Anthony Lake
Anthony Lake at a visit to Stockholm, June 2010.
6th Executive Director of UNICEF
Incumbent
Assumed office April 30, 2010
Preceded by	Ann Veneman
18th United States National Security Advisor
In office 1993–1997
President	Bill Clinton
Deputy	Sandy Berger
Preceded by	Brent Scowcroft
Succeeded by	Sandy Berger
Personal details
Born	(1939-04-02) April 2, 1939 (age 73) New York City, New York
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Harvard College, PhD Princeton University
Profession	Academician, diplomat, negotiator, political advisor, UNICEF Executive Director
Religion	Jewish

United Nations Children's Fund صندوق الأمم المتحدة للطفولة (Arabic) 联合国儿童基金会 (Chinese) Fonds des Nations unies pour l'enfance (French) Детский фонд Организации Объединённых Наций (Russian) Fondo de Naciones Unidas para la Infancia (Spanish)
Org type	Fund
Acronyms	unicef
Head	Anthony Lake
Status	Active
Established	December 1946
Website	http://www.unicef.org
Parent org	ECOSOC

UNICEF Flag

William Anthony Kirsopp Lake, best known as Tony Lake, (born April 2, 1939) is the Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), author, academic, and former American diplomat, Foreign Service Officer, and political advisor. He has been a foreign policy advisor to many Democratic U.S. presidents and presidential candidates, and served as National Security Advisor under U.S. President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997. Lake is credited as being one of the individuals who developed the policy that led to the resolution of the Bosnian War.^[1] He also held the chair of Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C. ^[2]

Early life[link]

Lake is the grandson of Kirsopp Lake, a member of the Church of England clergy who came from Oxford, England, to America in 1914 to teach New Testament studies at Harvard. Lake's father, Gerard Kirsopp Lake, was a New Deal Democrat and his mother Eleanor (née Eleanor van Someren Hard), a Republican.^[3][4]

Lake himself was born in New York City. He attended Middlesex School and Harvard College, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1961. Lake studied international economics at Trinity College, Cambridge and later received a Ph.D from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1974.

Career[link]

Lake joined the State Department in 1962, serving until 1970 as a Foreign Service Officer. Lake was an assistant to Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr. during the Vietnam War. His State Department career included assignments as consul at the US Embassy, Saigon, South Vietnam (1963), vice consul in Huế (1964–1965) and special assistant to the assistant to the president for national security affairs (1969–1970) in the Nixon administration. In 1969, he accompanied National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger on his first secret meeting with North Vietnamese negotiators in Paris. In 1970, he had a falling-out with Kissinger over the Nixon administration's Cambodian Campaign and left the State Department as a result.^[5] He later wrote a book critical of Kissinger's approach to Africa.

Lake worked for Democratic U.S. Senator Edmund Muskie of Maine in his 1972 presidential campaign. After Muskie lost the nomination to George McGovern, Lake served briefly at the Carnegie Endowment and International Voluntary Services before returning to serve as Director of Policy Planning under Jimmy Carter (1977–1981).

After Carter lost the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan, Lake became a professor, holding the Five College Professor of International Relations chair in Massachusetts (1981–1992). Lake taught at Amherst College. In 1984, he moved to Mount Holyoke College, where he taught courses on the Vietnam War, Third World revolutions, and American foreign policy. (He left Mount Holyoke College in 1993 to become National Security Advisor from 1993 to 1997.) Among his protegees at Mount Holyoke was his student research assistant Mona Sutphen who would later serve in the Barack Obama White House as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy.^[6] In 1997, he began to teach diplomacy at Georgetown University, serving as Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy until accepting his position with UNICEF.^[7]

During the 1992 presidential campaign, he was one of Clinton's chief foreign policy advisers. Lake later served as National Security Advisor (1993–1997). Told by the White House to sell his stocks in energy companies when he took the office in 1993, Lake did not do so.^[5] When Clinton decided in 1994 to allow Iran to arm the Bosnian army, Lake admitted he made a mistake when he didn't push to inform Congress of the decision.^[5]

