May East
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- World music
- Electronica le-ie Tribal
- Singer-songwriter
- Vocals
- keyboards
May East | |
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| Born | 29 January 1956 |
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| Years active | 1978–2002 |
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May East, PhD (also known as Maria Elisa Capparelli Pinheiro) is a British/Brazilian urbanist, educator, singer and songwriter. Over the years she has considered herself an artivist.[1]
East comes from an artistic community stretching between São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. East's art expressed a deep concern for Brazil's environment both in the major cities and the country's interior, specially the rainforests of the Amazon.
East started her career as a singer in the band Gang 90 & Absurdettes in 1981. Their songs mixed new-wave with beatnik poetry and a female choir, inspired by the new-wave band The B-52s. Gang 90 is considered[by whom?] to be the predecessor of all Brazilian new-wave bands of the 80s.[2]
In 1982 she collaborated with the independent TVDO videoart group[3] and in partnership with the producer Nelson Motta co-produced the TV program Mocidade Independente[4] for TV Bandeirantes.
In 1984 she released her first single, "Fire in the jungle/Índio", in Brazil, The Netherlands and Japan with EMI. Fire in the Jungle became a soundtrack for the film Areias Escaldantes directed by Francisco de Paula.
Some months later, her first album, Remota Batucada was launched.[5] The music was an original brand of electronica, folk music, and new wave pop and was coined as "tribal ie-ie". East also released the albums Tabapora and Charites. She moved to England and then to the Scottish community of Findhorn, where she focused on ecological activism and began giving lectures and seminars.[6][7] In the late 90s she released the albums: Cave of the Heart (with the Findhorn Community Chorus) and Cosmic Breath (with her ex-husband Craig Gibsone); and 1001 Faces (solo album) in 2002.
