Learning Portuguese through song

Lately, I've been given the pleasant task of learning some Brazilian jazz tunes to sing with my friend/Brazilian jazz guitarist, Anthony Lanni.  His original songs are in English so those are easy enough to learn, but most of the songs I've been learning are, of course, in Portuguese.  This has proven to be a challenge.  The little Spanish that I know is barely coming in handy.  To me, Portuguese sounds more French-like with splashes of Spanish.  I'm starting to get the hang of how to pronounce certain letters I've never seen before just by constantly listening to Brazilian jazz artists.  One of my favorites is Marisa Morente.  What a great voice!   I find it especially interesting that I'm actually learning a little bit of Portuguese just by singing these Brazilian songs and repeating certain words over and over.  I think that'd be a great way to learn a foreign language - through song!  I'll get there eventually with the pronunciation.  In the meantime, I'm having fun learning.  So thank you, Anthony, for forcing me to stretch my limits and learn a new genre of music. 

Anthony and I will most likely be performing together the next time he visits Michigan (he currently lives in NY).  A recording of one of our rehearsals will be up on the site soon.

More info on Anthony Lanni:  http://www.anthonylanni.com/

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