Following Clinton's 1996 re-election, Lake was nominated to become the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, but his nomination was withdrawn due to Republican opposition.^{[citation needed]} It has also been reported that the failure of his nomination was related to his decision to withdraw support at the last minute for an Iraqi coup that might have removed Saddam Hussein without U.S. intervention.^{[citation needed]} However, others have speculated that Lake's nomination "failed, in part, because Lake stated in a television interview that he was not sure if Alger Hiss was guilty."^[8][9]

After the withdrawal of his CIA nomination, Lake became White House Special Envoy (1998–2000). As special envoy Lake mediated the drafting of the Algiers Agreement, ending the Eritrean-Ethiopian War.

Lake co-founded Intellibridge Corporation in 2000 with David Rothkopf. In 2005 the assets of Intellibridge were acquired by the Eurasia Group.

Lake was a foreign policy adviser for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, having endorsed him over Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, whom he had worked alongside during the Clinton administration.^[10][11] Lake was considered a potential Secretary of State until Sen. Clinton was named to the position.

Lake was an advisory board member for the Partnership for a Secure America, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to recreating the bipartisan center in American national security and foreign policy. He has also served as chair on the boards of the United States Fund for UNICEF and the Marshall Legacy Institute. He also is serving a term from 2005-2010 on the Mount Holyoke College Board of Trustees.

On March 16, 2010, Lake was named by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as the next Executive Director of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), following his nomination by U.S. President Barack Obama.^[12][13]

On April 30, 2010, he officially entered the post, succeeding Ann Veneman, a former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Spiritual journey[link]

Lake was raised in the Congregational Church, but recounts that he "embarked on his spiritual journey as a young man," first converting to the Episcopal Church. However, since then he had "long been drawn to Judaism," and "began to feel strongly that I wanted to be part of that community." He ultimately converted to Judaism in 2005, before marrying Julie Katzman, currently the General Manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF). He credits Katzman's religious faith as the impetus responsible for his decision to investigate his attraction to Judaism more fully, and began studying with former Navy Chaplain Rabbi Arnold Resnicoff (who was serving with him on the Board of Trustees of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs) for a full year before his conversion. Later, Resnicoff officiated at his marriage to Katzman.^[3]

However, Lake jokes that he was Jewish in the eyes of others well before his formal conversion. First, in 1997, when news broke that Secretary of State Madeline Albright had discovered that she had Jewish ancestors, and a story about other Jews in the Administration mistakenly reported that Clinton's "entire national security team was Jewish." Based on that news story, Lake recounts, his name was added to the list used by the White House Liaison to the Jewish community, and Lake began to receive invitations to special events, such as the White House Hanukkah Party -- and he says he was delighted to accept those invitations. The second time was two years later, when a 1999 Washington Post story described a new release of Watergate-era tapes of conversations between President Richard Nixon and H.R. Haldeman, his Chief of Staff. Those tapes included a conversation where Nixon asks if Lake is Jewish, and Haldeman responds, "Well, I'm not so sure, but he looks Jewish." Based on these tapes, Lake claims that, "Now I can trace my [Jewish] heritage all the way back to Nixon!" ^[3]

Family[link]

Lake has three children, from his marriage to his first wife, Antonia, which ended in 1995.^[3] His second child is a godson of his former colleague, Richard Holbrooke.^[14]

Books authored[link]

• More Than Humanitarianism: A Strategic U.S. Approach Toward Africa (2006, co-author with Christine Todd Whitman)
• 6 Nightmares: The Real Threats to American Security (2001)
• After the Wars: Reconstruction in Afghanistan, Central America, Indochina, the Horn of Africa, and Southern Africa (1990, editor)
• Somoza Falling: A Case Study of Washington at Work (1989)
• Third World Radical Regimes: U.S. Policy Under Carter and Reagan (1985)
• Our Own Worst Enemy: The Unmaking of American Foreign Policy (1984, co-author)
• The "Tar Baby" Option: American Policy Toward Southern Rhodesia (1976).
• Legacy of Vietnam: The War, American Society, and the Future of U.S. Foreign Policy (1976, contributing editor)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anthony Lake

