Photo courtesy of UApresents

Brazilian vocalist Virg’nia Rodrigues will share her music with the university community tonight at 7:30 in Centennial Hall. Tickets are available through the venue's box office at 621-3341.

In her past, she was a cook, a manicurist and a domestic worker. Today, she is an internationally renowned vocalist hailing from Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

Thirty-five-year-old Virg’nia Rodrigues will take the stage at Centennial Hall once again tonight as she performs selections from her second album, N—s.

N—s is a tribute to the Carnival music of northern Brazil and features North American spirituals, carnival songs and a song from a theater production.

Rodrigues has completed three world tours, playing Centennial Hall for the first time during her debut tour two years ago.

"I wanted to put songs on this record that I have sung in the past," Rodrigues said in an interview during PBS's "Sessions at West 54th with World Music representative David Byrne."

"This work is a record of where I've been and where people I admire have been. It reflects the moment that I was living then and continue to live now."

Rodrigues bases her music on the mix of everything that has happened in her life, from her childhood church days to the present.

She began her singing career in Protestant and Catholic churches. She could not afford singing lessons, and developed her vocal talents in church choirs and in ceremonies involving CandomblŽ - a type of African religious music.

One of her CandomblŽ ceremony performances granted her an invitation to participate in a street-theater production done by the Olodum Theatre in Bahia. Rodrigues performed a song called "Ver™nica," a Catholic a capella chant, while unbeknownst to her, Caetano Veloso - one of the biggest names in Brazilian music - was in the audience.

Veloso, astonished by her talent, arranged for Rodrigues to debut at the Teatro Rival in Rio de Janeiro and helped with the recording of her first album, Sol Negro, which received rave reviews and garnered much success for Rodrigues. Her second album, N—s, has received as much praise, if not more.

University of Arizona director of guitar studies and music contact for UA's Brazilian Studies program, Tom Patterson, agrees that Rodrigues' style is a distinctive, rich blend.

"You can't put her in one genre," Patterson said. "You name it, she does it, whether its samba, bossa nova, MPB (popular Brazilian music) or CandomblŽ. She's very widely influenced, more than other Brazilian musicians."

Rodrigues is often compared to renowned Portuguese singer Cesaria Evora, who recently performed at Centennial Hall.

Both are black women with signature styles and original voices.

Race is an important factor in Rodrigues' music.

"I like blues, jazz, Negro spirituals, all of the music of blacks: American black music, African black music, Brazilian black music like samba and the Yoruban influences of CandomblŽ," Rodrigues said in an interview with Brazzil Magazine. "I've come to realize how close-linked I am to all of them in spirit and how each represents the irrepressible richness and vitality of the black race."

Rodrigues will return to UA tonight for one performance at 7:30.

Tickets range in price from $16 -28, with discounts available for UA faculty and staff, students and children and can be obtained at the Centennial Hall box office. There will be a free Arts Encounter discussion 45 minutes prior to the performance in the lobby of the Arizona State Museum, directly across from Centennial Hall.