1. Vera Cruz 5:31
Music by Milton Nascimento
Lyrics by Márcio Borges
2. Moon River 5:23
Music by Henry Mancini
Lyrics by Johnny Mercer
3. Só Danço Samba 3:29
Music by Antônio Carlos Jobim
Lyrics by Vinícius de Moraes
4. Manhã De Carnaval 5:35
Music by Luiz Bonfá
Lyrics by Antônio Maria
5. Owari No Nai Kisetsu 4:24
Music by Yuko Ito
Lyrics by Noriko Iida and Yuko Ito
Arrangements by Yuko Ito
and Michika Fukumori
6. Madalena 4:37
Music by lvan Lins
Lyrics by Ronaldo Moteiro de Souza
7. Começar De Novo 4:14
Music by lvan Lins
Lyrics by Vítor Martins
8. Ponta De Areia 4:42
Music by Milton Nascimento
Lyrics by Fernando Brnt
Arrangements by Yuko Ito
9. Stolen Water 3:12
Music & Lyrics by Daniel Giel
Arrangements by Yuko Ito
10. Vivência/ Obsession 3:28
Music by Dori Caymmi Gipson Peranzzetta
Lyrics by Paulo C Pinheiro / Arrangements by Michika Fukumori
11. Tsubasa wo Kudasai 4:03
Music by Kunihiko Murai
Lyrics by Michio Yamagami
Arrangements by Yuko Ito
and Michika Fukumori
12. What A wonderful World 5:22
Music and Lyrics by
Bob Thiele and George David Wieiss
13. Esperança 4:24
Music & Lyrics by Yuko Ito
Lyrics Supervised by Vanessa Falabella
Yuko Ito
(Vocal, Composition and Arrangements)
Helio Alves
(Piano 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 12)
Edward Perez
(Bass 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Alexandre Kautz
(Drum and Percussion 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11)
Richard E Miller
(Guitar 1, 4, 9, 10)
Oriente Lopez
(Flute 1, 4, 10)
Michika Fukumori
(Piano and Arrangements 5, 10, 11)
Romero Lubambo
(Guitar and Percussion 3, 13)
Luisa Lubambo
(Vocal 13)
Recorded at Acoustic Recording
By Michel Brorby
Vocal, Guitar Mix and Mastered
at Bass Hit Studio by Dave Darlington
Vocal recorded at
Grand Slam Productions by Willie Ruiz
Photography by Andrew Levine
Design by Toru Yamashita
Esperança is Yuko Ito's 3rd Album.
The recordings are a collection of Brazilian songs by Milton Nascmento, Antônio Carlos Jobim, Luiz Bonfá, Ivan Lins and Dori Caymmi. I recorded the great American Standards Moon River and What A wonderful World.I recorded the Japanese song Tsubasa wo Kudasai with Brazilian rhythms. I recorded my friend Daniel Giel's song Stolen Water. And I also recorded my original songs.
The recordings has performed mainly by the great pianist Helio Alves and his Trio. Also the great guitarist Romero Lubambo has played on this album.
The English translation of "Esperança" is hope.
Romero Lubambo gave this name to my original song that I made when I was in the 6th grade. It was supposed to be a graduation song. The theme of this song is ' Please have a dream and hope in your life' Now I am living in New York. I think Life is like a Voyage. There are encounters and farewells. All you need is to believe yourself and go your way. When you listen to this album I hope you feel this story.
