Bio:
Cyro Baptista's list of credits resembles a "Who’s Who" of contemporary music. He embarked on extensive tours with Yo-Yo Ma's Brazil Project, Trey Anastasio's Band (of Phish), John Zorn's Electric Masada, Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning "Gershwin’s World," as well as Sting and Paul Simon's "Rhythm of the Saints."
His collaboration spans a diverse spectrum of artists, including David Byrne, Kathleen Battle, Gato Barbieri, Dr. John, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Palmer, Melissa Etheridge, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Barenboin, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo-Ma, Medeski Martin & Wood, Spyro Gyra, Trey Anastasio from Phish, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Santana, and Sting. Additionally, he has worked with esteemed Brazilian musicians such as Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Marisa Monte, and Nana Vasconcelos.
Cyro has contributed to five Grammy-winning albums: Yo-Yo-Ma’s "Obrigado Brasil," Cassandra Wilson's "Blue Light 'Til Dawn," The Chieftains' "Santiago," Ivan Lins' "A Love Affair," and Herbie Hancock's highly acclaimed "Gershwin's World." His main project, Beat the Donkey, was the subject of a documentary recorded for the prestigious WGBH-TV Boston program 'La Plaza,' which won 3 New England EMMY Awards in 2002 and continues to be broadcasted on PBS stations nationwide. Cyro collaborated with Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra for a modern jazz concert celebrating Brazilian Carnaval.
The debut album of Beat the Donkey, released by TZADIK, was selected by The New York Times as one of the ten best alternative albums of 2002. Readers of JAZZIZ and DRUM magazine voted it as the "Best Brazilian CD of the Year" and named Cyro "Best Percussionist of 2002." Downbeat Magazine's 51st annual critics' poll recognized Cyro as a "Rising Star" in percussion.
His first solo recording, Villa Lobos/Vira Loucos, which intertwines his compositions with those of the brilliant Brazilian composer Heitor Villa Lobos, has been hailed as "the most courageous, bright, funny, dramatic, and imaginative work in recent memory."
Blue Note Records released Supergenerous, a duo CD recorded with guitarist Kevin Breit (KD Lang, Cassandra Wilson). Billboard described Supergenerous as "pure aural pleasure," while the Washington Post praised it as "a marvelous debut that manages to feel outside and intimate at the same time."
Beyond all this, Cyro has been involved in composing music for Nickelodeon's children's television programming.
Português:
Os créditos de Cyro Baptista se assemelham a um "Quem é Quem" da música contemporânea. Ele fez extensas turnês com o Projeto Brasil de Yo-Yo Ma, a Banda de Trey Anastasio (do Phish), o Electric Masada de John Zorn, o premiado com o Grammy "Gershwin’s World" de Herbie Hancock e "Rhythm of the Saints" de Sting e Paul Simon.
Sua colaboração abrange um amplo espectro de artistas, incluindo David Byrne, Kathleen Battle, Gato Barbieri, Dr. John, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Robert Palmer, Melissa Etheridge, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Michael Tilson Thomas, Daniel Barenboin, Bobby McFerrin, Wynton Marsalis, Yo-Yo-Ma, Medeski Martin & Wood, Spyro Gyra, Trey Anastasio do Phish, Jay-Z, Snoop Dogg, Santana e Sting. Além disso, ele trabalhou com respeitados músicos brasileiros como Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Ivan Lins, Marisa Monte e Nana Vasconcelos.
Cyro contribuiu para cinco álbuns vencedores do Grammy: "Obrigado Brasil" de Yo-Yo-Ma, "Blue Light 'Til Dawn" de Cassandra Wilson, "Santiago" de The Chieftains, "A Love Affair" de Ivan Lins e o altamente aclamado "Gershwin's World" de Herbie Hancock. Seu principal projeto, Beat the Donkey, foi tema de um documentário gravado para o prestigiado programa 'La Plaza' da WGBH-TV Boston, que ganhou 3 Prêmios Emmy do Novo Inglaterra em 2002 e continua sendo transmitido em estações da PBS em todo o país. Cyro colaborou com Wynton Marsalis e a Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra para um concerto de jazz moderno em celebração ao Carnaval brasileiro.
