I Just Happen to Be Here Alexia Bomtempo recreates songs written

I Just Happen to Be Here
Alexia Bomtempo recreates songs written in English by Caetano Veloso in her new album, produced
by Dé Palmeira and Felipe Abreu
The first time that I came across “I Just Happen to Be Here”, was when Alexia Bomtempo came to my
studio to record vocals for one of the tracks on the album. The song was “A Little More Blue”, off the
first record that Caetano made in London, which I know by heart. In addition to finding her voice
beautiful, I was surprised by the character in the way Alexia spoke the lyrics that start off with the verse
“One day I had to leave my country”.
My brother, vocal coach Felipe Abreu, had already mentioned to me his concept of an album for Alexia
comprised solely of songs written in English by Caetano, and that he had invited musician and
songwriter Dé Palmeira to produce it as well. I thought it was a great idea , and one noone had before ,
as far as I know.
The ten songs selected by Alexia for “I Just Happen to Be Here” (title extracted from a verse of
“London, London”) were written between 1969 and 1972. These were Caetano’s “lead years” ( a term
given to the toughest period of Brazil's military dictatorship). This was a time when – as he himself
describes in his book “Tropical Truth” – he endured the traumatic and transformative experiences of the
arrest in Rio de Janeiro, the confinement in Salvador and almost three years of exile in London.
The meaning of “leaving your country” is totally different in Caetano and Alexia’s experiences: she has
never been arrested, confined or exiled. Alexia was born two generations after Caetano, in 1984. The
daughter of an American mother and a Brazilian father, she divided her time between Brazil and the
US, until establishing residence for good in Rio de Janeiro, seven years ago. With dual citizenship, she
speaks both English and Portuguese, without any kind of accent that may expose her as foreigner.
In Alexia’s words: “The time and language divided between Brazil and the US have brought me close
to the poetry of exile sung by Caetano. I re-appropriate his words, created for another context, finding
my own meaning in them within a context of self-discovery and self-assertion: You don’t know
me…just let me say who am I”.
In this process, Alexia realized that these songs transcend Caetano’s historical and personal
circumstances, since the perception of strangeness, discomfort and not belonging sweeps through the
souls of so many people today all over the world. Who has never felt like a “wandering navigator”?
Alexia illustrates: “There have been so many comings and goings throughout this American-Brazilian
story of mine. Caetano's music signaled my future in Brazil, without my even knowing it. Now, I am
here. And this didn’t happen by chance – here means who I really am. I just happen to be here and it’s
OK. On the map, in life and in music.”
Among the musical ideas that I most like on the CD, I feel the need to highlight a few things. The
decision to allow the songs to remain in essence, without referring to the other Brazilian songs that
Caetano quotes from in the original recordings (as in “You Don’t Know Me” and “It’s a Long Way”);
the suggestive rhythm of samba-reggae in “Nine Out of Ten”, with the elaborate support of Letieres
Leite & Orkestra Rumpilezz, bridging the gap between London and Salvador; the Dobro played by
Frejat in “In the Hot Sun of a Christmas Day”, the only song written in English by Caetano and
Gilberto Gil; and the organic balance between the acoustic and electronic textures.
I was very impressed by the quality of the musicians that play on “I Just Happen to Be Here”.
Besides Letieres & Rumpilezz, Frejat and Dé himself, the album carries the class and expertise of
Dadi, Rodrigo Campello, Kassin, Domenico Lancellotti, Charles Gavin, Berna Ceppas, Jr Tostói,
Marcelo Costa, Marcelo Vig, Roberto Pollo, Ricardo Palmeira and Mú Carvalho. It also features
international special guests, such as Grammy Award-winning American singer/songwriter Jesse Harris
(for Norah Jones’ breakout hit “Don’t Know Why”), Dutch musician Marcel Van As (from Coparck),
and American singer Hannah Cohen.
Alexia, Felipe and Dé were audacious, spirited and successful on touching a matter that is considered to
be “sacred” by so many people, and in doing so with talent and imagination. Amongst other things, “I
Just Happen to Be Here” validates the tropicalist anthropologic principle of digesting in order to
renew. This album turns the great wheel of Brazilian music, a mutating wonder.
Fernanda Abreu, singer/songwriter
About Alexia Bomtempo
Born in the USA in 1984, Alexia has always been surrounded by music. Her mother, American
singer/songwriter Monica Nagle, initiated her on blues, jazz and folk, in Bob Dylan, John Lennon and
Joni Mitchell. Her father, Brazilian entertainment producer Renato Bomtempo, made Alexia discover
and fall in love with the work of Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil, Novos Baianos, Chico
Buarque, Djavan, Tom Jobim and Rita Lee.
