Elza Soares acclaimed in London

Elza Soares, the queen of samba, has just returned from London in a very happy mood, because the British are in love with her. After winning the BBC Millenium Singer award, she performed at the Grosvenor House Hotel last week, in a ball for the royal family, and also at the Shepherds Bush Empire for a regular audience. "I felt like I was out of this world. I got such a violent ovation that I felt my feet above the ground. The Brits went wild", tells Elza, who, after the third encore, received two invitations to go back to London next year. The singer might play four shows at one of the most traditional jazz venues in London, Ronnie Scott’s. The other invitation is for a tour in the countryside of England.

Elza is also proud of having gotten rave reviews on the magazine Time Out, where she was compared to Louis Armstrong, Tina Turner, Edith Piaf and Celia Cruz. "Someone insisted that the journalist go check me out and he was blown away. He said that my voice was another instrument in the band", she reports. Elza sums up her experience: "Sometimes we cry smiling and smile crying. I am sure that I cried smiling. Because it was such a special moment that I wanted to share it with everybody in Brazil".