ON TOUR
A Panda Do Sol - Jarro Da Saudade | A Take Away Show
A PANDA DO SOL
Samba de Raiz / World / Brass ensemble
Sungroove Records
NEW ALBUM "HOMENAGEM" NOW AVAILABLE
illustrated by Vincenzo Suscetta
“Samba from Berlin? Why not? There has been plenty of Choro coming from unexpected places recently, but not so much it seems of its generic successor. Specifically, this mixed-sex international ensemble based in the German capital take on the sub-genre of Samba de Raiz, or Roots Samba.
After a debut album of their own compositions, Homenagem constitutes an homage in eight songs to eight different composers linked with a musical tradition that was the catalyst for the outfit’s formation in 2016.(Musically and lurically, they remain true to the originals apart from a little inventive inversion, turning major key tunes into minor and vice versa. The instrumentation is samba-classic but with an emphasis on brass that gives the longest track, “Filosofia”, the loose and lusty feel of a new Orleans marching band. Trumpet, trombone, tenor sax and clarinet share the solo duties and lead vocals are divided between male and female voice, together lending colour and variety “
(...)
Review written by Mark Sampson
Songlines Magazine, Aug/Sept 2022
A story of love for Samba music and soulful intercultural rhythms.
A Panda do Sol was born in 2016, founded by French composer, guitarist and vocalist Félix Huet. It gathers today up to eight women and men from Brazil, France, Colombia, Germany & Spain, and based in Berlin, Germany.
The band's first album "Fôlego" portrays the beginning of their musical path and forecasts compositions about nature, love, and death, in the image of the first Sambistas of the era, joining poetry and rhythm. It was recorded and composed with singer, lyricist and friend Natasha Simon Safir and was released in September 2019.
Their new project "Homenagem" is a direct homage to some of these composers, the creators of the roots of Samba music. Recorded in the winter of 2020, it was released on the label of Sungroove records on the 26th of May 2022.
The ensemble forecasts the instruments of the genre: cavaquinho, guitar, pandeiro, tamborim, and surdo, and blends them together with the sound of a New Orleans brass section: clarinet, saxophone & trumpet, leaving a wonderful carpet for strong solo and harmonised vocals.
They are currently working on a new album of original music, going beyond the Samba sphere and exploring new rhythms, as well as introducing compositions in French, native language of the two lead vocalists. A blend of Samba, Ciranda, Côco, Valse & Biguine, in the language of A Panda do Sol.
Musicians:
Félix Huet: vocals, guitar
Héléna Fontaine: vocals, cavaquinho
Oscar Ferdinand: clarinet, vocals
Antonio de Silóniz: saxophone tenor
Yannick Mäntele: trumpet
Juca Junio / Raúl Gonzalez: tamborim, agogô, ganzá
Camila Berrio: pandeiro, vocals
Alex Rigaud : surdo
UPCOMING SHOWS
Vem pra Roda / Tragatu
Musik Fabrik
Berlin
27.11.2022
Mikro Hiejazz Jam Session (hosts)
Grüner Salon, Volksbühne
Berlin
10.12..2022
A Panda do Sol
Badehaus
Berlin
26.01.2023
STATE OF THE ART(S) : LICHTENBERG
Episode 7 : A PANDA DO SOL
How are musicians dealing with lockdown?
A documentary by Björn Döring and Jim Kroft, episode 7 with A Panda Do Sol.
In the industrial area between Herzberg- and Josef-Orlopp-Straße, the new playgrounds and workplaces of culture in Lichtenberg are being built. New bars, rehearsal rooms, studios have opened here and the Dong Xuan Centre ensures that tram cars full of people keep arriving here anyway, discovering the area for themselves anew.
The NadaNadi studio in Josef-Orlopp-Straße is one of these places with new a appeal. The studio was founded and built up by the two Frenchmen Florent Chaintiou and François Perdriau, who can offer a residency artists and record new music.
Their French compatriots Félix Huet & Héléna Fontaine immediately identified the studio as their very special Lichtenberg location when we asked them where we should film them and their band "A Panda Do Sol".
Filmed by Jim Kroft in November 2020.