Gig Preview: Music Spoken Here presents Baiana
The Marr’s Bar, 12 Pierpoint Street, Worcester WR1 1TA
Thursday 12th November, 7:30pm doors for 8pm start
£18 on the door for non-members (complimentary admission for Club Members)
Leading Worcestershire contemporary live music promoter Music Spoken Here presents the grand finale to their ‘Brazilian Love Affair in Worcester’ on Thursday 12th November, with Baiana.
The series, an exploration of the broad spectrum of Brazilian music and its influence on UK artists, started in September with an exclusive gig from Brazilian bassist, composer and producer Frederico Heliodoro – one of just two UK dates at the start of his first European tour as a featured artist. Since then, exceptional pianist Niel Angilley and in-demand session drummer Tristan Banks each brought their bands to the city, demonstrating how their love of Brazilian music and rhythm has influenced their own music.
The series comes to a spectacular end with Baiana, fronted by the hugely charismatic Laura Doyle, backed by some of the top musicians on the UK circuit. Laura was studying European politics in Brussels when she met an Italian diplomat on the escalator in a metro station. They immediately hit it off, and a month later they moved to Brazil, where Laura felt she had “found her spiritual home”, with a culture that embraced everything and music that she says, “knocked me for six!”. Learning Portuguese led to another chance occurrence around 2009 when, back in her hometown of Liverpool, a friend needed a Portuguese translator urgently, within an hour of Manchester airport, where Rafael and Fabio da Silva were about to arrive for a meeting with Manchester United. This led to a career (in her own words, her “side hustle”) as a football agent for CAA Stellar, where she is now the Head of Elite Women’s Sport, scouting, signing and managing female football talent.
Always a performer, she studied in Paris with master clown Philippe Gaulier, who passed away in February this year and includes Sacha Baron Cohen among his many students. One of her friends from clown school was putting on an event at L’escargot in London and asked her to sing, as he already had “too many clowns”. Insisting that she wanted to do Brazilian music (even though the producer felt it was “a bit niche”), her contribution to this show, which included a rendition of Geraldo Periera’s classic ‘Falsa Baiana’, became the pivotal moment she realised ‘Baiana’ was her next big thing.
Her debut album, produced by British Latin fusion maestro, percussionist and producer Snowboy and mastered at Abbey Road Studios, was released in November 2023 with 11 original songs. It features over 20 incredible musicians, including The Haggis Horns and a full string section, and enjoyed recognition as Album of the Week on Jazz FM, with songs from the album featuring on the national station’s A-List for 25 weeks. The live band headlined the Southend Jazz Festival and proved a hugely popular draw at Love Supreme and Ealing Jazz festivals. They also opened for Brazilian supremo Gilberto Gil on his UK tour.
Baiana’s performance at The Marr’s Bar will feature fellow Liverpudlian guitarist John Wheatcroft and Uruguayan bassist Andres Lafone, along with pianist Neil Angilley and drummer Davide Giovannini, who have both appeared together and separately on several occasions over the last few years on the Music Spoken Here programme, which has become a core feature of the progressive Worcester live music scene.
Doors open at 7:30pm with resident DJ MooreFeJazz getting the house warmed up for Baiana starting around 8pm. Admission is complementary for Music Spoken Here Club Members, or £18 on the door for non-members.