América Brasil Tour 2008. “América Brasil charms, refreshes and enthrals. A delight.” The Independent
“… this energetic set extends his range impressively…” FT ****
“… a magnificent surprise.” OMM ****
“… his best album to date.” The Guardian ****
“…the rightful contender to Jorge Ben’s crown.” Top Of The World. Songlines *****
Oct 29 Belfast Festival at Queen's. £19.50/£17.50 concessions 9pm
Mandela Hall. Belfast. 028 9097 1197 www.belfastfestival.com
Oct 30 London Roundhouse + DJ Gilles Peterson. £22 (in advance). Doors 7pm
Chalk Farm Road, NW1 8EH. 0844 482 8008 www.roundhouse.org.uk
Oct 31 Brighton Dome. £16/£19. Doors 7.15pm
29 New Road, Brighton, BN1 1UG. 01273 709 709 www.brightondome.org
Nov 2 Leeds University Stylus. £18 (in advance). Doors 7pm
Leeds University Union, Liston Place, Leeds, LS2 9JZ. 0870 534 4444 www.leedstickets.com
Nov 3 Bristol Colston Hall. £18. 8pm
Colston Street, Bristol, BS1 5AR. 0117 922 3686 www.colstonhall.org
The new CD ‘América Brasil’ – Out Now – Discos Como No
With reviews acclaiming Seu Jorge’s current ‘América Brasil’ CD to be the best of his career so far Jorge takes to the road for the ‘América Brasil’ Tour.
Jorge’s previous UK tour in 2006 was the biggest and most successful tour of the UK ever undertaken by a Brazilian musician - and as of autumn 2008 he’ll be at it again but this time with a larger band which enables Jorge to recreate the range of sounds featured on América Brasil with its adventurous, mould-breaking grooves fashioned from the combination of violin, keyboard, harmonica and kit drum as well as allowing space for smaller cavaquinho-led permutations and Jorge’s solo acoustic pieces.
Jorge is clearly a restless individual. He’s a successful singer, guitarist, songwriter and actor and, on the evidence of his last London show, he has ambitions as a flautist too; and since his first solo album “Carolina” was released in the UK in 2003 he has delivered 2 more CDs of mostly original material (Cru and now América Brasil’).
Jorge’s shows are a communal celebration and with his three UK released solo albums to draw on he has a formidable repertoire at his fingertips. Added to that are his renditions of various traditional and classic Brazilian tunes as well as his forays into Bowie territory, as the mood takes him.
Famously dubbed ‘the coolest man on the planet’ by the Telegraph Jorge’s intense urban sambas will induce collective hip swaying across the land.
For the Roundhouse show on October 30, Jorge will be supported by friend and champion, DJ Gilles Peterson of Radio 1.
Jorge arrived with a bang as Knockout Ned in 2002’s explosive, and multi-Academy Award nominated, City of God. Despite the film’s strapline: "Fight and you'll never survive..... Run and you'll never escape." that’s exactly what Jorge did - leaving behind the life he not only graphically depicted on screen but had survived in reality. Jorge still spends time in the favelas - in between featuring as Pelé dos Santos in Wes Anderson’s The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; starring in the recently released The Escapist; appearing in films for the Latin American market and featuring in his own South Bank Show.
Seu Jorge combined his singing and acting roles with the release of The Life Aquatic Sessions CD. Its reinvention of the David Bowie songbook in sensuous samba form earned Jorge the praise of Bowie himself: “had Seu Jorge not recorded my songs acoustically in Portuguese I would never have heard this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with.”
