Biography
VEIA is the duo of singer and composer Elisa Rodrigues and pianist and composer Isabel Rato, two Portuguese jazz artists whose debut albums earned immediate recognition. Together since October 2018, they have built a voice-and-piano show with a warm yet raw sound, stripped back to the essentials. Jazz is the starting point for original songs, with lyrics by Elisa Rodrigues, and for reinterpretations such as Amália Rodrigues’ Estranha Forma de Vida. At the heart of the project is a tribute to women — as a source of inspiration and in their struggles for gender equality and against violence. Their debut album, featuring several guests, is announced for March 2027 as a book-CD bringing together songs and poems. Elisa Rodrigues was hailed as a jazz revelation with her debut album, Heart Mouth Dialogues, directed by pianist Júlio Resende. In 2013 she recorded Field of Reeds with British band These New Puritans and then joined the band on tour. She released As Blue As Red in 2018 and, in 2023, the EP Até ao Sol, her first work sung entirely in Portuguese. Isabel Rato is a pianist, composer, arranger and producer; with her quintet she recorded Luz and Vale das Flores and played Ageas CoolJazz, the Cairo Jazz Festival and jazzahead! in Bremen. Their paths have long crossed: Elisa Rodrigues sings Vem, Isabel’s piece with Elisa’s lyrics, on Histórias do Céu e da Terra (2019), and together they recorded Estranha Forma de Vida for the Amália tribute Com Que Voz – Uma Canção para Amália (2019). On stage, highlights include the Galway Jazz Festival (Ireland), Évora JazzFest, Aqui Há Jazz in Sesimbra, Palmela Wine and Jazz, Jazz AlémTejo, Jazz no Parque in Barreiro, Jazz na Vila in Vila Nova de Milfontes and the Lisbon Book Fair. The duo has also played the jazz series in Seixal (Auditório S. Vicente, 2019), Mafra (2019) and Setúbal’s Casa da Cultura (2018), Caldas Nice Jazz (2018), and Casa do Comum (2025) and Fnac Chiado (2026) in Lisbon.