• An article about Lake's conversion to Judaism, and how he went from being Bill Clinton's National Security Advisor to a supporter of Barack Obama.
• Mount Holyoke biography
• Lake's Georgetown Homepage
• Source Watch entry for Anthony Lake
• National Security Archive on Nixon's consideration of use of nuclear weapons in Viet Nam and Anthony Lake's role
• A blog post on the "Rubin Lake Incident" in Guam
• UN Biography Anthony Lake

v t e National Security Advisors of the United States Cutler • Anderson • Jackson • Cutler • Gray • Bundy • Rostow • Kissinger • Scowcroft • Brzezinski • Allen • Clark • McFarlane • Poindexter • Carlucci • Powell • Scowcroft • Lake • Berger • Rice • Hadley • Jones • Donilon

Antony and the Johnsons
Background information
Genres	Baroque pop
Years active	1998–present
Labels	Secretly Canadian Rough Trade
Website	www.antonyandthejohnsons.com
Members
Antony Hegarty Julia Kent Parker Kindred Jeff Langston Rob Moose Maxim Moston Doug Wieselman Thomas Bartlett

Antony and the Johnsons are a music group presenting the work of Antony Hegarty and his collaborators.

Career[link]

British experimental musician David Tibet of Current 93 heard a demo and offered to release Antony's music through his Durtro label. The debut album, Antony and the Johnsons, was released in 1998. In 2001, Hegarty released a short follow-up EP, I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy, which, in addition to the title track, included a cover of "Mysteries of Love", a David Lynch/Angelo Badalamenti song and "Soft Black Stars", a Current 93 cover.

Producer Hal Willner heard the EP and played it to Lou Reed, who immediately recruited him for his project The Raven. Now gaining more attention, Hegarty signed to US-based record label Secretly Canadian, and released another EP, The Lake, with Lou Reed guest-performing on one of the tracks. Secretly Canadian also re-released Hegarty's debut album in the United States to wider distribution in 2004.

Antony's second full-length album, 2005's I Am a Bird Now, was greeted with positive reviews and significantly more mainstream attention. The album featured guest appearances by Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright, Boy George and Devendra Banhart, and circled themes of duality and transformation. I Am a Bird Now featured arrangements by Maxim Moston and Julia Kent and was mixed by Doug Henderson. In September 2005 Antony and the Johnsons were awarded the Mercury Prize^[1] for the best UK album of 2005. Rival Mercury nominees, and favorites for the prize, the Kaiser Chiefs suggested that Antony got in on a technicality; despite the fact he was born in the United Kingdom he spent much of his time in the US — although they later apologized for the suggestion that he wasn't a deserving winner.

	"Blue Angel" noicon Sample of Antony & the Johnsons Blue Angel
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Antony and the Johnsons collaborated with experimental film-maker Charles Atlas and presented TURNING in November 2006 in Rome, London, Paris, Madrid, and Braga. Thirteen women from New York City were presented in intimate live video portraits during the course of the concert.^[2] The Guardian called the piece "fragile, life affirming, and truly wonderful (five stars)". Le Monde in Paris hailed TURNING as "Concert-manifeste transsexuel".

In 2006, the song Bird Gerhl was used in V for Vendetta. It was also included in the soundtrack released by Astralwerks Records, which featured artists such as Julie London and Cat Power along with instrumental work by composer Dario Marianelli.

Antony and the Johnsons' 5-song Another World EP was released on October 7, 2008. Antony and the Johnsons' third album, The Crying Light,^[3] was released on January 19, 2009 and went to #1 on the European Billboard charts.^[4] Antony has described the theme of the album as being "about landscape and the future".^[5] Nature, death, love and the role of the artist were explored across ten tracks, which included the single "Epilepsy Is Dancing." The album was mixed by Bryce Goggin and included arrangements by Nico Muhly.

