Fernanda Porto (born on December 31, 1965) is the alias of Maria Fernanda Dutra Clemente, a Brazilian composer and singer who became famous for combining electronic music (most notably drum ‘n’ bass) with traditional Brazilian rhythms, such as bossa nova. Porto studied piano and songwriting during the 80s at the Santa Marcelina Music School in São Paulo, and spent most of the 90s writing film soundtracks. In 1999, Porto travelled to London to move closer to the drum ‘n’ bass scene. That same year, she recorded a demo that was championed by DJ Patife, whose remix of Porto’s “Sambassim” became hugely popular on the London dancefloors. Released in 2002, her eponymous album quickly blew up, selling more than 100,000 copies in Brazil alone and taking her on a tour throughout Europe, the US, and Japan. Two years later, Giramundo (2004) found Porto favoring a more organic, stripped-down sound and featured collaborations with Living Colour’s Will Calhoun and Doug Wimbish, and Brazilian MPB legend Chico Buarque. She followed her creative streak with the live album Fernanda Porto Ao Vivo (2006) and Autorretrato (2009), a 14-track album that marked Porto’s return to electronica, experimenting with downtempo, progressive house, and nu-jazz.
