I feel it is more enjoyable to listen to music when we know a bit about it, have a bit of background regarding the song. That's what you find below regarding the songs that I have written and that are freely available for download at MieNet.
Since there has been so much noise about that Napster issue, let me advance that you can download these songs for free at MieNet because I am the author (composer) and so the copyright is my own.
Although I sing/play (whether professionally or in private) songs written by lots of composers from many corners of our World, due to legal reasons, none of these are available at MieNet.
Only my own musical production is available here--it's worth underlining.
You're welcome to download as many of my songs as you wish, all for free. If you happen to like a particular song, then let me know on a note and I'll feel happy for having brought some extra sunshine into your day:).
Though I've given lots of concerts--including radio & TV--in both South and North Americas & in Europe, and have also made records that have been played on the radio, I'm light years away from what could be called famous. Music has always been a second profession to me, even though one that I'd not be able to live without. Anyway, whatever the odds, it could happen that you have heard me somewhere in this World (as it has in fact happened, regarding MieNet's visitors!).
If so, then you know that every song that I sing/play carries my own trade-mark, my own interpretation, my soul...whatever we should call that personal ingredient, feeling, style that I can't help but deliver every song with.
Below, as already mentioned, you can become a bit familiar with some of the songs I have written. This may be specially interesting to you regarding my songs that you'd like to download. (If you'd like more information about any of these songs, or any other of my songs, just please drop me a note, OK?
At the end of the comments about these songs, you'll find a link to download them. Alternatively, click on the icon depicting me playing the guitar, above, and the download access page will open.
Alice in Wonderland (2.2Mb) is a jolly, light-hearted jazz-waltz that I wrote with my former husband (Paul) and with whom I play in this recording. This is an instrumental, two-guitar piece, which I'd bet could bring a smile to your heart:)...
Genuine, deeply rooted feelings, true Love, they have the wondrous ability of transcending space, time, and absence. These are automatically sublimated into a timeless Presence, which only the Heart would know how to explain.
Shades of Green (2.6Mb) is a song about this Magic of Love in face of what we are used to calling realities in the tangible world--such as space, time, absence...
(Whatever the character or dimension of the loss or wound that you may have experienced--whether on a personal or humanistic level--as a result of the sorrowful events on Sept.11, 2001, this song could mean a special balm. You may find it heart-liberating, as you allow it to take you on its wings into dimensions well beyond the physical laws that we are used to abiding by.)
Shades of Green grew out of my deepest experience regarding Friendship--a friendship which I had long considered lost, only to realize its was/is eternal! You can read the story, if you'd like: I share it in the accompanying zip-file, which also contains the lyrics and a related poem.
Lonely (3Mb) has earned its place on this list for the beauty it frames loneliness with, in a succession of images that surprinsingly yield a mild, quiet joy. In sharp contrast with my usual sunny inclination, Lonely is one of the few scattered blues that I've written so far. But as just mentioned, whatever sadness the song may convey is overshadowed by the cozy exquisiteness that reverberates. This song marked the end of a marriage, a decade of delighful companionship which, to this day, I'm grateful for having had the chance to experience.
Invitation to Life (1.8Mb) was among the very first songs that I wrote once I managed to restart playing the guitar, after the La Guardia bombing that I was blessed to survive. To this day, Invitation to Life is one of my favorite songs, among well over 200 that I've written so far. Together with a poem that I wrote in that same period, the lyrics of this song can tell you more than any further comment I could make now. These two pages (song and poem), BTW, have been on-line since the former Mie WebWise web site (now merged into MieNet) was first uploaded.
Welcome Lullaby (2.4Mb) was written with a lot of love and dedicated to a human being who left this world just too young. This recording, in which you hear a flute and a guitar, was made in the mid seventies (one of my cousins, Tuzé de Abreu, who's a great flute and sax player, recorded it with me, just hours after I had finished writing the song). There are no lyrics--it was meant to be an instrumental piece.
Being this song a lullaby, and one which was made with so much feeling, a large number of my friends' children have been given a copy, when they were born. By now I've lost count of the number of babies that have fallen asleep at the sound of the guitar and flute in Welcome Lullaby. So, if you have a baby, or are going to have one, you are welcome to download Welcome Lullaby as a special gift from me.
This song was inspired by a baby who was to be born in Rio de Janeiro, and who had been conceived by accident, so to speak. Given these circumstances, this baby was unfortunately not welcome into this world -- my song being then an attempt to make up somehow for some of the resentment and pain amongst which he was going to be born. I gave his aunt-to-be a copy of the same recording here available to you, but I never got to meet the boy (though he always had my love at a distance and perhaps felt it as he heard the song).
Then I moved again, and once more to a far away point on the Globe, and never heard any news about the boy who had initially inspired this song...till perhaps a few years ago, when I was reading the daily news on the Web. As I glanced at the report of a freak accident in Rio de Janeiro's larget sports hall (Maracanãzinho), my eyes spotted the reference to a youngster bearing this boy's name. My heart sunk, wondering in antecipated sorrow, if it could have been the same boy, I may never know...