At the age of 7, Alexia moved to Brazil with her father, alternating stays between Rio de Janeiro and
Petrópolis, where her father’s family was established. As a teenager, she studied theater at drama school
Tablado, and lived in Brazil until the age of 17, when she decided to spend a year in the US. After
joining her high school chorus group, Alexia realized that she wanted to pursue music for good,
professionally. At 18, she went back to Brazil and started a short-lived band with whom she performed
at clubs and bars. When she turned 19, Alexia returned to the US and studied for two years at Plymouth
State University.
In 2005, at the age of 21, she decided to go back to Brazil, and was soon invited by producer Sergio
Carvalho to record a demo CD. This was when she began taking voice lessons with Felipe Abreu (*),
her vocal coach ever since.
The experience of the demo CD evolved into Alexia’s first solo album, “Astrolábio” (EMI, 2008),
produced by musician and songwriter Dadi (former member of Novos Baianos and A Cor do Som), on
which she recorded, amongst other songs, “O Leãozinho” (Caetano Veloso), “Farol da Barra” (Caetano
Veloso & Galvão) and “Roxanne” (Sting), besides original material co-written with different partners.
Still in 2008, while listening to Alexia sing “London, London” in one of her lessons, Felipe was very
impressed by her interpretation of the song and proposed to her the project of “I Just Happen to Be
Here”. At first, they thought of doing the complete songbook of Caetano’s English songs (a total of
15), but then came down to the ten songs that are on the album today. Since Alexia had just released
“Astrolábio”, the project would have to wait a bit until beginning to turn into reality.
In 2009, Alexia did the opening act for artists such as Rita Lee and Ney Matogrosso, and performed in
international festivals such as SXSW (Texas), MoMA Nights (NYC), Sudoeste and Super Bock Surf Fest
(both in Portugal). In 2010 she toured through 6 cities in Japan and also stepped onto the celebrated
Joe’s Pub stage in NYC.
In the beginning of 2010, Felipe and Alexia invited Dé Palmeira (**) to co-produce the album with
Felipe, on their own, and started the recordings of “I Just Happen to Be Here”, that went on for
almost 2 years.
Mixed by sound engineer Fabiano França (know for his work on albums such as “Eu Não Peço
Desculpas”, by Caetano Veloso & Jorge Mautner, “Ventura”, by Los Hermanos, and several by
Adriana Calcanhotto) and mastered in Tokyo by Takayoshi Manabe, the album “I Just Happen to Be
Here” will be released in Brazil on Biscoito Fino Records.
(*) Felipe Abreu – Considered to be one of the most outstanding vocal coaches in Brazil, Felipe has
worked with significant artists in Brazilian music, such as Adriana Calcanhotto, Fernanda
Abreu, Roberto Frejat, Pedro Luís, Vanessa da Mata, Toni Garrido, Leo Jaime, and also with a whole
new generation of vocalists that refresh Brazilian music today: Roberta Sá, Mariana Aydar, Thaís
Gulin, Silvia Machete, Nina Becker, Fabiana Cozza, Moyseis Marques, Monique Kessous. He has
vocal coached artists on over 50 albums, including “SLA Radical Dance Disco Club”, “Da Lata”,
“Raio X” (Fernanda Abreu), “O Erê” (Cidade Negra), “Todo Amor” (Leo Jaime), “Adriana
Partimpim”, “Maré”, “Partimpim 2” (Adriana Calcanhotto), “Braseiro” and “Belo Estranho Dia de
Alegria” (Roberta Sá), “Ponto Enredo” (Pedro Luís & A Parede), and the recent “Segunda Pele”
(Roberta Sá), “Cavaleiro Selvagem Aqui te Sigo” (Mariana Aydar), “Tempo de Menino” (Pedro Luís),
“ôÔôôôÔôÔ” (Thaís Gulin). “I Just Happen to Be Here” is his first record as co-producer.
(**) Dé Palmeira – musician, songwriter and music producer, considered to be one of Brazil’s greatest
bass players, made part of the original line-up of band Barão Vermelho, in which he performed from
1982 through 1990. Later on, he also played with artists such as Lobão, Kid Abelha, Frejat and Adriana
Calcanhotto, amongst many others. As a songwriter, he has had songs recorded by Cazuza, Marina
Lima, Bebel Gilberto, Cássia Eller, Adriana Calcanhotto, Leo Jaime, Zizi Possi, Emílio Santiago.
Produced and did the music direction for Adriana Calcanhotto in three of her albums and shows:
“Cantada” (2002), “Adriana Partimpim” (2004 Latin Grammy Award Winner; also made into DVD in
2006) and “Partimpim 2”. In 2008, he produced the album “Tempo de Amar”, by Zé Renato.
Alongside his work as a producer, Dé has been film scoring documentaries, soap operas and TV series
(Globo, Canal Futura).