NEWS Two years ago, Leandro Motta Lima de Marcondes (a.k.a. Leandro Motta) – a Brazilian native currently residing in Toronto, Canada – wrote a song inspired from a groundbreaking research discovery about the world’s oldest living tree in the world by a team led by Umeå University Professor Leif Kullman.
The discovery of the 9,550 year-old spruce tree in Dalarna, Sweden by a research team headed by Leif Kullman, professor at Umeå University's department of ecology and environmental science, received tremendous international attention and inspired Leandro Motta so much that it resulted in the song titled “The Risk.”
Leandro describes his inspiration as follows: “The story fascinated me in regards to our existence as human beings. What did we do wrong? With no progress or science support it survived that much. A lesson of resilience and instinctive surviving lust, of which we long lost track. Perhaps it's the missing link of a long lost capability, which we should now reclaim. The ability to humbly learn from the environment and then finally have our progress to work for all of us instead of against us."
Original press release (16 April 2008)
Listen to "The Risk" and read the complete lyrics: http://soundcloud.com/le-motta/the-risk
Leandro Motta Lima de Marcondes is a singer, song writer, producer and bass player with 20 years of experience. He was born in Rio de Janeiro – Brazil, and has Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education at the University of Rio de Janeiro (UNI-RIO) and had the chance to study with Hans Joaquim Koellreuter – mentor and teacher of Antonio Carlos Jobim and other famous musicians.
During his life as a full-time musician, Leandro has collaborated for more than 9 years – playing bass and singing - with the American harmonica player Peter Madcat Ruth, who won a Grammy Music Award in 2006 and was part of the Dave Brubeck’s Band in the 70’s.
Leandro Motta has recorded many CDs, including the solo album Por trás do olho mágico, in which he sang, played bass guitar and percussion, wrote and produced. He has played on high popular National Broadcast TV Shows and also joined forces with many artists, including former members of the gold and platinum legendary Brazilian rock band named Blitz.
In 2008 Leandro Motta moved to Toronto, Canada. In this ‘new chapter’ he met Kgomotso Tsatsi (a.k.a. KG, a former South African Idol finalist). He was bass player and singer in the band called KG and the VIPs, which won the 2008 Honey Jam at Much Music TV. In the following year he also formed the multicultural project Fresh off the Boat.
He graduated as Audio Engineer at TARA / EMI Music Publishing Canada and has worked with Martin ‘Doc’ McKinney, producer of Sting and Sinead O’Connor among others.
Homepage: http://www.leandromotta.com/
Photo courtesy of Leandro Motta
Editor: David Meyers