Austin's Brazilian music scene is flourishing. Musician Paula Maya says nobody's talking about it.

*Paula Maya was born in Rio de Janeiro, the birthplace of bossa nova. But she had to leave Brazil to fall in love with the music from her homeland. Mary Bruton/ Courtesy of Paula Maya*

This story was co-published as part of a partnership between Latine news and culture site Austin Vida and KUT News. The “Austin Cultura” radio show airs every first Friday of the month and is co-hosted by KUT producer Juan Garcia and Austin Vida Editor & Publisher Nancy Flores. You can listen to the show below:

Paula Maya has seen the Brazilian music scene grow a lot in Austin since moving here in 2011.

“There’s a lot of really good Brazilian musicians who have moved here in the last five years or so,” she said.

Maya grew up playing classical and jazz piano in Brazil. When she moved to the United States in the 1990s, she found Brazilian music was in high demand.

“When you say you’re a Brazilian musician, people get very interested, I think, because the music there is so good and it’s so diverse,” she said.

Maya herself was not interested in playing Brazilian music at first.

“I was kind of a classical music snob,” she said.

Her love didn’t take root until she moved to Seattle. Living away from Brazil led her to rediscover the music of her home.

“When I moved out to Seattle, I was like, OK, I need to go back to my roots, you know, and kind of find that again in me,” she said, “because I felt very distanced from that.”

In the early 2010s, Maya was in Austin for South by Southwest, but she had planned to fly back to Brazil for good.

“Fifteen days before I traveled to Brazil, I met my partner,” she said. “It was kind of like love at first sight.”

Maya went home, but soon found herself back in Austin.

“I ended up coming back for his birthday and didn’t move back to Brazil,” she said.

Fourteen years later, Maya is still writing music, producing records, teaching lessons and bringing the magic of Brazilian music to Austin audiences. Her schedule includes a monthly residency at the Sahara Lounge. Maya gives credit to the venue for giving world music a home in Austin.

“We have such a rich, rich community of world musicians in Austin, and it’s really high-quality music here,” she said. “And nobody knows about it, because nobody talks about it.”

Maya’s residency is on the fourth Friday of the month. The next one is March 28.