Rhaissa Bittar
Rhaissa Bittar is a Brazilian singer, actress and songwriter.
Career
At 16 she participated in musicals and won two awards for best actress on the 17th Festival of Student Theater of the state of São Paulo, at the Tatuí (São Paulo) conservatory and at the third Festival of Student Theater in Sesi Sorocaba, São Paulo.
At 17, she started singing chorinho and samba, and joined the group Coisa Linda de Deus that performed to the then American first lady Laura Bush during her visit to the NGO Aprendiz, created by journalist Gilberto Dimenstein.
At the age of 18, she left to Taiwan, China, for a 1-year school exchange program in the country, where she took traditional Chinese music, singing and dance lessons.
When she came back to Brazil, she recorded an advertising campaign with the song "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" for C&A. In face of the success of the video, which was available on the internet, Rhaissa was invited to perform in the brand fashion show at Donna Fashion Iguatemi.
With the support of Panela Produtora, the young singer recorded her first album, Voilà, with musicians such as Maurício Pereira, Nailor Proveta, Daniel Szafran, Michel Leme, Ricardo Herz, Banda Paralela, and Lulinha Alencar, amongst others.
Voilà
Voilà was released in 2010, moment when Rhaissa was nominated by the O Estado de São Paulo newspaper as a promising singer that is “still going to make some noise”. Since then, the Voilà concerts were performed throughout several stages in São Paulo, such as Sesc, Auditório Ibirapuera, Virada Cultural SP, Casa de Francisca, and especially in Pernambuco, where the concert came under the spotlight, performing on stages in Rec-Beat Festival, Santander Cultural, Espaço Muda and Muda FIG. While Voilà was being promoted, positive critics were published in the country’s main news media (Newspapers such as Folha de S. Paulo, Folha PE, Jornal do Commercio, O Estado de S. Paulo; Web Portals MTV, G1, Uol, among other websites and blogs), apart from interviews on main national TV shows (Programa do Jô, Globo PE, SP e BA News, and Record, with Heródoto Barbeiro as a special guest.
Matéria Estelar (Star Stuff)
In the second semester of 2014, Rhaissa releases her new album Matéria Estelar, a project of Panela Produtora with Jum Nakao as its art director. In this album, the singer gives life to objects such as a pear that is dumped by a caju; an unemployed phone book that finds an important job at Messias’ second-hand bookshop; and even the pearl earring of the girl depicted in Johanenes Vermeers’ masterpiece has its own voice in the apologues of the album.
Other projects
Rhaissa was then invited to take part of other projects, such as recording “Xote das Meninas” for an exhibit in tribute to Luiz Gonzaga called “Baixio dos Doidos” in Caruaru- Pernambuco, in June, 2012. Apart from her, famous national singers such as Dominguinhos, Arnaldo Antunes, Otto and Naná Vasconcelos also participated in the tribute.
In 2011, she recorded “O Vira” with a cover of the album known as “The Head Banquet” of the band Secos e Molhados; she also sang at Paulinho Moska’s concert at Tom Jazz in São Paulo, as well as at the Ao Rei do Baião concert, directed by Lirinha at Sesc Vila Mariana, in which singers Fagner, Siba, Felipe Cordeiro e Spok participated as special guests.
Curiosities
Hidden track
During the interview at Programa do Jô, Rhaissa revealed that Voilà has a hidden track. The secret song can only be listened on some CD players, never on a computer. This track number is numbered '-1', because is necessary to press and hold the review button at the beginning of the album.
Soap opera soundtrack
Between the years of 2012 and 2013, the "Pif Paf" song was part of the soundtrack of the Brazilian soap opera Balacobaco produced by Rede Record. The song was the theme of the characters Marlene (Antonia Fontenelle) and Aragon (Umberto Magnani), besides opening and other characters - Violet Osório, played by Simone Spoladore; and Cremilda Osorio played by Solange Couto) - in some chapters.
Discography
Solo albums
- Voilà (Panela / 2010)
- Matéria Estelar (Panela / 2014)
Other recordings
- 2010 Disco em um dia III (track "O violino e o viaduto")
- 2011 Releitura Banquete das Cabeças (track "O vira")
- 2012 Ouvido Vivo (track "O nerd e a balconista")
- 2013 É Natal (track "Os descendentes")