Luciano Nakata Albuquerque, also known as Brazilian indie music star Curumin, was drawn to music from an early age. Forming several rock bands as a child, he became a percussionist in Sao Paulo’s top clubs by the age of 14. Later on in his teens, Curumin enrolled at the prestigious music school Gaviões da Fiel, delving deep into samba, funk, and hip-hop. Curumin later helped form Zomba, a band devoted to Brazilian music and classic funk, complete with brass and percussion sections accompanied by a DJ. Earning widespread critical acclaim for his music, Curimin went on to release his debut album, Achadoew Perdidos, worldwide on music label Quannum Projects in 2005. His song “Guerreiro” landed in a Nike advertisement that premiered during the FIFA 2006 World Cup, and “Tudo Bem Malandro” is featured on Big Change: Songs for FINCA, compiled by Natalie Portman. In 2008 Curumin released his second album, Japan Pop Show, an album steeped in samba, hip-hop, reggae, and funk, and featuring guest artists including Blackalicious and Lateef the Truthspeaker.

Kismot: When do you remember first performing music for people?

Curumin: The first real performing, playing real instruments, I did (because before I use to perform with fake ones, just making sounds with my mouth) I think was in school, when I was about 10 years old. At that time I had this schoolmate, who, at 7, 8 years old, was already a great guitar player. I got so excited about this that I started to learn guitar too. And then we met some older guy who plays drums and we made a band.

We used to play at all school parties or events. I have some videos of that. Was horrible.

K: You studied at the prestigious Brazilian music school, Gaviões da Fiel. How did the formal training affect your songwriting?

C: Well, not that much actually. In fact I stayed a very short time at Gaviões. But I kept studying the samba school style. It's a big deal for a drummer, cause samba school is a kind of percussion orchestra. All the arrangements, the construction of polyrhythm is very interesting.

But, no doubt, I guess, that as a drummer, my style of composing is more connected in the rhythmic forms.

K: As a multi-instrumentalist, do you write the different parts to each song, or do you focus more on the melody as a singer?

C: Well, there is not just one way. There's many ways. Sometimes a bit you do makes you start a song, sometimes a sentence, a word, slang, sometimes a thought, sometimes a poem you write. But it's actually very rare I start something from the melody.

Always when I get those ideas it's very important to record them, in writing or actual recording. Then you have a kind of archive of ideas. But there's other kinds of situations too, when you have to write a song, when you have a deadline to do it. Then the process is like a hunt: you start to looking for the song, you try in different ways, go sleep and wake up thinking about it until you find it. In those ways, I used to start from the lyrics, but when I started to write the lyrics some melodic ideas had already come.


K: Your music ranges broadly from funk, soul, samba, afro-beat to dub and hip-hop. Who are some of your influences?

C: As you see, my connection with music and my musical taste happens through the rhythm. Not any kind of rhythm, but those you said.
There's some beatmakers that blow my mind! Madlib, Flying Lotus, Chief Xcel, Clementina de Jesus, TIm Maia, Lee Perry, Scientist, Roots Radics, and many others. It's hard to say.


K: You're currently in the middle of a North American tour. How are concert audiences in the United States different from those in Brazil?

C: Well, it's funny to be a Brazilian artist playing in US because I guess that because Brazilian culture is so strong, before they see you they have a lot of ideas about you, just for the reason you're Brazilian. But music is an universal language, right? When I start to play, all those ideas change, or get more intense, but change. And the thing in the US shows it's that, if they feel it, the crowd will really get into the vibe. At many shows I really felt that strong sensation of unity between the audience and the musicians, which is why we always feel happy to play in North America.