OONA REA
First Name Oona
Oona is a girl’s name. It’s the English version of the Irish name Úna, spelled strictly with an accent mark on the letter u.
Oona is matchless. Her voice is intimate and emotional. It glides from a velvet soft, soothing and captivating sound that first hypnotizes then freezes the listener in a startingly intense sound experience. An airy and easy-going melody that lulls and then swings you into a gentle groove you’ll find hard to resist. Oona has her own rhythmic way with words and vocals, and a masterful capacity of playing with the Italian and English languages. She can write a line then change it entirely; since everything moves incessantly so does she. Oona is funk, jazz, bossa nova, or pop. She doesn’t care what she is because she’s just herself. She’s acquainted with all genres and uses everything to create her own unequalled style.
“First Name Oona” is Oona Rea’s first album, (Jandomusic/Via Veneto Jazz), with nine songs that will enchant you before you’re even aware of it. Oona wrote all the lyrics herself and co-composed the music with Luigi Masciari, who created the arrangements and is on guitar. She then had the nine songs played by Alfredo Paixão who added bass lines, and Alessandro Marzi who put in drums. Occasionally, Danilo Rea went to listen to them at the studio where he added his masterful piano flourishes.
“First Name Oona” is a subtle album, like a languid warmth it rushes through your veins and reverberates through your body, insisting and demanding that you listen to it yet once more.