Ann Powers wrote of The Crying Light for the LA Times online, “it's the most personal environmentalist statement possible, making an unforeseen connection between queer culture's identity politics and the green movement. As music, it's simply exquisite -- more controlled and considered than anything Antony and the Johnsons have done and sure to linger in the minds of listeners."^[6]

After touring throughout North America and Europe in support of their new album, Antony and the Johnsons presented a unique staging of The Crying Light with the Manchester Camerata at the Manchester Opera House for the 2009 Manchester International Festival. The concert hall was transformed into a crystal cave filled with laser effects created by installation artist Chris Levine. Antony and the Johnsons went on to present concerts with symphonies across Europe in Summer 2009, including the Opera Orchestra of Lyon, the Metropole Orchestra, Roma Sinfonietta and the Montreux Jazz Festival Orchestra. At Salle Playel in Paris, Antony appeared in a costume designed for him by Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy.

After two sold out concerts at the Sydney Opera House, Antony and the Johnsons ended their recent touring in February 2010 in Tokyo. Antony, Johanna Constantine and William Basinski performed at the Sogetsu Hall with butoh master Yoshito Ohno, the son of the 103 year-old dancer Kazuo Ohno, whose image graces the cover of The Crying Light.^[7] Kazuo Ohno died in June of that year, and Antony wrote an obituary for the dancer in The Guardian.^[8]

September 2010 saw the release of the Thank You For Your Love EP which includes covers of Dylan's "Pressing On" and Lennon's "Imagine". The Sun listed Thank You For Your Love as single of the week on August 27, 2010.

Antony and the Johnsons released a 4th album Swanlights on October 12, 2010 through Secretly Canadian and Rough Trade Records. Simultaneously, Abrams Books published a book edition of Swanlights featuring Antony's drawings and collages with photography by Don Felix Cervantes. Antony and the Johnsons performed "Thank You For Your Love" on both The Late Show with David Letterman and Later With Jools Holland in support of the album’s release. In October 2010 Antony was invited to "takeover" The Guardian's music and arts page that ran for weeks leading up to the release of Swanlights.^[9] Stereogum placed Swanlights in its Top 50 Albums of the year at #8.^[10]

In tribute to Kazuo Ohno, Antony and the Johnsons performed on October 30, 2010 at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall with the Orchestra of St. Luke's and featured the film "Mr. O's Book Of The Dead" directed by Chiaki Nagano and starring Kazuo Ohno.^[11]

In January 2011, Antony was a guest on "Winterguest", a program on Dutch Television's VPRO channel and was interviewed by Leon Verdonschot.

In 2010-2011, the song "Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground" from the album The Crying Light was chosen as one of the five stimuli that the International Baccalaureate Organization chose for the IB Theatre Arts PPP.

On January 26, 2012, the Museum of Modern Art in New York produced a sold-out performance by Antony and the Johnsons, entitled "Swanlights" after their fourth studio album, at Radio City Music Hall, a collaboration with laser artist Chris Levine and set designer Carl Robertshaw. Hailed a triumph by the New York Times, the spectacle was prefaced by a speech from Dr. Julia Yasuda, who said: “I am concerned about nature changing and dying. Won’t you please help her? Otherwise the world will be too lonely”. The New York Times entitled their article about the concert as "Cries From the Heart, Crashing Like Waves".^[12]

On March 14, 2012, the Southbank Centre in London announced that Antony would direct Meltdown 2012. Since 1993, some of the world's most distinguished musicians including Nick Cave, John Peel, Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, David Bowie and, most recently, Ray Davies, have directed Meltdown, hand-picking their ideal festival by inviting their favourite artists to play, perform and exhibit their work at Southbank Centre. Meltdown 2012 will see Antony create a line-up of twelve days of music, debate and performance that reflects his interests, influences and passions.

