, the Rhythm of Nature, celebrates and brings attention to the natural world and the importance of conserving it, according to the cofounders.

"We started singing this one song called 'Amazon River,' composed by Dori Caymmi, and we fell in love with that," says Malnic. "So, we decided to gather a lot of songs that talk about nature, that talk about forests. What inspired us was nature and the elements of nature, the rhythm of nature; we came from the four elements, air, water, earth, and fire, and without them, the world could not function in the perfect and orderly fashion that it does."

They see this as an opportunity to advocate and celebrate the Amazon rainforest but also to bring the focus locally, finding synchronicity in the Everglades that they hope will resonate on a personal level with Miami audiences.

Cofounder Loren Oliveira, who, like Malnic, was born in Brazil before relocating to South Florida, adds, "We have amazing musicians that will be playing with us, and we put together something that will be very inspiring. We thought, how can we inspire, awaken this connection that all of us interconnected with nature, and we think that music is such a great tool to inspire people to awaken that poetic spirit."

Beyond celebrating nature, they also aim to educate audiences musically by inviting audience members to participate in the music.

"One of the things that Brazilian Voices does that's become our mark is weave through our Brazilian instruments," says Malnic. "We distribute shakers, we invite [the audience] to go up on stage to play triangles, and we show them about rain sticks. That way, they can really feel the rhythms because once you are able to play the instrument, then you can really feel the rhythms and be part of this."

The audience enters the theater into a lobby exhibition of work from Brazilian artist Clara Piquet's paintings of native Amazonian tribes. Once in the hall, they are immersed in the sounds of the rainforest and are invited to participate in a call and response with the performers.

The company hopes this immersive experience resonates with the local community and inspires a deeper connection with nature.

As Oliveira says, "From this little seed that we're planting, many ideas and movements will be able to blossom from there. This is our contribution, a small contribution to our community that we have so much appreciation for, South Florida; it's like our family."

– Rebekah Lanae Lengel, ArtburstMiami.com

Brazilian Voices Amazonas, the Rhythm of Nature. 7:30 p.m. Friday, October 20, at the Sandrell Rivers Theater, 6103 NW Seventh Ave., Miami; 305-284-8872; sandrellriverstheater.com. Tickets cost $8 to $28.