Bia Ferreira

Bia Ferreira (Carangola, Minas Gerais,[1] 19 April 1993) is a Brazilian singer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and artivist.[1][2] Her music, which she defines as "MMP — Música de Mulher Preta" (Black Woman Music),[3][4][5] discusses topics such as feminism, anti-racism and homophobia.[6][7] She claims her music is created to generate "discomfort" that in turn generates "movemente", at the same time that she tries to write songs pleasant enough to get her message across.[8] Her lyrics have been described as "escrevivência" ("writexperience"), a concept by Conceição Evaristo.[9]

For the boxer, see Beatriz Ferreira.
Bia Ferreira
Bia live in Lisbon, Portugal, in September 2022
Bia live in Lisbon, Portugal, in September 2022
Background information
Born (1993-04-19) April 19, 1993
OriginCarangola, Minas Gerais
GenresSoul, funk, R&B
Occupation(s)Singer, songwriter
Instrument(s)voice, acoustic guitar, piano, others
Years active2009–present

Early life and musical beginnings

Born to a traditional evangelical family, Ferreira studied music since she was a child. Her mother was a singer, choir conductor, pianist and singing teacher. At the age of 3, she started to study the piano and later got into the Brazilian Music Conservatory.[10][11]

Around the age of 12, she wrote her first song. In its lyrics, she asked God not to be a lesbian—an agony that resulted from her religious upbringing.[8]

Career

Beginnings and first hits (2009–2018)

She began her musical activities in 2009, at the age of 15 in Aracaju, Sergipe, where she was raised by her familya[12] after a period in Piracicaba, São Paulo.[11] It was around that time that she began to learn more about black and lesbian feminism.[11]

She left home early and toured alone across Brazil, hitchhiking and playing for some change; to make more money, she developed unusual ways of playing the guitar, such as playing behind her head or with just one hand.[8]

"Cota Não É Esmola" and "Não Precisa Ser Amélia" were composed in 2011, became some of her greatest hits[1][2][6][13] and discussed topics such as the racial quota systems of SISU (a kind of Brazilian SAT) and the condition of black women in Brazil. Ferreira classifies her music as "Música de Mulher Preta (MMP) (Black Woman Music (BWM)" due to her strong focus on these topics.[7][14][15] "Cota Não É Esmola" became a mandatory study material for the vestibulares of University of Brasília, Federal University of Minas Gerais and Federal University of Paraná, as well as for students of SESI-SP.[2][6]

Her debut album was a live recording of a performance for the Estúdio Showlivre project, released in November 2018. Still in 2018, she took part in a festival supporting the Free Lula movement[1] and in the documentary A Thousand Women, by Rita Toledo, alongside fellow artists Lena Chen (from the USA), Florencia Duran (from Uruguay) and Ana Luisa Santos (from Brazil).[16] She also performed for the Sofar Sounds project in Curitiba on 27 September.[17]

Igreja Lesbiteriana, Um Chamado and second studio album (2019–present)

Since 2013, Ferreira prepared her debut album Igreja Lesbiteriana, Um Chamado, which was released on 13 September 2019.[1] It had already been recorded three times before, but she never managed to release it. The final opportunity came in April 2018, when she met producer Vinícius Lezo.[9] The album's lyrics were written and sung under a neuro-linguistic programming approach which, according to her, would help the brain to better absorb her message.[2] The album was promoted by the single "De Dentro do AP", which received a clip created by a wholly female production team, a wholly black cast and crew, and featured a performance by poet Thata Alves.[5] The church referred to on the album title (which translates as "Lesbyterian Church, A Call") is supposed to be a place of shelter for people who are usually told by Protestant and Pentecostal churches that they are not loved by God.[11]

In 2019, she toured in Europe;[2] in an interview for a German website, she claimed that under the presidency of Jair Bolsonaro, "many of my tours were cancelled, and the police threatens me because they don't like what I say".[7] In the same year, she replaced actress Larissa Luz in the role of Elza Soares in the São Paulo sessions of the musical Elza.[2]

On 29 August 2020, she performed at Fundação Espaço Cultural da Paraíba as part of celebrations for the Lesbian Visibility Day.[18]

On 1 October 2020, she released the video "Boto Fé". Initially, a fake video was purposely aired on 25 September, showing Ferreira in 2035 hacking the system to air the "right" video on the new date; the video's promotional efforts involved a letter written in 2035, where humanity is ruled by robots and satellites, and all natural resources have been exhausted already.[19][20] The track featured BNegão.[9]

In December 2021, she co-wrote the song "Olhares Cruzados" via the Influência Negra platform for an homonymous campaign by Dove.[21]

On 10 March 2022, she released the song "Agora Vai", alongside Xamã and Lia Clark, discussing financial empowerment.[22]

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ferreira has been preparing her second studio album, which will be released by Natura Musical and distributed by Altafonte Brasil.[6][13] In some more recent shows, she's been adopting lyrics more focused on offering solutions for the problems she would previously comment; according to her, this is part of a strategy to "present tenderness as a survival technology and information as the key to liberating black, native or LGBTQIA+ people who have suffered any form of oppression".[6]

