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by Jojo P. Panaligan

Warner Music recording artist Sitti will play the role of a sexually abused woman in a theatrical production to be staged end of this year.

The Philippines’ Queen of Bossa Nova has accepted the offbeat role in a bid to have a solid acting background in her resume.

Sitti had previously appeared in ABS-CBN TV shows, “Your Song” and “Isabella.”

“I have so many emotions that my genre of music just cannot give vent to,” she told Manila Bulletin Online and other members of the press at a recent interview. “I, too, feel fear, anger, doubt and other things.”

Still, she tries to vary her moves. In her just-released fourth album, “Contagious,” Sitti remade songs by artists few would think she’d take on. These include Annie Lennox (“No More I Love You’s”), Culture Club (“Do You Really want To Hurt Me”), Sarah McLachlan (“Adia”), Hall & Oates (“One On One”) and Mike Francis (“Let Me In”).

The only original song in “Contagious” is titled “Is This Love,” written by Andrew Fromm of Christian Bautista’s “The Way You Look At Me”-fame.

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by NRJ Ramos

Local Bossa Nova Princess Sitti is out to reinvent herself as a theater actress.

At the launch of her latest CD “Contagious” under Warner Music Philippines in Red Box Trinoma last week, Sitti revealed that she is already working on a musical but that she can’t give details as yet.

“Management told me not to divulge so much as of now but I’m very excited about it,” said she.

Sitti added that she had long wanted to involve herself in theater. She named roles she dreamt of playing: Maria in ‘West Side Story’ and Kim in ‘Miss Saigon.’”

Sitti’s most recent acting job was in the primetime ABS-CBN soap opera, “Ysabella.” She sees acting as a welcome respite because she sometimes feel the need “to do something else.”

That would have to wait as far as her music goes. Like in previous albums, “Contagious” is comprised mostly by bossa nova renditions of well-loved tunes including Sade’s “Your Love is King”, Sarah Mclachlan’s “Adia” and Annie Lennox’s “No More I Love You’s.”

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by Mark Angelo Ching

A bubbly Sitti Navarro met the entertainment press last Friday, July 31, in Red Box in Trinoma to promote Contagious, her fourth studio album under Warner Music. In the album, the country’s “Queen of Bossa Nova” redefined contemporary hits from Annie Lennox, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Sade, Sarah McLachlan, and other singers, to fit her unique singing style.

Although Sitti already has three successful bossa nova albums under her belt since her 2006 debut Cafe Bossa, My Bossa Nova, and Ngayong Pasko; she claimed that she still feels constrained by her genre.

“Medyo nali-limit din ako sa genre… I was talking to Warner na marami pa kong gustong ilabas na limited by the arrangement, or with the treatment of the song,” Sitti explained.

But the singer said she cannot verge out of the singing style in her current recording projects because bossa nova has its own limitations.

“Kasi siyempre yung attack on bossa, it should always be light and flowing… Hindi ka puwedeng gumawa ng kung anu-ano sa bossa, kasi it will destroy the essence she said.

To cope with the limitations, however, Sitti said she injects new embellishments or arrangements to her songs. She also performs different musical styles in her various gigs.

“On our gigs, may mga bossa din but not so much. Nagla-Latin din kami most of the time and some jazz. And pag tinopak din kami, nagpa-pop din kami,” Sitti said.

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