With all its broken promises, heartache, and failing economy, the United States is still a great country. It's become fashionable these days for Americans to bash their own homeland, but I won't do that. It's not only disrespectful to ourselves, it's incongruent with the fact that many people from other parts of the world still want to live here. Say what you will, the U.S. is the easiest and safest place to reinvent yourself, period.
Anyway. This post is not about immigration, but about one particular immigrant, a wonderful musician from Belo Horizonte, Brazil who was named a "Chicagoan of the year" by the Chicago Tribune and "Person of the Year" by Brazil Club in 2010. Paulinho Garcia started out in life on a path to becoming an electrical engineer, but he is a fantastic player and singer who has very quietly gained a devoted following over the years -- first in the Chicago area, and now everywhere. I first heard his music a couple of years ago on DJ Cube's bossa nova station on Sky.fm, and just loved his mature, mellow voice and the beauty and simplicity of his original compositions. His album of original songs, My Very Life, got a favorable review here. Here he is doing "I'll be Calling for Maria", an ode to the U.S. and I think a very fitting way to celebrate July 4th. Happy Independence Day!
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