Born in Sao Paulo, Brazil in 1962, frequent chart-topper Lisa Ono was exposed to traditional Brazilian music such as samba, bossa nova, and rhumba at a tender age. The Japanese singer-guitarist returned to her home country at the age of ten, and at 15 she started winning over Japanese fans with her Brazilian art. For her performances at the Hong Kong Arts Festival between March 4 and 8, she appears with Febian Reza Pane on piano, Hitomi Yamakami on reeds, Tomokazu Sugimoto on bass, and Satoshi Ishikawa on drums.

What does bossa nova mean to you?
Bossa nova is something I’ve been listening to since I was a small child, so it is a natural way to express myself, and also it’s a philosophy of life for me.

What’s your own interpretation of the term ‘saudade’? In particular, what’s the connection between bossa nova and the blues?
‘Saudade’ is nostalgia. It’s a longing for a happiness that will never come back, or a longing for the loved ones you haven’t seen for a long time. Bossa nova sometimes has nostalgic feelings and sadness within the elements of brightness of the music itself, which are made by fun and light rhythm and atmosphere. And that brightness [makes] the nostalgia and sadness even more [strong], but also becomes the hope for the sadness. Maybe that’s the common part with the root of blues.

Your Dad was Baden Powell de Aquino's agent and owned a club while living in Brazil. After moving to Japan, he opened a new venue called Saci-Pererê, a Brazilian restaurant where Baden performed bossa nova and samba. Is the restaurant still there? How heavily were you influenced by your Dad musically?
Saci-Pererê is still there in Yotsuya, Tokyo, as a Brazilian music live spot. It’s filled with Japanese businessmen dancing to samba and drinking Brazilian drinks. Now my sister is managing the place. My father used to dream of being a musician and he listened to lots of music, and he was the first person to support me when I started music.

Who are some of your favourite non-bossa nova jazz artists?
Chet Baker, Shirley Horn, Wes Montgomery, and many others.

What’s your favourite song by Grammy award-winning Brazilian songwriter Tom Jobim?
I’ve had an opportunity to record with Tom Jobim, and we played Estrada Branca. That’s one of the special moments I recall about Jobim.

Tell me about your concert in Hong Kong. What kind of repertoire will you perform?
Mainly bossa nova standards, of course, and now I’m on a musical journey, so I would like to perform variations of other countries’ music… maybe some tunes you are familiar with.

See: www.onolisa.com.

Henry Chung is one of Hong Kong’s leading blues musicians.