Giving a sweet voice to Cupid's flight

You may be more familiar with the singing voice of Lisa Ono than with her name.

Ono is a vocalist from Japan. Her songs are frequently played in coffee shops, restaurants and hotel lounges in China. Many are rearrangements of pop hits in the style of bossa nova.

Ono is touring China and her Shanghai concert, named Bossa Romance, is scheduled for Valentine's Day.

"Lisa's songs are pleasant to the ear, relaxing and particularly well received in China," says Sun Mengjin, a Shanghai-based music critic.

The music style of bossa nova developed in Brazil in the 1950-60s, Sun says. It is a lyrical fusion of samba and jazz. "Ono adds to it a languid feeling, and the gentleness of an Asian female artist. That has made her especially successful in China and the whole of Asia."

Ono was born in Brazil in 1962, and spent her childhood there. Later her family moved to Japan, and her father opened a Brazilian restaurant, where she started performing bossa nova and samba. She plays the guitar and piano, and writes her own songs.

The rich musical culture of Brazil made a great impact on Ono.

"There were so many immigrants from all over the world - African, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Italian, German," she says in a telephone interview. "I think I was lucky to be born in Brazil, to be a musician.

"To sing samba, you need lots of energy. I am an Asian girl. I can express myself better with bossa nova."

Although she has not been to Brazil for many years, she still feels a deep relationship with the country, and sometimes cooks Brazilian food for her family in Japan.

She has recorded more than 20 albums since her first, Catupiry, was released in 1989. Her 1999 album Dream, consisting of Americans songs and film music from the 1940s and '50s, sold more than 200,000 copies.

Bossa nova has been a well-established music style and the most popular songs were composed decades ago, "almost like classical music", Ono says. What she did was "add other kinds of music, like country music, Italian and Chinese songs" to the standard repertoire.

In the past few years, she has toured frequently on the Chinese mainland and other Asian countries. Last year, she sang the theme song for the Chinese film Fall of Ming.

She also served as a judge for the TV singing competition Asian Wave, shown on Dragon TV in China. "It was the first time for me (as a singing competition judge)," she says. The talented young musicians in China and other Asian countries have inspired her to "make me do my things better than ever".

For her new China tour, she has prepared a bossa nova adaptation of Wo Yuanyi (I'm Willing), a Chinese hit song by Faye Wong. "I didn't change a lot, just added a little bit of the rhythm of bossa nova to the melody," Ono says. "Basically it's still the same feeling, a beautiful romantic ballad."

IF YOU GO

Bossa Romance, Lisa Ono’s Valentine’s Day concert 7:30 pm, Feb 14. Shanghai Grand Stage, 1111 Caoxi Beilu (North Road). 021-6217-2426.