YOUNG, beautiful and Brazilian, Cibelle Cavalli is the captivating new voice of the Sao Paolo scene, or so says the Harrogate International Festival brochure.

Cibelle looks at herself from a different perspective. Yes, she goes home to see her mother in Sao Paolo and she records there but... "I live in Brick Lane, where there's this forest of people every Sunday at the market," she says.

"I landed in this East London neighbourhood when I came over to mix an album and I just fell in love with this place and its bohemian atmosphere and decadence and its mix of musicians and artists."

Jazzwise magazine pins down Cibelle as "Gilberto on a moonwalk, or Jobim in a flower-filled field".

Cibelle counters: "Well, I have worn a flower in my hair... but for me it's not about genres or pigeonholes. It's about an emotional range of things that end up on the record," says Cibelle, who uses sampling, programming and vocal loops.

"There's a lot of electronica on there, like my bracelets and cups, or whatever I have in the studio. I've made a drummer friend of mine play his kitchenware for percussion. It works!"

Cibelle's music is not easy to pin down. Is it jazz? Or bossa nova, maybe samba, or possibly trip hop, or then again, all of those and more?

"It's not based on samba or bossa nova. It's based on whatever I feel on the day," she says. "I'm a disciple of Tom Ze..."

Er, Tom Ze? "He's a very free musician from Brazil. Lazily, they put me in the jazz corner, and I am inside jazz but I am inside so many things because of the way I behave with music. I don't belong...

"Let me explain. I belong with people who don't belong to herds. I belong to musicians that belong to themselves, and that brings so much to your music. I don't want to be caged because I don't want to limit my tools of expression."

So, you are not Electronica Brazilia or Bossa Electronica then? "No, that's like second-rate bossa nova," Cibelle says. "These days bossa nova singers sing these delicate, moving, sad songs with huge smiles on their faces: God forbid I would do that at some point in my life."

Cibelle (pronounced si-bay-lee), Harrogate Theatre, Harrogate International Festival, Thursday, 8pm. Tickets: £16, £13.50, on 01423 502116.

Updated: 16:31 Thursday, July 28, 2005