Political and ecological views[link]

In interviews around the world in 2010, Antony described his work on Swanlights and The Crying Light as "a collision between joy and a sense of hopelessness". Antony said he was struggling to come to terms with the idea that he was part of a society that was having a “virulent” impact on the earth.^[13] He suggested that the degradation of nature was partially a result of the subjugation of women and earth-based spiritual systems.^[13] Antony also blamed the collapse of humanity's sustainable relationship with the earth in part on the rise of patriarchal religions that suggest the destiny of humanity to be "a paradise elsewhere". Interview Magazine describes Swanlights as “an emotional personal call for global, collective change”.^[14]

Influence on other artists[link]

In November 2011, the English folk group The Unthanks released a live album, The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons.

Band members[link]

Current members include:

• Antony Hegarty - lead vocals, piano
• Julia Kent (previously of Rasputina) - cello
• Parker Kindred - drummer
• Jeff Langston - bassist
• Doug Wieselman - horns
• Maxim Moston - violin, arrangement
• Rob Moose - guitar, violin
• Thomas Bartlett - piano

Previous members have included:

• Joan Wasser - violin
• Tahrah Cohen aka Todd Cohen

Bibliography[link]

• Antony and the Johnsons, Swanlights, Abrams Image, 2010
• Jerome Solal, La Voix d'Antony, Le Mot et le Reste, 2011

Discography[link]

EPs[link]

• I Fell in Love with a Dead Boy (Durtro, January 2001; reissued on Rebis Music, 2006)
• The Lake (EP) (Secretly Canadian, November 2004)
• Hope There's Someone (Secretly Canadian, June 2005) UK #44^[15]
• You Are My Sister (Secretly Canadian, Rough Trade, November 2005) UK #39^[15]
• Another World (EP) (Secretly Canadian, October 7, 2008) US #179, UK Budget Albums #6^[15]
• Thank You for Your Love (Secretly Canadian, August 30, 2010)
• Swanlights (EP) (Secretly Canadian and Rough Trade Records, April 26, 2011)

Singles[link]

• "Cripple and the Starfish"
• "Epilepsy Is Dancing" (Secretly Canadian, 7 April 2009)
• "Aeon" (Secretly Canadian, 4 August 2009)

Promo singles[link]

• "Calling for Vanished Faces" / "Virgin Mary" 7" (Durtro, May 2003) (Split single with Current 93; Limited to 500 copies)

Live albums[link]

• Live at St. Olave's (Durtro, May 2003)
• Cut the World (Rough Trade, 2012) ^[17]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antony and the Johnsons

Wikinews has related news: Antony & The Johnsons win Mercury Music Prize

• Antony and the Johnsons
• Antony and the Johnsons on Myspace
• Secretly Canadian artist page
• Concerts and Interviews on NPR Music

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Daniela Mercury
Daniela Mercury at São João do Pelourinho in 2009.
Background information
Birth name	Daniela Mercuri de Almeida
Also known as	Daniela Mercury
Born	(1965-07-28) July 28, 1965 (age 46)
Origin	Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
Genres	Latin pop, Axé, Samba-reggae, MPB
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	1989–present
Labels	Estúdio Eldorado Epic Records BMG/MTV Sony Music EMI
Associated acts	Companhia Clic
Website	DanielaMercury.art.br

Daniela Mercury (born Daniela Mercuri de Almeida on July 28, 1965), is a Latin Grammy Award-winning Brazilian axé, samba-reggae and MPB singer, songwriter and record producer. Since her breakthrough, Mercury has become one of the best known Brazilian female singers, selling over 20 million albums worldwide.^[1] She is also the Brazilian female performer with most #1 hits in the country, with 14.^{[citation needed]}

Early life[link]

