Today, 25 October 2025 — the day of our concert at the Perth International Jazz Festival — also marks 18 years that I have been calling Perth home.
This feels especially symbolic, as from now on Perth becomes the city I’ve lived in the longest in my life, even longer than my birthplace, São Paulo in Brazil, where I lived until I was 17.
From São Paulo, life took me to Brasília (Brazil’s capital), then to Salvador (Bahia), Geneva (Switzerland), Auckland (Aotearoa–New Zealand), and finally Boorloo–Perth (Australia) — with a five-month interlude in New York in 2018.
I feel connected with and I carry all these places, people, sounds and stories with me everywhere I go. It is quite fun to feel simultaneously International and local – Sotero-paulistana, Brazilian, Swiss, Kiwi, Australian – plus my deliciously mixed heritage: Portuguese, Spanish, Furlan, African Yuruba, Indigenous Tupiniquim, Italian, Germanic, Jewish, Arabic, Persian… my DNA shows it all…
I arrived in Perth in 2007 with my beloved Kiwi kids, my curumins Jobim and Lilas, and their father. Arriving on the day before my youngest turned 2, to save in flying costs. A few years later we my partner and I separated, and not long afterwards I met the love of my life here in Perth — Geoffrey, my Australian boy from Cottesloe — who made me fall in love with him, his art, his culture and country, again and again, every day. Thank you, Meu Amor, for welcoming me into your extraordinary universe, and for making me feel at home in your arms and in your world.
I often say that I found my musical home and family in Perth at The Ellington Jazz Club — the very place where I’ll be performing tonight, and where I’ve been performing for at least 15 years. Perth without The Ellington simply wouldn’t be the same.
This special photo was taken at The Ellington in 2015, by Angelyne Wolfe — photographer, graphic designer, and, truly, the driving force behind the creation and production of both The Ellington Jazz Club and the Perth International Jazz Festival. She’s been there since the very beginning, keeping Graham Wood’s dream alive.
Thank you, Angelyne and everyone involved in this long and beautiful trajectory of making Perth the Australian Capital of Jazz — home of WAAPA, The Ellington, the PIJF, and all of us! I share this vision.
Tonight, I’ll share the stage with incredible artists and beloved friends — people I truly admire and care about: drummer Bronton Ainsworth, with whom I’ve been performing for at least 14 years; Josh and Rafa for nearly 10; and Arthur and Loro for several years already. (Paul Millard, — we’ll miss you tonight!).
Thank you, Perth. Thank you to all friends, fans, and everyone who has ever come to one of our concerts to share music, stories, and life with us. We do what we do with so much love — to share it with you.
It’s festival time and celebration time! See you tonight and around the 2025 Perth International Jazz Festival!
@highlight
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Juliana Areias - The Bossa Nova Baby 