CURUMIN
Iowa debut |
Here's what
XLR8R has to say: “Curumin’s second album is hard to classify, but in the
best way: funk, psychedelic rock, hip-hop, reggae, dub, and more all
co-exist on the album, sometimes within the same track. The mix makes sense, considering Brazil’s history as a melting-pot
nation. There’s enough influence from Brazil’s musical past to keep
traditionalists listening, but enough forward thinking to take the album
into new territory. Hard to pigeonhole, but easy to enjoy.”
Born Luciano Nakata Albuquerque to Spanish and Japanese parents, he early on
earned the moniker Curumin, a term reserved by Brazilians for their
most precocious children. It was the 1970s in Sao Paulo, and with his older
brother he began his journey through the world's music, from Jorge Ben to
Devo to Bebeto. By the time he was 8, he'd already formed his first rock
band, improvising a drum kit out of pots and pans. Within two years he'd
formed another band, this time an instrumental funk group called ZU. By the
time he was 14 he was a percussionist at Sao Paulo's top clubs. By 16 he'd
taught himself to play keyboards.
As a
student, he discovered the B-52s and Run DMC, even while delving ever deeper
into samba. He went on to start a succession of bands devoted to Brazilian
music and classic funk. Eventually, even as his psychology degree and his
aspirations towards professional soccer languished, his musical career was
growing ever brighter.
He recently played at one of Brazil’s biggest festivals, alongside
the Jesus and Mary Chain, Animal Collective, and Spoon, among others.
This past December he was part of Red Hot + Rio 2: The Next Generation of
Samba Soul, an all-star benefit tribute to the music and culture of
Brazil, during which he shared the stage with CéU, Otto, Moreno Veloso, Bebel Gilberto
and José González. Reviews that appeared the following day proclaimed Curumin the star of the night, with the New York Daily News calling
him "the best of the new Brazil" and The Village Voice dubbing him a
"foremost visionary artist". (Backstage, even the Beastie Boys wanted copies
of Curumin's new CD!)
Curumin's second full-length CD, Japan Pop Show, was released in early
November on Quannum Projects. It draws heavily on
Samba soul, a movement that first emerged during the post-Tropicália movement of the ‘70s. Mixing
samba with R&B, pioneering artists like Jorge Ben Jor and
Tim Maia signaled a cultural awakening that changed the direction of
Brazilian music. Today the young Curumin is one of the most important new
faces of this genre.
Metromix has called Japan Pop Show
“easily one of the finest hip-hop releases of 2008. If, that is, you can consider a mash of samba, funk, soul, rap, jazz and bossa nova to be
hip-hop. It is, literally, all good.” Yahoo describes the album as “mixing Brazilian
cultures both traditional and modern, with an edgy, alluring zeal that will
make hipsters spin and old schoolers sigh."
Mon Jan 26 |
8 pm
CSPS | 1103 Third St SE | Cedar Rapids
$13 advance | $16
day of show
Ticket info
Go to artist's Web
site
Click here for a downloadable flyer (PDF)
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