Multi-instrumentalist/vocalist
Smokey Hormel is most known for his session work with
Tom Waits,
Beck, and
Johnny Cash. He's also had his hand in films.
Hormel created music for
David Lynch's The Cowboy and the Frenchmen (1987) and The Straight Story (1999), as well as music for the PBS television series The World of Art: Works in Progress.
Miho Hatori is the other half of the indie pop duo
Cibo Matto. She's collaborated with
the Beastie Boys,
Handsome Boy Modeling School, and
Medeski, Martin & Wood. In 2001,
Hatori lended vocals to the
Gorillaz hit "19-2000." Individually,
Hormel and
Hatori are master artists. Together they are
Smokey & Miho, an indie pop dream celebrating world music.
Smokey & Miho joined forces in late 2000 to pay tribute to famed Brazilian guitarist/composer
Baden Powell.
Hormel was already a massive fan of
Powell's work and met the musician earlier that summer before his death. When he and
Hatori got together to play a show based on
Powell's 1966 recording Os Afros Sambas, magic was in the works. In 2002, the
Tempo de Amor EP captured
Smokey & Miho's interpretations of
Powell. That same year, the duo's self-titled EP was released. It featured "Ocean in Your Eyes" from the tantalizing thriller Y Tu Mama Tambien.
–
MacKenzie Wilson, Rovi