The Bossa Nova Life

Eva and Sin, a couple from Macau passionate about Samba, Jazz and Bossa Nova, have been performing Brazilian music in the Chinese countryside for the past six years. 

 

They founded their band, simply named Eva & Sin, in 2016 in Dali and in June this year they released their first single entitled You Are The One You Want.  The single has met with some initial success, selling out the 100 copies that were first available. In September, the couple released a second edition of the single in Macau, this time collaborating with calligraphy artist Aquino da Silver who designed the cover. 

 

Eva and Sin started dating while still in high school, and the backing track to their young romance came in the form of Japanese-Brazilian singer-songwriter Lisa Ono, who has performed with the likes of António Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto.

 

“Brazilian music sounds relaxed, soft, sweet, romantic”, Eva notes. 

 

 

 

In 2016, they decided to move to Dali and work as professional musicians. 

 

“We chose to live in Dali because of the clean air and nature, which makes people really calm and focused,”Eva explains. “We chose to live a life of Bossa Nova.” 

 

Since then, they have been playing at festivals and events throughout the Chinese countryside. 

 

“We want to promote this musical style to the audiences in the Chinese countryside, to show people the beauty of Bossa Nova, by remaking Chinese classical songs in Mandarin in the style of Bossa Nova.” 

 

According to Eva, audiences in China are very enthusiastic about their musical style. 

 

“They feel good energy from the music”, the vocalist points out.

 

Three years ago, the band went to Portugal, where they met Brazilian musician Claudio Kumar.  He agreed to be the producer and guitarist on their new single, which also features lyrics by Pal Lok, a curator of arts and culture in Macau. They have also invited a number of famous musicians in Portugal to participate in the recording of their new album including Claudio Andrade, a former keyboardist in the Gilberto Gil band, Joel Silva, a famous jazz drummer in Portugal, and bass player Ozeas Miranda. 

 

“We are very grateful to have had the opportunity to collaborate and share our music with these amazing musicians from Portugal and Brazil,” says Eva, adding that the band is working on more songs.

 

The couple initially planned to spend their time between three cities: Macau, Dali and Lisbon. However, due to the pandemic, that dream has had to be postponed and the band has stayed in Yunnan.

 

“Covid-19 changed all our plans, but we have to move on and try to do our best when our plans cannot keep up with the changes.”

 

Eva and Sin are now waiting for the pandemic to be over so that they can travel and perform in other areas of the world.

 

“We hope, when the pandemic situation and prevention measures become more flexible, to explore the world again with our music.”

 

Find the band and listen to a preview of their new song on Facebook

 

 

 

 

Commissioned by his good friends Eva and Sin, Aquino da Silver set out to design the packaging for the second version of their single CD.

 

At their request, the design was done using Western calligraphy elements, so two parts of the commission were done using Western calligraphy. The first was the transcription of the lyrics, which was done in the American style of engraved copperplate handwriting. One of the characteristics of this style is that it may look like a quick transcription to the uninitiated, but in fact it is written in several strokes, with no rush and no delay. There is a connection between this calligraphy form and their musical development. The logo of Eva & Sin was designed using Italian script. The Italian style was popular during the Renaissance, and is an inheritance and innovation of the traditional style, a contemporary pursuit of aesthetic enhancement by educated people at that time. The style of the calligraphy is mature and modest but flexible, just like the character of the two musicians, according to Aquino.