Katrina Geenen: MPB ambassador to New Orleans
Producer and radio show host has retrieved Brazilian Music gems in the past 20 years
Carlos Calado
08/05/2001
NEW ORLEANS — At the most famous city in the state of Louisiana, regarded by many as the homeland of the jazz, producer and radio host Katrina Geenen is known as an informal Brazilian ambassador. A lover of Brazilian music, the Pennsylvania-born plays the latest news in MPB during the show Tudo Bem (WWOZ FM), aired every Saturday. Her dedication deserves to be mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records, after all, she has done it for two decades and never got a penny for the job. "All the staff at the radio station is comprised of volunteers. I do it for the love I have of that type of music", she says.
In order to celebrate her show's 20th anniversary, last year, the producer went for a special project: she spent two months in Rio de Janeiro, producing eleven 2-hour shows. Sharing the microphone with Ryta de Cassia (formerly Rita Peixoto) and pianist and producer Carlos Fuchs, Katrina played mostly unreleased tracks of masters like Nelson Sargento, Wilson das Neves, Lucia Turnbull and, more specifically, the music made by newer generations: Mathilda Kóvak, Suely Mesquita, Betti Albano, Paulo Bahiano, Marcos Sacramento, Dil Fonseca, Rodrigo Maranhão and Pedro Luís e a Parede.
"My mission was to discover the independent music being made in Rio de Janeiro", says the producer, who met with Ryta and Fuchs by chance, during a trip in 1999. Two days later, Katrina was housed by the couple, who own a recording studio that allowed her to produce the shows.
Katrina was a professional singer, once, in New Orleans, until the early '80s, right after she debuted as a radio host. "I started out in San Diego (California) in the early '70s, doing folk music, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie...", she says. "I already appreciated Brazilian Music, but had a hard time attempting to perform it. I wasn't exactly a guitarist", she admits. "I quit performing for different reasons, but basically, because I couldn't stand the competition". In order to make a living, she decided to sell drawings and hold occasional jobs as a waitress.
In order to celebrate her show's 20th anniversary, last year, the producer went for a special project: she spent two months in Rio de Janeiro, producing eleven 2-hour shows. Sharing the microphone with Ryta de Cassia (formerly Rita Peixoto) and pianist and producer Carlos Fuchs, Katrina played mostly unreleased tracks of masters like Nelson Sargento, Wilson das Neves, Lucia Turnbull and, more specifically, the music made by newer generations: Mathilda Kóvak, Suely Mesquita, Betti Albano, Paulo Bahiano, Marcos Sacramento, Dil Fonseca, Rodrigo Maranhão and Pedro Luís e a Parede.
"My mission was to discover the independent music being made in Rio de Janeiro", says the producer, who met with Ryta and Fuchs by chance, during a trip in 1999. Two days later, Katrina was housed by the couple, who own a recording studio that allowed her to produce the shows.
Katrina was a professional singer, once, in New Orleans, until the early '80s, right after she debuted as a radio host. "I started out in San Diego (California) in the early '70s, doing folk music, Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie...", she says. "I already appreciated Brazilian Music, but had a hard time attempting to perform it. I wasn't exactly a guitarist", she admits. "I quit performing for different reasons, but basically, because I couldn't stand the competition". In order to make a living, she decided to sell drawings and hold occasional jobs as a waitress.