There's just something about singer Lilian Vieira's irrepressible energy, and about the openhearted generosity of her melodies, that makes you feel better about being a human. It also makes you nod your head and move your hips. Drummer/composer Stefan Kruger (a.k.a. Stuv) and keyboardist/composer Stefan Schmid are just as inspiring and uplifting in their accompaniment. They don't limit themselves to simply providing lovely embroidery around Vieira's glistening voice (though they certainly do that, and do it admirably); they go beyond that simple function to create a complex and funky electroacoustic fabric all their own, one that includes threads from the rhythmic and melodic traditions of South America, Europe, the United States and many other regions and cultures. Lilian Vieira didn't come to a full realization of the richness and beauty of her native country's musical heritage until she relocated to the Netherlands in the late 1980s to study singing at the Rotterdam Conservatory. There she encountered fellow Brazilian musicians with whom she performed on a regular basis, and who helped deepen her appreciation of Brazilian music even as her influences expanded to include the sounds of Europe and America. "I didn't want to remain stuck in one musical tradition," she says. "Zuco 103 is almost a European product – of course my background provides inspiration, but that is mostly on a rhythmic level."
Drummer Stefan Kruger is similarly expansive in his view of what constitutes the Zuco 103 sound – he characterizes that sound as "a mix of everything that exists… It doesn't just stop with jazz, funk or bossa nova. We're continually discovering new sounds and new grooves."
For keyboardist and producer Stefan Schmid, Zuco 103 offers a chance to get away from the formal complexity and technical virtuosity of the jazz world, which is where his background lies. "When producing Zuco 103," he says, "I want to get as far away as possible from what I've ever done before." He sees the group's third album as an opportunity to expand on their already considerable stylistic innovations by combining old elements in new ways. Whaa! is, he says, a chance to "bring back the freshness of Outro Lado and mix it up with the tricks of Tales of High Fever."