Little Boy Blue (3.4Mb and 1Mb) was likewise inspired by a boy, though a bit older. Juanito, who's no longer among us, was around 10 years old when we met and he inspired me for this song.
He was one of the many children whom I used to entertain with my singing and playing at a hospital in Boston. Juanito was special, though, in so many ways: He was very seriously ill. He was a Southern Californian who spoke no English and therefore would silently stare at a TV screen all day long--unless I was there, talking and singing to him in Spanish. He looked extremely sad (only once I succeeded in making him smile -- what a great day that was!). So he would get individual attention + singing/playing from me, both because he could not be removed from his room and because of his need for Spanish.
So, after singing for the other children, I'd come and sit right at the door of Juanito's room (the nurses would not allow me inside the room) and play my guitar and talk to him till he fell asleep. Also because of his serious condition and of his need both for Spanish and for entertainment that he could understand and enjoy, I started coming to the hospital far more often than my usual weekly visits after school.
Little Boy Blue came into existence when I arrived at the hospital for that day's singing session only to be told that Juanito had lost the battle with his illness. I was devastated. But at the same time I somehow felt that now he was probably smiling again. So I wrote him a happy song--I could not have honored his memory properly otherwise. A close friend I had at that time, Claire (Turtle:), was invaluable in helping me shape the lyrics in a way such that [1] Juanito could be depicted somehow winning his battle at the end, and [2] no residue of my initial devastation could be sensed.
(Brief message to Claire, just in case of a surprise visit...)
There are two versions available at MieNet for Little Boy Blue. The 3.4Mb version was recorded by a band that I had, while living in Massachusetts: Bull's Eye (Denny, Freddy, Joany and me[Mie] - photo here). In this recording, I am playing the bass, BTW, and the arrangement is of course mine. The 1Mb version, in contrast, features only my guitar and my voice. It's an older recording and thus more faithful to the way the song was originally written. You are welcome to either one, or both.
Sad Music (2.6Mb) sounds like anything but a sad song, despite the name. The lyrics convey a longing for someone special, but there's hope and beauty in that longing. The melody and rhythm are, in fact, quite jolly. All in all, don't get ready for a sad song...or you'll be disappointed;)...
This song was recorded by a band I had while living in Rio de Janeiro: Cougars (Eduardo, Jorge, Sergio, Paulinho, Gustavo and me[Mie] - photo here). The recording you'll hear is an mp3 reproduction of one of the 45's that I've recorded in my casual professional musical career. Though i was only 15 years old at that time, this was my second 45 already. You'll hear me play the organ and sing, and once more the arrangement is mine.
I'll have to buy more space on line, before I can upload more songs. I've also written songs both in Portuguese and in Danish, among which there are some sambas and bossa-novas, and of course more songs in English, too, among which rock and folk, as well, any of which you are welcome to request. There are likewise other instrumental songs, ranging from Latin and jazzy to (semi-classical) impressionistic. I have given preference to uploading as many songs as possible in English simply because I think these would be the ones favored on-line among my songs. But you can let me know otherwise;)...should it be the case.
To close this section for the time being, here's a short recording that just manages to fit in the little space that's left: a beautiful old spiritual, which falls in the public domain, and which was recorded by a student choir that I once started and used to direct, make arrangements for, and also sing with.
This spiritual is called Deep River (0.8Mb). And the student choir (which you will hear live) was the CTJ Choir--CTJ standing for Casa Thomas Jefferson, an excellent English Language School in Brasília, where I was living at that time. This choir performed at school and embassy special occasions. We did spirituals, pop, jazz and Latin songs. My personal music collection, for example, includes a terribly amusing mp3 recording of Paper Doll as interpreted by this choir, a recording that I regret I cannot share on-line. Quite differently from Paper Doll, Deep River is a very touching song, a song for introspection, one the beauty of which echoes deep in the heart. Hope you enjoy it, if you decide to download it.
Below you can search for sheet music, song books (incl.music notation, guitar chords & tablature), CD's, and all sorts of music gear.
Moreover, at you can get a CD + the music notation and/or chords, along with which you can actually play, while reading the music/chords – and feel you're playing in great company!
You find an excellent variety of such recordings & accompanying sheet music and chords there, too.
(Each song appears twice on the CDs. Why? The instrument that you play is omitted from one of the recordings, so you play it, just as if you were part of the band/orchestra! On the other recording of the same song, you can then hear how the part that you play sounds, as performed by the original musician.)
I have one of these. Excellent stuff! Try it out & you'll love it!:)
is absolutely my favorite music store: great variety, prices & service! Try them--whether you want to listen or play--and you'll see why I sound enthusiastic:). At any rate, browsing is free. Why not take a look?
Ah! You can send someone a free music card from their web site! (no need to purchase anything to send an E-card)