O álbum de estreia do Beat the Donkey, lançado pela TZADIK, foi selecionado pelo The New York Times como um dos dez melhores álbuns alternativos de 2002. Os leitores das revistas JAZZIZ e DRUM votaram-no como o "Melhor CD Brasileiro do Ano" e nomearam Cyro como "Melhor Percussionista de 2002". A pesquisa anual de críticos da revista Downbeat Magazine reconheceu Cyro como uma "Estrela em Ascensão" na percussão.
Sua primeira gravação solo, Villa Lobos/Vira Loucos, que entrelaça suas composições com as do brilhante compositor brasileiro Heitor Villa Lobos, foi aclamada como "o trabalho mais corajoso, brilhante, engraçado, dramático e imaginativo em memória recente".
A Blue Note Records lançou Supergenerous, um CD em duo gravado com o guitarrista Kevin Breit (KD Lang, Cassandra Wilson). A Billboard descreveu Supergenerous como "puro prazer auditivo", enquanto o Washington Post o elogiou como "uma estreia maravilhosa que consegue ser externa e íntima ao mesmo tempo".
Além disso, Cyro esteve envolvido na composição de música para a programação infantil da Nickelodeon.
The Recôncavo is an almost invisible center-of-gravity. Circumscribing the Bay of All Saints, this region was landing for more enslaved human beings than any other such throughout all of human history. Not unrelated, it is also birthplace of some of the most physically & spiritually uplifting music ever made. —Sparrow
"Dear Sparrow: I am thrilled to receive your email! Thank you for including me in this wonderful matrix."
—Susan Rogers: Personal recording engineer for Prince, inc. "Purple Rain", "Sign o' the Times", "Around the World in a Day"... Director of the Berklee Music Perception and Cognition Laboratory
I'm Pardal here in Brazil (that's "Sparrow" in English). The deep roots of this project are in Manhattan, where Allen Klein (managed the Beatles and The Rolling Stones) called me about royalties for the estate of Sam Cooke... where Jerry Ragovoy (co-wrote Time is On My Side, sung by the Stones; Piece of My Heart, Janis Joplin of course; and Pata Pata, sung by the great Miriam Makeba) called me looking for unpaid royalties... where I did contract and licensing for Carlinhos Brown's participation on Bahia Black with Wayne Shorter and Herbie Hancock...
...where I rescued unpaid royalties for Aretha Franklin (from Atlantic Records), Barbra Streisand (from CBS Records), Led Zeppelin, Mongo Santamaria, Gilberto Gil, Astrud Gilberto, Airto Moreira, Jim Hall, Wah Wah Watson (Melvin Ragin), Ray Barretto, Philip Glass, Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd for his interest in Bob Marley compositions, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam and others...
...where I worked with Earl "Speedo" Carroll of the Cadillacs (who went from doo-wopping as a kid on Harlem streetcorners to top of the charts to working as a janitor at P.S. 87 in Manhattan without ever losing what it was that made him special in the first place), and with Jake and Zeke Carey of The Flamingos (I Only Have Eyes for You)... stuff like that.
Yeah this is Bob's first record contract, made with Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd of Studio One and co-signed by his aunt because he was under 21. I took it to Black Rock to argue with CBS' lawyers about the royalties they didn't want to pay. They paid.
MATRIX MUSICAL
The Matrix was built below among some of the world's most powerfully moving music, some of it made by people barely known beyond village borders. Or in the case of Sodré, his anthem A MASSA — a paean to Brazil's poor ("our pain is the pain of a timid boy, a calf stepped on...") — having blasted from every radio between the Amazon and Brazil's industrial south, before he was silenced. (that's me left, with David Dye & Kim Junod for U.S. National Public Radio) ... The Matrix started with Sodré, with João do Boi, with Roberto Mendes, with Bule Bule, with Roque Ferreira... music rooted in the sugarcane plantations of Bahia. Hence our logo (a cane cutter).