CURUMIN

Some 40 years after tropicalismo emerged in Brazil with its avant-garde melting pot philosophy that the rest of the world only started catching up to decades later, Brazil is still turning out cutting edge music with 21st century variations. Among the latest artists to hit these shores is Luciano Nakata Albuquerque, a.k.a Curumin (KOO-roomean), a So Paulo singer/composer/multiinstrumentalist of Spanish and Japanese heritage.
In September 2005, Californian hip-hop duo
Blackalicious discovered Curumin while touring Brazil
and released his first album, Achados e Perdidos,
worldwide on Quannum Projects. Curumin made his
debut US performance during CMJ 2005. He continued
performing around the States over the next year,
including the M3 Conference, the World Music Festival
in Chicago and the Quannum Ao Vivo tour with Tommy Guerrero and Honeycut. Curumins song Tudo Bem Malandro is featured on Big Change: Songs for FINCA, compiled by Natalie Portman and on french Radio Novas Brasil do Futuro 2006 compilation by Remi Kolpa Kopoul. The song Guerreiro was featured in a Nike commercial aired during the FIFA World Cup 2006. Most recently, this same song appeared on a Miller Beer US TV ad campaign. Guerreiro also appears representing Brazil in the soundtrack of the game FIFA Street II. Vem Menina featured on french Radio Nova compilation Nova Tunes 1.3.
His second album, JapanPopShow (Quannum), released in 2008, is a head-spinning amalgamation of MPB (msica popular Brasileira), Brazilian roots, samba-reggae, dub, hip hop, electronica, funk, rock, and pop along with hints of Brazilian jazz and the kind of samba rock pioneered by '70s Sound Of Brazil's stars like Jorge Ben and Tim Maia. . It's to Curumin's credit that he kneaded this thick sonic dough into something not just digestible but delicious. JapanPopShow includes some of the catchiest music released last year, including a single, "Compacto," that rates as an ideal song of summer. He comes across as a inspired experimentalist with an innate pop sense who manages to project a unified vision even while ricocheting among hard-funk workouts ("Caixa Preta"), tuneful rock anthems ("Magrela Fever"/representing Brazil in the soundtrack of the game FIFA 09), breezy ballads full of soul ("Misterio Stereo"), off-kilter noir-samba-reggae grease-fests like the title track, and collage-like, politically charged mashes of dub, rap, funk, and electronica like on "Kyoto". The album featuring guest appearances of artists like Blackalicious, Tommy Guerero, General Electriks and Turbo Trio.
JapanPopShow was considered one of the most important releases of 2008 by the Brazilian independent and mainstream press. In the US, the album was #5 on Best World Music of 2008 (Editor's Choice) on Amazon.com and peaked at #15 on the Rock Latino Itunes sales in January 09. Curumin was featured in several interviews and reviews in websites, magazines and radios, including a live perfomance at KCRWs Morning Becomes Eclectic, a four-star album review on SPIN magazine, a full page review on NY Daily News, and interviews and reviews in publications like the New York Times, Village Voice, the New York
Post, Billboard.com, among many others.
For the showcases in New York and South By
Southwest in March 2008, Curumin traveled with
two musicians, and each took the stage equipped
with an MPC, combining live instrumentation with
beat manipulation for a truly captivating dynamic.
Curumin also switches between the drums and
cavaquinho, all the while mesmerizing his
audiences worldwide with his soulful voice and
warm spirit. He returned to the States on
December, 2008 as part of Red Hot + Rio 2, at
the Brooklyn Academy of Music, celebrating the
next generation of innovative Brazilian musicians
alongside artists including CU, Bebel Gilberto,
Kassin + 2 and Otto.
From January 20th until February 1st 2009, Curumin performed live in 9 American cities, in a total of 12
shows cheerfully received by both crowd and press. He was joined on stage by artists like Money Mark,
Blackalicious, Lateef The TruthSpeaker and Tommy Guerrero.