<p>Maria João only knows how to look ahead, only knows the vertigo of the future and only commits to what she hasn't done yet. With more than four decades of a recognised and acclaimed career on an international scale, Maria João has made a name for herself in jazz, created lasting partnerships with renowned artists such as Mário Laginha, Aki Takase or Carlos Bica, broken new aesthetic ground and always experimented with what is the oldest of instruments, the human voice, without dwelling too much on categorisations, styles or traditions.</p> <p>Now, echoing her ancestry, Maria João is once again flying between Lisbon and Maputo to create, in the company of João Farinha and André Nascimento, allies of the OGRE project (with whom she has recorded several albums since 2012, including the recent and highly acclaimed ‘Songs For Shakespeare’, from 2022), a new album that combines her original voice with soaring and evocative electronic textures.</p> <p>Between Africa and the cosmos and making use of electronics - a bit like José Afonso in ‘Galinhas do Mato’ - Maria João presents a new work produced by Luís Fernandes, himself an experienced creator whose main focus is electronics.</p> <p>To anticipate this new record, singer Maria João now unveils ‘Ao Sol’, a song featuring Xixel Langa Xizimba, Leticia Deozina, Nadya Cosmo and Onésia Muholove, the TP50 choir. ‘Brincadeira’, she sings, inventing new words and sounds that her voice creates with total freedom and a playful spirit. Retaining much of an ancestral and spiritual Africa, this ‘Ao Sol’ leads to a better place, perhaps a paradise, where harmony is the greatest force. A moving presentation of a work in which, as always, Maria João surprises once again.</p>