Daniela Mercuri de Almeida was born on July 28, 1965,^[2] in the Portuguese Hospital in Salvador, Bahia.^[3] Her mother is Liliana Mercuri, a social worker^[4] of Italian ancestry,^[5] and her father is António Fernando de Abreu Ferreira de Almeida, a Portuguese-born^[5] industrial mechanic.^[4] Mercury grew up in a middle class household in the Brotas neighborhood of Salvador with her four siblings: Tom, Cristiana, Vânia (who would also become a singer, billed as Vânia Abreu), and Marcos.^[2][5] A trouble-maker as a child, Mercury was nicknamed "drip-fire".^[6] She attended both the Ana Néri School and the Colégio Baiano.^[6]

When Mercury was eight years old, she began taking dance lessons,^[5] particularly learning classical ballet, jazz and African dances.^[7] At age 13, influenced by the work of Elis Regina, she decided to become a singer.^[5][8] Her repertoire consisted of bossa nova as well as the music of Caetano Veloso, Gilberto Gil, and Chico Buarque.^[5] To the unease of her parents, she started singing in local bars, beginning in 1980.^[5] She made her trio elétrico debut soon afterward, during the 1981 carnival.^[5] Mercury's zeal for dance eventually led her to the Federal University of Bahia, where she enrolled in the Dance School in 1984^[5] A year later she married electronic engineer Zalther Póvoas^[9] and became a mother, giving birth to Gabriel Almeida Póvoas.^[5] A year after later she had another child, daughter Giovana Almeida Póvoas.^[5]

Career[link]

Early career (1984-1990)[link]

From 1986 to 1988, Mercury was the lead singer for the band Cheiro de Amor.^[10] Mercury continued to pursue a career in music and, by 1988, was a backup singer for Gilberto Gil.^[5][8] In 1989, recorded her first two albums as the lead singer of pop band Companhia Clic.^[10] Their songs "Pega que Oh!" and "Ilha das Bananas" became minor hits in Bahia radio stations. As the 1990s began, Mercury decided to pursue a solo career.^[10]

Rise to fame (1991-1993)[link]

Mercury's self-titled debut album was released in 1991 through independent record company Eldorado. The lead single of the album, "Swing da Cor", which features Olodum, became a number-one hit in Brazil,^[10] and the album was soon known as Swing da Cor. Another song from the album, "Menino do Pelô", which also features Olodum, became Mercury's second top-ten hit in Brazil, charting at number four. On the following year, Mercury shut off from the record company and, ever since, produces her own albums to negotiate the distribution of them later with the labels that are interested.

In 1992, Mercury became an independent artist, which means she would start to produce her own albums and sell them to record companies (since then, she has founded a production company called Canto da Cidade and Páginas do Mar, a publishing house). That same year, O Canto da Cidade was released through Sony. The title track became a number-one hit in Brazil for months. The album gave Mercury the distinction of being the first singer to sell more than two million copies in Brazil.^[11] The singles "Batuque", "O Mais Belo dos Belos" and "Você Não Entende Nada" all became number-one hits, while "Só pra te Mostrar", which features Herbert Vianna, was a top-ten hit.

Artistic development (1994-2000)[link]

In 1994, Música de Rua was released through Sony. The album was received with lukewarm reviews, with some critics complaining about the similarities between this album and its predecessor. Nevertheless, the album was very well received by the public, selling more than one million copies and producing the hits "Música de Rua", "O Reggae e o Mar" (both number-one hits), "Por Amor ao Ilê" (a top-ten hit) and "A Rosa" (top-twenty). This was Mercury's first album to produce singles which have failed to chart.

In 1996, Feijão com Arroz was released through Sony. This album was much more well-received by the critics than its predecessor. It is Mercury's most well rated album at Allmusic, with four and a half stars. As of today, Feijão com Arroz is Mercury's second best selling album, behind only O Canto da Cidade. It produced the hits "À Primeira Vista", "Nobre Vagabundo", "Rapunzel" (all number-one hits), "Minas com Bahia" (which features Samuel Rosa from Skank and was a top-twenty hit) and "Feijão de Corda" (a top-ten hit).

In 1998, Mercury's first live album, Elétrica was released through Sony. It sold almost half a million copies and produced the top-ten hit "Trio Metal", which charted at number eight.

