Ed Motta

Son of Luzia Motta (sister of Tim Maia) and Antonio Motta,^[2][3] Ed Motta listened to disco, soul and funk from an early age. He became a fan of rock music as a teenager.

His musical career started as vocalist of the hard rock band Kabbalah.^[4] After hearing Jeff Beck's album "Blow by Blow", he realized that the British guitarist had soul and funk influences.^[5] While still in his teens, he abandoned his studies to dedicate himself to music, and explored a fascination with soul music. He worked as a DJ and produced the fanzine "Curto Circuito",^[6] eventually meeting guitarist Luiz Fernando Comprido,^[5] with whom he formed the "Expresso Realengo", later renamed "Conexão Japeri" which recorded their first album in 1988.

In 1990 Motta departed to begin his solo career, recording his debut Um Contrato Com Deus, where he played almost all the instruments by himself. Since then he has released several solo albums. In 1997 he supplied the soundtrack to the film, Pequeno Dicionário Amoroso (The Book of Love).^[7]

In 1994, he lived in New York City for a year. There he recorded an album with American musicians that has not been released yet. He discovered the universes of classical music, which eventually reflected on his musical conception. Once opposed to Brazilian music, he discovered that foreign artists had recorded Brazilian songs, such as recordings of Francis Hime's Minha by jazz artist Bill Evans,^[8] and discovered a partnership between Brazilian Marcos Valle and American Leon Ware,^[9] famous for composing the song I Wanna Be Where You Are, recorded by Michael Jackson.^[10]

In 1999 he translated Phil Collins's songs for the Disney film Tarzan into Brazilian Portuguese.^[11]

His album Aystelum was nominated for the Latin Grammy Awards of 2006 in the Latin jazz category.^[12]

Motta has worked with Cassiano, Roy Ayers, 4 Hero, Seu Jorge, Eliane Elias, Incognito, Bo Diddley and Ryuichi Sakamoto among others.^[4]

His work covers a variety of genres from jazz to popular Brazilian music, rock to Hollywood film soundtracks, funk, classical music, AOR, bossa nova and reggae.

Motta is known for controversies involving fans and fellow artists.^[13][14][15]

During a 2015 tour, Motta criticized Brazilians who at concerts would request songs in Portuguese, Brazil's native language. The singer would go on to claim those were "simple-minded", "rednecks", "native", "Brazilian bricklayers" fans of other musical genres who "jumped like animals", while calling Brazil a "shitty", "ignorant land". He has since apologized.^[16]

During an Instagram live broadcast he called hip hop fans "stupid", prompting backlash from fans and artists.^[17][18]

• Behind The Tea Chronicles (2024)
• Behind The Tea Chronicles (2024)^[19]