Marcia Calmon was
born in a family of musicians at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Her
father,
Waldir Calmon,
was a
piano player in the 50's
and 60's of
a very high projection and
had an orchestra in Brazil
and her mother, Marta Kelly,
is a singer. She also plays
a little of piano and
acoustic guitar and had
lyric and popular singing
classes (click
here
to listen to a medley with
three songs from The Sound of
Music) in France and Brazil. He began to sing in orchestras: first, in
Waldir Calmon and later in
Maestro Cipó, Vittor Santos
and others. She worked for
ten years with the famous
brazilian singer Marlene,
recorded for TV and does
back-vocals on recordings
and shows. Her major
influences are
Carmen Miranda, Marlene,Ademilde Fonseca, Leny Andrade, Sade. Ella Fitzgerald e Barbra Streisand.
She lived for about five
years at theCaribbean islands.
At Puerto Rico (USA), she
was part of the great
Brazilian show of the
Plataforma Hall in San
Juan de Puerto Rico. At
Saint Martin and Saint
Barths, along with her
husband, conductor and
multi-instrumentalist Tranka
Oliveira, she performed for
tourists from all over the
world, singing in five
languages. The duo worked in
sophisticated hotels such as Port de Plaisance, Le
Flamboyant, Privilége, Beach
Plaza and Meridien
and, in June 1997,
participated of Fête de
la Musique in the Saint
Martin's marina, playing for thousands of people.
She recorded MPB
classics, like Samba do
Aviao (Tom Jobim) and
Mas Que Nada (Jorge Benjor)
in the CD
Tranka
& Marcia - Sob Medida
(with maestro Tranka
Oliveira). She also recorded
five
new songs
(four as co-author) that are
on sale only on the digital
platform: (Canção) Pro
Nosso Tom (Tranka
Oliveira), Feita para
Dançar (Marcia Calmon -
Tranka Oliveira),
Copacabana Blues
(Marcia Calmon - Tranka
Oliveira), Sentidos
(Marcia Calmon - Tranka
Oliveira) and O Sol
(Tranka Oliveira). Feita
para Dançar is an homage to
Marcia's father, the famous
pianist
Waldir
Calmon
You can listen to three interviews, in portuguese, with Marcia:
two about Waldir Calmon, including trivia and stories of her father, and the second one about her career and
her show Marcia calmon Canta o Rio Antigo - both with a lot of music! You can also see her singing some chorinhos on
YouTube videos, with Tranka at the acoustic guitar, by clicking here. Marcia Calmon and Tranka Oliveira also provide live music and shows for many kinds of
events and they book artists for bossa-nova, chorinho, traditional samba and brazilian carnaval (including dancers, capoeiras, percussionists and beautiful carnaval costumes). We can provide you with any size ensemble.
Tranka Oliveira
photo: Marcia Calmon
Tancredo "Tranka" Oliveira was born in Valença, Rio de
Janeiro (Brazil) and he has played in the best nightclubs of Rome, New
York and Rio de Janeiro, as Flag,
706 and Number One (click
here
to listen to Tranka playing with the north-american singer Spanky Wilson at
Number One nightclub). In 1976, went on world tour with the american singer Harry
Belafonte (click
here
to see photos) and played with Bob Friedman when he lived at the USA. At
Brasil, he played with great artists, like
Gonzaguinha,
Marlene (click
here to listen to two tracks from the historic Marlene's show Te
Pego Pela Palavra, 1974, with Tranka playing electric bass),
Emílio Santiago,
Luizinho Eça,
Chiquinho do Acordeon,
Luís Carlos Vinhas,
Erlon Chaves and
Peter Thomas (click here to
listen to some recordings). Since 1979, Tranka has been organizing shows for the
largest folkloric show house in Latin America, called Plataforma (click
here
to listen to some tracks of the last Plataforma show and
here
to see some photos) and directed many brazilian shows in Europe and United
States. When he lived in Italy and France, he was a music professor and plays
keyboard, guitar, bass (eletric
and
acoustic),
saxophone and
flute
besides working like a music director and arranger on recordings, such as on the
Werther album. Tranka Oliveira also composes songs and jingles (click
here to listen to some) for radio and television and has worked as arranger
maestro for Globo TV in the 90's. His songs have been recorded by artists
such as:
Maria Betânia,
Alcione,
Beth Carvalho, Grupo Raça,
Negritude Júnior and Neguinho
da Beija-Flor:
1 - Celular (Tranka - Toninho Nascimento - Noca da
Portela) com Wander Pires
2 - Ilumina (Tranka - Toninho Nascimento - Noca da Portela) com
Maria Bethânia
3 - Pagando Pra Ver (Tranka - Toninho Nascimento - Noca da
Portela) com Alcione
4 - Perdas e Danos (Tranka - Toninho Nascimento - Noca da
Portela) com Beth Carvalho
5 - Tamandaré (Tranka - Toninho Nascimento - Noca da Portela)
com o grupo Raça
6 - Amor Pela Metade (Tranka - Toninho Nascimento - Noca da
Portela) com Negritude Júnior
7 - Cena de Ciúme (Tranka - Toninho Nascimento - Noca da
Portela) com Neguinho da Beija-Flor
In the early 90's, Tranka played
piano, keyboard and acoustic
guitar in sophisticated
Caribbean
hotels for about five years
with his wife and singer
Marcia Calmon. In Brazil,
they both set up
orchestras for major events,
such as New Year's Eve and
Carnival. At the end of
1999, they formed a big
orchestra for the
Reveillón do Milênio (Millennium New Year's Eve)
at the Copacabana Beach
(event organized by Globo TV
and directed by Roberto
Talma). The orchestra
accompanied the singers
Marlene,
Emilinha Borba
and Virginia Lane before the
traditional fireworks. After
midnight, the
Maestro Tranka Orchestra returned to the stage
to cheer up the great public
that remained on the sands
of the famous Copacabana
Beach, RJ. In the carnival
of 2004, the same orchestra
animated the official city
carnival ball Baile do
Havaí, along with the
school of samba
Beija-Flor, at Morro da
Urca.
In May, 2004, Marcia Calmon e Tranka Oliveira participated of the IV Beijing Art Festival, China, representing Brazil. You can see the brazilian booklet cover and the page 8
with Marcia's photo in the second column. Click thumbnail to enlarge.