Experimentation with electronica (2000-2004)[link]

Mercury performing in the concert Solidariedade Brasil-Noruega on October 7, 2003 in Teatro Nacional, Brasília

In 2000, Mercury released her fifth studio album, Sol da Liberdade, through BMG. The album sold almost a million copies and produced two number-one singles ("Ilê Pérola Negra" and a cover of Antonio Marcus' "Como Vai Você"). The album, which was produced by Suba, was innovative in Mercury's career for its fusion with electronic music sounds.

The following year, Mercury released Sou de Qualquer Lugar through BMG. The album sold half of its predecessor, but was able to produce the number-one single "Mutante", a cover of Rita Lee. In this album, Mercury also experimented with electronic sounds.

In April 2003, Mercuy's second live album, Eletrodoméstico – MTV Live, was released through BMG. It was recorded on January 23 and 24 of that same year at the Castro Alves Theater in Salvador for MTV Brasil. It was also released in the DVD format, Mercury's first. Among the artists who performed with the singer were Dulce Pontes, Rosario Flores, Jovanotti, Carlinhos Brown and Olodum. The sales were very inferior to Mercury's previous and it only produced one top twenty hit ("Meu Plano").

In 2004, Carnaval Eletrônico was released through BMG. For the recording of this album, Mercury invited DJs and producers of electronic music in Brazil, as well as Gilberto Gil, Carlinhos Brown, and Lenine. It is a commemorative disc celebrating the five years of her having formed TrioTechno, the first trio elétrico of electronic music in Bahian Carnaval. The disc received a Latin Grammy nomination for best pop album of the year and Mercury was nominated for a TIM Award for best female pop/rock vocalist. Internet users voted Carnaval Eletrônico the best pop album of the year online in one of Brazil’s most important weekly magazines Revista Isto É.

Back to basics (2005-2007)[link]

In 2005, Clássica was released through Som Livre on both CD and DVD. Recorded from a concert Mercury gave the year before at São Paulo's Casa de Espetáculo, the album is a sampler of bossa nova, jazz, and some of her biggest MPB hits. The record signaled a new phase for Mercury, who chose independence from record companies to gain full control of her work. Mercury was in London, during the July 7 bombings.^[12]

That same year, Mercury's eighth studio album, Balé Mulato, was released, but through EMI. The album was very well received by the critics, with some even saying it was Mercury's best album since Feijão com Arroz (1996). It was not, however, very well received by the public, with none of the singles being able to chart on the top-ten; a large part due to lack of record company support. The next year, the Latin Grammy Award-winning live version of Balé Mulato, was released. Daniela Mercury has completed her newest release, Canibália. Canibalia was launched in October 2009.

Reinventing Popular Culture in the 21st century through Artistic Cannibalism (2010- Present)[link]

Though Canibália was launched in Argentina, Brazil and Portugal in 2009 it is in 2010 that Mercury revs up the ideology of Canibália. Having presented Canibália to over 7,000,000 spectators, by 2011 Mercury sets the bar high releasing Canibália internationally with a major mission:

Canibália, Daniela Mercury’s latest endeavor, reaches into the future by traveling through the continuum of two significant upheavals that marked Brazilian culture forever: The Brazilian Modernist Movement spawned by the Oswaldo Andrade’s 1928 Manifesto Antropófago, the 1968 Tropicalia Movement launched by Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso’s recording Tropicália: ou Panis et Circensis. Given Daniela Mercury's well known penchant to continuously innovate, it comes as no surprise that she, like her predecessors, would promulgate yet another phase of a passionate and intelligently articulated reinvention of Brazilian popular culture – Canibália. Despite the implied contradictions, Canibália encompasses elements from indigenous, traditional and modern culture as well as the domestic and international musical scenes. Canibália debuts on the 14 tracks of Mercury’s new release entitled–Canibália- an intrinsic Brazilian collection of Pop, Samba, Samba-Bossa, Samba-Reggae, Merengue, Axe and Salsa with a definitive Electronic base that permeates throughout. The Canibália continuum shall include a series of sound recordings by the Artist and her peers, visual art exhibits, DVD’s and film.