Personal life

Since 2017, she has been dating fellow musician Doralyce.[11]

Musical style

Her debut studio album, Igreja Lesbiteriana, Um Chamado, contains elements of soul, reggae, blues, funk, R&B and gospel.[2][11] Among her influences are Angela Davis, Assata Shakur, Leci Brandão, Conceição Evaristo, Erica Malunguinho, Preta Rara, Eva Rap Diva, Sueli Carneiro, Audrey Lorde, Manu Coutinho de Aracajú, Jaêmia, Laine Almeida, Anaia, Débora Ambrosia, Bruna Amara, Luz Ribeiro, Dani Monteiro, Talíria Petrone, Ellen Oléria, Kimani, Mel Duarte, Kelly Estácio, Preta Ferreira, Luciane Dom, Renata Souza, Carol Daffara, Ryane Leão, Sueide Kinté and Nara Couto.[1][3][6]

Discography
  • Ao Vivo (2018)
  • Igreja Lesbiteriana, Um Chamado (2019)

Singles
  • "Boto Fé" (2020)

References
  1. Caetano, Bruna; Hermanson, Marcos (8 September 2019). "Cota não é esmola: Cantora Bia Ferreira fala sobre música como "artivismo"". Brasil de Fato. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  2. Velleda, Luciano (8 December 2012). "Bia Ferreira põe sua arte a serviço da luta contra o 'sistema opressor'". Rede Brasil Atual. Fundação Sociedade, Comunicação, Cultura e Trabalho. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  3. Cantuário, Victor André Pinheiro (30 July 2021). "O artivismo de Bia Ferreira no álbum Igreja Lesbiteriana, um Chamado: a formação de novos discursos e sujeitos sociais no tempo presente". Revista de Letras Juçara. Caxias: Universidade Estadual do Maranhão. 5 (1). ISSN 2527-1024. Retrieved 16 March 2022.
  4. ""PretaLeveza" de Bia Ferreira e Doralyce". IMMuB. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  5. Cabral, Nicolle (26 April 2019). "EXCLUSIVO: Bia Ferreira põe em evidência o contraste do feminismo negro no clipe "De Dentro do AP"". Rolling Stone Brasil. Spring Comunicação. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  6. Rodrigues, Paula (21 November 2021). "A desobediência pelo afeto". Ecoa. Grupo Folha. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  7. Toerkell, Liv (2 January 2020). "The Power of Music: Bia Ferreira on Brazil and Educating Through Music". Nothing but Hope and Passion. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  8. Silva, Douglas (9 March 2021). Bia Ferreira: assista aos melhores momentos da série MINIDocs (vídeo). Casa Natura Musical. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  9. Brenda, Vidal (25 September 2019). "Entrevista: Bia Ferreira nas linhas da história que conta a revolução". Noize. Retrieved 8 March 2022.
  10. "Bia Ferreira: "não posso me dar ao luxo de falar de amor"". Cinform. Retrieved 2018-06-10.
  11. Viola, Kamille (20 September 2019). "Rio Adentro Rio Adentro 'Amar num país onde estão pregando ódio é revolucionário', diz Bia Ferreira". Rio Adentro. Grupo Folha. Retrieved 5 March 2022.
  12. "Veja Bia Ferreira no Big Dia da Música". Dia da Música. Archived from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-06-10.
  13. Pereira, Fabiane (26 July 2021). "Bia Ferreira reflete o seu tempo através da arte". Veja Rio. Grupo Abril. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  14. "Bia Ferreira: a voz que faz o racismo tremer". Julio Maria (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-12-10.
  15. "LGBTQIA+: 7 personalidades que se destacam na luta por respeito". Terra (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2021-12-10.
  16. "Films on women empowerment, gender equality this Women's Month". Manila Standard. 27 February 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  17. "Bia Ferreira é a primeira artista convidada a participar do projeto "Sofar Sounds Curitiba Apresenta"". Mundo Livre FM. Grupo Paranaense de Comunicação. 24 September 2018. Archived from the original on 5 March 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  18. "Dia da Visibilidade Lésbica terá live-show de Bia Ferreira". Governo da Paraíba. 24 August 2020. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  19. Prado, Thais (30 September 2020). "Bia Ferreira aproxima o afrofuturo do agora com lançamento do clipe Boto Fé". Mundo Negro. Retrieved 4 March 2022.
  20. Teixeira, Lara (2 October 2020). "Bia Ferreira lança clipe afro-futurístico de "Boto Fé"; assista". Tenho Mais Discos Que Amigos!. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  21. Faria, Cristhiane (9 December 2020). ""As pessoas não estão acostumadas a ver uma preta e sapatão em campanhas publicitárias"". Rap Dab. Retrieved 14 March 2022.
  22. Pacheco, Paulo (10 March 2022). ""Agora Vai": Xamã, Bia Ferreira e Lia Clark se unem em rap sobre empoderamento". Omelete. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
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