Marisa Monte Signs with Universal Music Publishing Group

Marisa Monte is going global…

The 53-year-old Brazilian star, the elegant singer, songwriter, producer and instrumentalist known for her distinctive vocals and ability to span multiple genres of Brazilian music, has signed a global administration agreement with Universal Music Publishing Group.

Marisa Monte

The deal encompasses Monte’s impressive catalog of songs on Monte Songs, spanning an almost four-decade career, including hits like “Ainda Bem,” “Depois,” “Beija Eu,” “Amor I Love You,” “Não Vá Embora,” “Já Sei Namorar,” “Velha Infância,” “Passe em Casa” and “Não é Fácil.”

Long regarded as one of Brazil’s leading female acts, Monte is also a much-admired artist globally who has worked with the likes of David ByrnePhillip GlassArnaldo Antunes and Carlinhos Brown. The latter once described her voice as “one of the most perfect in the world. It’s like the wind: soft, gentle and caressing, but it messes with everything in its path.”

Monte’s deal with Universal comes at a time when the company is led by women, a fact that she celebrated.

“I am very happy for this partnership between my catalog as a composer and a company with a female soul. Universal Music Publishing is globally chaired by a woman. UMPG Latin is led by a strong, female president who is surrounded by a capable and talented team,” said Monte in a statement. “Care, delicacy, empathy and all the feminine intelligence at the service of music. Long live the balance and the union of forces!”

Alexandra Lioutikoff, President Latin America and US Latin for UMPG, said: “Marisa Monte is […] a songwriter, artist and producer whose songs are celebrated by fans of all ages, making her a true icon in art and culture. We’re very proud to welcome her to our family and our team is eager to deliver creative opportunities to spread her music all over the world, as she deserves.”

Guerra to Direct Film Adaptation of J.M. Coetzee’s Award-Winning Book “Waiting For The Barbarians”

Ciro Guerra isn’t Waiting for his Hollywood crossover…

The 35-year-old Colombian film director and screenwriter is partnering with actor Mark Rylance and producer Michael Fitzgerald to adapt J.M. Coetzee’s award-winning book Waiting For The Barbarians for the big screen.

Ciro Guerra

Coetzee, a Nobel Prize winner for literature, adapted the novel, which the Nobel Prize committee called “a political thriller in the tradition of Joseph Conrad, in which the idealist’s naiveté opens the gates to horror.”

Waiting For The Barbarians, which first was published in 1980 and quickly amassed honors, follows a magistrate (to be played by the Oscar-winning Rylance) of a far-flung border outpost as the reckless behavior of the “Empire” he serves threatens to trigger a Barbarian invasion. He begins to question imperialism when he saves a young ‘barbarian’ (one of the indigenous people in the country) and realizes that all is not what it appears to be. After mounting a harrowing escape, he is arrested by his own people and thrown in jail only to escape and eventually become an inspiration and leader to others.

The book, which is considered Coetzee’s master work, won both the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Geoffrey Faber Memorial Prize for fiction. It has been brought to the stage before (Phillip Glass composed a two-act opera for it) but never to the big screen. Coetzee, who is South African but lives in Australia, is one of the most respected authors of this century.

Fitzgerald is the one who pulled the prestigious project together with Rylance and Guerra.

Guerra is currently in pre-production on Birds of Passage which is in pre-production to shoot in the deserts of Colombia in January. The film is the follow-up to his award-winning film Embrace of the Serpent.