The story
Bia Ferreira grew up in Carangola, in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, in an evangelical family. She started on the piano at three, and her mother led the choir. At twelve she wrote her first song, about what it meant to be a lesbian in that world. She has been writing her own life into songs ever since.
She calls what she makes "Música de Mulher Preta," Black Woman Music: soul, reggae, funk, blues and gospel, with lyrics about race, love and who gets left out.
“More than just a concert, it is a collective ritual of celebration and togetherness, with music as its spiritual guide.”
In 2011 she wrote "Cota Não É Esmola," "Quotas Aren't Charity," after a lunch where a family friend's daughter complained that a student admitted under Brazil's racial quotas had taken her university place. Years later, traveling the country with her guitar and passing a hat for hotel money, she sang it at a small Sofar Sounds house concert in Curitiba. That video has been watched more than twelve million times, and the song is now required reading for entrance exams at several Brazilian universities.
It's music that asks something of you. NPR heard it "pushing her listeners toward the discomfort that generates 'movemente,' or action." It's also a lot of fun: Afropop Worldwide calls her "extremely outspoken, with humour and charm."
Come hear it live.