In love with bossa

MANILA, Philippines - When she sings Moon River, you want to tap your feet and sway to every syncopated beat. The languid song is no more. In its place is a pulsating bossa beat that takes Sofia’s voice up and down the re-arranged chords like a happy child at play.

Sofia is the latest baby of Singapore-based S2S, the artist management and production house which released the albums of Aiza Seguerra, Lani Misalucha, Charlie Green and others to the international market.

S2S has released Sofia‘s self-titled album in Japan last October (complete with lyrics in Japanese which Sofia sang). Two months after, simultaneous launches were held in Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

Ironically, the album‘s Philippine launch won‘t come until January next year, with Vicor Music distributing it nationwide.

Sofia just shrugs off comments that like Charice, her first big break came from foreign admirers.

“That doesn‘t matter to an artist,“ she says. “The fact that you love your music and what you‘re doing matter more.“

Neither does it matter to her that S2S adjusted her album‘s track sequence to the country‘s different musical tastes. The Asian edition starts off with Sofia‘s original composition, Broke My Heart.

“Singaporeans go for originals. Thus, the first cut in my album for the Singapore market is my composition about a girl who realizes how much she still loves her ex-boyfriend,“ explains Sofia.

The Japanese version, on the other hand, kicks off with her take on the well-loved song Human Nature. S2S changed the track sequence as a concession to the Japanese‘s penchant for adaptations or cover versions.

The track sequence is not as important to Sofia as this once-in-a-lifetime chance to invade the international market, not just for herself, but for fellow Pinoys as well. And she‘s not about to waste this chance.

“My boss at Demo Power (the ad agency she works for as copywriter) and I came up with an arrangement that will let me continue singing while holding on to my day job,“ reveals Sofia.

What if her singing career runs smack against her ad agency schedule? Which will come first on her list?

“The singing, of course,“ replies Sofia.

She can always go back to her regular job. The international album, on the other hand, doesn‘t come her way everyday.

It came so suddenly, you‘d think at first the story came straight out of a pocketbook.

After getting a Medical Techology degree from UST in 2006, Sofia was on her way to Japan for a research scholarship grant to study Hematology, when a staffer from Ivory Records approached her. Could she research on one of the special projects and help out in handling the CDs as well?

Knowing that Sofia was a bossa nova girl since high school, someone also asked her to give a demo tape so Ivory Records could familiarize itself with the said genre.

Sofia‘s demo tape saw her interpreting the complex Desafinado with such passion and skill, the recording company executives sat up and noticed.

A recording artist was born.

Her album, Bossa Latino Lite, debuted at No. 11 at Tower Records‘ Top 25 albums chart. It turned gold in 2007, with awarding ceremonies at SOP.

A second album, In Love with Nova Bossa, came out in 2006.

Early this year though, Lady Luck smiled with all her might at Sofia.

An S2S executive heard Sofia’s album in Japan and flew to the Philippines for a look-see himself. When he found out she was not tied down to any recording label, he wasted no time in sending her a two-year contract.

“I was overwhelmed at how much S2S believes in me,“ admits Sofia.

She flew to Singapore and signed her contract at the S2S office there.

End of story? Not quite. S2S tapped respected samba-bossa nova music producer Jun Kagami to produce her album. Kagami graduated from Berklee College of Music and studied at London‘s Royal Academy of Music.

Bossa may be her love. But Sofia longs to branch out to other genres.

“I‘m not limiting myself to bossa,“ she states,

Her musical influences show why. Sofia‘s listening fare spans the entire musical spectrum.

 Eraserheards, Wolfgang, Bob Marley, Pinikpikan, A.C. Jobim, Elis Regina, Norah Jones, The Corrs — she listens to all of them. Mom, dad and her siblings do, too.

No wonder Sofia turned out to be a singer-songwriter sans formal musical training. She also plays piano and guitar by ear or ouido.

By ear is how Sofia is taking her musical career from now on.

“I don‘t want to think of a follow-up album yet,“ she admits. “All I want is for my album to go international.”

With her talent and a well-entrenched recording company behind her, Sofia just might see her dream come true.