Historical Context: Manifesto Antropófago [Cannibalist Manifesto][link]

Jose Oswald de Andrade Souza (1890 –October 1954) was a Brazilian poet and a controversial thinker. Born in São Paulo, Andrade was one of the founders of the Brazilian Modernist movement and a member of the Group of Five, including Mário de Andrade, Anita Malfatti, Tarsila do Amaral Oswald de Andrade]. Andrade is recognized by his nationalist, Manifesto Antropofago [Cannibalist Manifesto], published in 1928. The manifesto argues that based on the premise that the history of Brazil has, as its greatest strength, the power to cannibalize others and simultaneously plays with the idea of cannibalism as a modern primitivism; like a presumed tribal rite. Cannibalism then, becomes a way for Brazil to reaffirm itself against the cultural domination of Post Colonial Europe. The iconic phrase of the manifesto “Tupi or not Tupi” is as much a celebration of the Tupinamba, a documented tribe of cannibals, as it is an act of genius cannibalizing Shakespeare’s, “To be or not to be”.

“Canibália is an embrace, a swallow of Tropicália, the Clube da Esquina and everything that has since been created in the arts in Brazil since the – ‘Semana de 22’ [‘Semana de Arte Moderna de 1922 ’-The Week of Modern Art] – I yearn for the liberty that comes from this anthropophagic movement, of the Cannibalist Manifesto by Oswald de Andrade and its practice by Mario [de Andrade), who spoke that these mixtures reinforce our [Brazilian] identity” – Daniela Mercury

Personal life[link]

In 1984, at 19, Mercury got married to electronic engineer Zalther Portela Laborda Póvoas, her high school boyfriend.^[6][13] The next year, on September 3, 1985, she gave birth to their first child, Gabriel (who is also a singer and songwriter). The following year, she gave birth to a girl named Giovanna (who is now a dancer in Mercury's ensemble). In 1996, Mercury and Póvoas divorced.^[11] That same year, she was pointed by the sensationalist media as the reason for the split between Chico Buarque and Marieta Severo. In an interview to Istoé magazine, Mercury said that "it was a levity what they did, an irresponsibility that caused an uproar in my life and in the lives of both of them".^[14]

Controversies[link]

At late 2005, Mercury, a devout Catholic, was uninvited from a Christmas concert in the Vatican City due to her endorsement of a Ministry of Health campaign encouraging young people to use condoms.^[15] Church officials feared she would use the occasion to promote the use of condoms.^[16]

In 2006, Mercury openly opposed to Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva's reelection. This has drawn criticism from other artists, such as Zeca Baleiro, which accused her of being favored by the late Antônio Carlos Magalhães, a controversial oligarch from Bahia (which she denied vehemently). Later that same year, in an interview to Folha de S. Paulo, Mercury declared she was against reelections in general. She also said to have voted in Lula four times and that she was disappointed "by his first term (...), shocked with all these scandals". However, she said to hope that "Brazil will now have the four years of Lula that we hoped it would be in the first term."^[17]

Philanthropy[link]

Mercury has performed at a large number of charitable events. She is the second Brazilian honored as an ambassador for UNICEF (Renato Aragão was the first). She is also an ambassador for UNAIDS and UNESCO. She has performed at Rede Globo's annual charity Criança Esperança for fifteen consecutive years (1992–2007). She also represents various non-profit organizations including Caravana da Musica which has spawned her own Instituto Sol da Liberdade.

Discography[link]

See: Daniela Mercury discography

Videography[link]

References[link]

• (Portuguese) Biography at the dictionary of MPB
• (Portuguese) Biography at gossip site O Fuxico

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Daniela Mercury

• Daniela Mercury's Official website
• Brazil on the Beach Webpage- with photos of event