Carmina Juarez

Due to her tuned and crystalline voice, Carmina was called “nightingale” (Correio Popular, Campinas SP, November 6) when, in 1993, she presented her first CD – Arrasta a sandália. Since then, she keeps blending the many factors that made her a distinguished singer. Born in São Paulo within a family of musicians, very young she was in touch with diversified musical styles. At the age of 12, she started singing in a choir – Coral da Universidade de São Paulo – the same choir where she presently works as a voice teacher. From this experience comes her taste for ancient music and consequent participation in a group that has just recorded Canções Seculares, a CD containing pieces of the Renaissance repertory, in Latin language. Influential on Carmina´s development were the studies guided by Brazilian, American and Italian teachers, as well as the courses that granted her a Bachelor’s degree. Greatly important is also her association with the talented and competent performers who have been by her, both recording and acting in shows. The most remarkable factor is, however, the deep research she has been developing on traditional Brazilian popular music, a fact clearly revealed in the CDs Arrasta a sandália and Tenho saudade. In Caruana, her most recent work, contemporary trends of popular music, Brazilian or not, appear together with traditional songs of Brazil.