Paula Robison encore at one of her 92nd Street Y concerts, a dance for flute and pandeiro, a large tambourine traditional in Brazil. Silverman invited the percussionist Cyro Baptista to join her. The flutist Irna Priore, who was at the concert, told her that in Brazil there was a huge repertory for flute in the choro, a tradition of popular song originating in 19th century Rio de Janeiro. Cyro Baptista's wife provided recordings and tapes of music that was largely unknown in the US. Robison began to work on it with Baptista and other Brazilian musicians, who toured with her and eventually
What Is Life in a number of popular movies: Martin Scorsese's "Goodfellas" (1990), during the "May 11, 1980" sequence; Tom Shadyac's "Patch Adams" (1998); and, more recently, Sam Mendes' "Away We Go" (2009). In late 2012, "What Is Life" was used in advance promotion for the film "This Is 40", directed by Judd Apatow, although it was omitted from the accompanying soundtrack album. According to "Rolling Stone": "Today, many people know it merely as a song from all those soundtracks: it's in "This Is 40", "Patch Adams", "Goodfellas" and many more. It's almost as ubiquitous as 'Let My Love Open the Door' or