Maria João and Banadú bring the Festival Canarias Jazz&Más Heineken to La Graciosa for the first time

•  The free-entrance concert will take place this Friday 7 July in Caleta de Sebo, starting at 21:00 hours
•  The night’s entertainment also includes a musical selection by DJ mr. Kangrejo

The Festival Canarias Jazz & Más Heineken kicks off this Friday 7 July with eleven nights of concerts featuring some of the best musicians of today. Perhaps the most special of these will be in La Graciosa, where for the very first time Portuguese vocalist Maria João and the group from Gran Canaria Banadú will take the stage. In addition, there will be sessions of music selected & played by DJ mr. Kangrejo prior to and between acts of the group’s performances. Tenerife, Gran Canaria and La Palma are the other island venues for the initial concerts to be held simultaneously at this 26th edition. A total of some 46 concerts featuring 26 musical ensembles distributed on six islands, with a first-time experience for La Graciosa; figures that summarise the activity which will fill theatres, auditoriums, and public parks & squares with musical entertainment from 7 to 23 July.

Maria João Monteiro Grancha was born in Lisbon (Portugal) on 27 June 1956. Her mother was from Mozambique and she inherited her rebellious spirit and restlessness from an early age. She learnt to sing listening to the great jazz divas, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holliday & Elis Regina, and she loved the music of Betty Carter, Al Jarreau and other great vocalists of the genre.

Her first group was “Maria João & Friends”, but her debut disc wasn’t released till the year 1983, titled Maria João Quinteto. A lot of standard American jazz numbers feature in her repertoire, including the famous Blue Moon, made popular by Billie Holiday.

Working together with Japanese pianist Aki Takase, she managed to change many concepts in the field of free-jazz, and it marked a turning point in her style and repertoire. Her collaboration with renowned Portuguese musicians like José Peixoto, Carlos Bica, José Salgueiro & Mário Laginha led to the release of her disc titled SOL (1991), in which traditional Portuguese music is mixed with jazz, producing an original sound with an excellent end result.

The album Danzas, released in 1994 on the prestigious “Verve” label, marked the beginning of a new stage forming a new duet, which lasts to the current moment, with Mário Laginha.

​Maria João has collaborated and toured with a number of artists of world renown, such as Gilberto Gil, Christofer Lauer, Bob Stenso and of course, Mário Laginha.  In the year 2001 she began working with a group led by Joe Zawinul, ex-keyboard player of the mythical Weather Report, with whom she performed live for over a year, at various European jazz festivals; also participating in projects with Susana Bacca & Paulo Flores.

​In 2009, Maria João started a new band, Ogre, with young musicians João Farinha (piano & keyboard), Júlio Resende (piano), Joel Silva (drums) & André Nascimento (electronics). Once more, the singer goes to a new place, exploring musical territories totally unchartered for her; and she continues going on tour with this group, changing its formation as and when required.

Banadú is a band of future soul, with sounds that oscillate between similar genres, like jazz, hip hop, soul & funk. The group was formed in 2015 on the basis of a personal notion by bassist Ruyman Franco, a former member of the band ‘The FEOS’. Here he assumes the role of composer, gathering together a group of well-known & experienced musicians, such as José Llobet (drums), Manolo López (keyboard), Rayco Gil (percussion) and vocalist Miriam Fleitas.

In June 2016 they recorded their debut disc, titled Deerjaguar, at the ‘Estudio Uno’ in Madrid, with the services of sound engineer Pablo Pulido. It was released by ‘Little Red Corvette Records’, a recording label in Barcelona that specialises in black music, featuring groups such as Izah, Miriam La Trece, Paula Grande, Big Menú & Michael Olivera.

The disc, an EP made up of five tracks, is a fair reflection of Banadú’s live performances, of which there have been many, all round the Canary Islands. Since their formation, they have participated at festivals such as FEX2015, Monopol Music Festival, networks like Sofar Sounds, as well as at the main music halls on the islands. The disc, released in November 2016, was presented at the venue ‘The Paper Club’ to a large public reception & favourable reviews. In January 2017, the single The Best Water reached number 1 on the ‘Click & Roll’ list, a radio programme “Los 40 Canarias” dedicated to music.

The Festival Internacional Canarias Jazz&Más Heineken will cover the islands of La Palma, Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, Lanzarote and for the first time La Graciosa, where it will plant its seed. An event made possible due to the collaboration by the municipalities of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Adeje, Puerto de la Cruz, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Santa Lucía de Tirajana, Santa Brígida, Puerto del Rosario, Arrecife Teguise & Los Llanos de Aridane; and the sponsorship by the Canarian Government, the Cabildos (Island Councils) of Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote & Fuerteventura, the Town Halls of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Arrecife, Puerto del Rosario, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Adeje, Puerto de la Cruz, Santa Lucia de Tirajana, Santa Brigida & Los Llanos de Aridane, Casa África, the Adán Martín Auditorium in Tenerife, the Auditorium & Theatre Foundation of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the Leal, Guimerá & Guiniguada Theatres. Organised by Colorado Producciones, yet another edition is sponsored by the company Heineken.