Rodrigo Amarante

Rodrigo Amarante de Castro Neves (born September 6, 1976) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and occasional arranger born in Rio de Janeiro. He is part of the bands Los Hermanos, Orquestra Imperial, and Little Joy, and released his first solo record, Cavalo, in Brazil in late 2013 and worldwide in May 2014. He also wrote and performed the Bolero "Tuyo", the theme song for the Netflix Original Series Narcos (2015).

Career

In Los Hermanos

He studied Journalism at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro ("PUC-Rio"), where he met Marcelo Camelo and Rodrigo Barba. After a few rehearsals with Los Hermanos, he was invited to join the band.

Debut album

On their debut album, Los Hermanos (1999), Amarante contributed very little, playing transverse flute and doing the backing vocals. And there are only two songs written by him: "Quem Sabe" ("Who Knows"), which turned out to be one of the CD's singles, and "Onze Dias" ("Eleven Days").

Second album

On the band's second album, Bloco do Eu Sozinho (2001), Amarante was able to show his real musical quality, playing guitar together with Marcelo and writing more songs. He recorded "Sentimental" (considered by Dado Villa-Lobos from Legião Urbana to be the best song of 2001), "Retrato pra Iaiá" ("Portrait for Iaiá"), and "Cher Antoine" (sung in French). He also co-wrote with Marcelo "A Flor" ("The Flower"), one of the album's hits, and the instrumental part of the song "Mais Uma Canção" ("One More Song").

Third album

With their third album, Ventura (2003) came Amarante's national recognition as a great songwriter; he wrote songs of doutbless quality, like "Último Romance" ("Last Romance"), "O velho e o moço" ("The Old Man and the Young Lad"), "Um par" ("A Pair"), "Do Sétimo Andar" ("From the Seventh Floor"), and "Deixa o Verão" ("Let The Summer"). His role as a sideman in the band ended, and he became recognized as one of the band's leaders, which role until then was attributed only to Marcelo Camelo.

Fourth album

On the group's fourth album, 4 (2005), Amarante wrote almost as many songs as Marcelo. Although 4 did not have as much success as the previous album, Amarante's songs are much more distinguished, like "O Vento" ("The Wind") - the only hit in this album - and "Condicional". He also wrote "Primeiro Andar" ("First Walk"), "Os Pássaros" ("The Birds"), and "Paquetá" (Paquetá is a small island in Rio de Janeiro).

In 2006, he won the prize of "Best Instrumentalist" in the Prêmio Multishow (Multishow Awards).

Amarante in 2007

After a hiatus from Los Hermanos (in 2007), Amarane dedicated him

In Orquestra Imperial

After a hiatus from Los Hermanos (in 2007), Amarante dedicated himself to Orquestra Imperial (a band in which he plays with Moreno Veloso (Caetano Veloso's son), Nina Becker, and the actress Thalma de Freitas) and went to California to record "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon" with Devendra Banhart. There, he started writing songs with Fabrizio Moretti and Binki Shapiro, a trio that would soon become Little Joy.

In Os Azeitonas

Amarante wrote and sang the song "Olá Rubi" ("Hello, Ruby") on the album Rádio Alegria (released in November 2007), by the Portuguese band Os Azeitonas. The lyrics were written by Os Azeitonas.

In Little Joy

In 2007, Amarante joined with The Strokes drummer Fabrizio Moretti and American musician, singer, and songwriter Binki Shapiro to form the trio Little Joy, a Brazilian/American rock supergroup. Amarante and Moretti had met in 2006, at a festival in Lisbon where both their bands were performing, and the idea came up to start a new musical project unrelated to their respective bands. Little Joy was signed to Rough Trade Records label.

Solo works

In 2014, Amarante released his first solo album, Cavalo, one of the first releases on the Easy Sounds Recording Company label.^[1] The album received strong critical reviews^[2][3][4] and featured as one of NPR Music's "50 Favourite Songs of 2014 So Far".^[5] He performed the album on tour in nearly 30 different countries and live in such outlets as Live Deezer Session, NPR Music, KEXP-FM, as well as jointly with Vincent Moon in IA Take Away Show - La Blogotheque.

In 2015, Amarante wrote and vocalized a song in Spanish, "Tuyo"("Yours"), as the opening theme for the Netflix Original series Narcos. He was inspired by the thought of what kind of music Pablo Escobar’s mother would have listened to when raising her son.^[6] The song debuted at No. 6 on the Latin Pop Digital Songs around the 2015 series premiere^[7] and was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.

Collaborations

Amarante during the concert Devendra Banhart, 2013

• On the album Gilbertos Sambas by Gilberto Gil as an arranger and instrumentalist.
• "NYC Subway Poetry Department" with Tom Zé (in his record Tropicália Lixo Lógico)
• On the albums Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon, What Will We Be, and Mala by Devendra Banhart (as an instrumentalist and as a singer of the song "Rosa" on Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon).
• "Nu Com A Minha Música" with Marisa Monte and Devendra Banhart for the Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album Red Hot+Rio 2; the album is a follow-up to Red Hot + Rio (1996). Sales proceeds will be donated to raise awareness and money to combat AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
• On the album Minor Love by Adam Green as an instrumentalist.
• "Azul" with Natalia Lafourcade as a singer (in her record Mujer Divina)
• "O Que Se Quer" written and arranged with Marisa Monte (in her record O Que Você Quer Saber de Verdade)
• On the album Maré by Adriana Calcanhotto, as an arranger and instrumentalist.

Discography

With Los Hermanos

• Los Hermanos (1999)
• Bloco do Eu Sozinho (2001)
• Ventura (2003)
• 4 (2005)

With Little Joy

• Little Joy (2008)

As a solo artist

• Cavalo (2013)
• TBA (2016)

Soundtracks

• "Tuyo" (2015) on the Narcos (Netflix Original series) Soundtrack

See also

• Narcocorrido

References

External links

• Rodrigo Amarante
• Los Hermanos
• Orquestra Imperial
• Devendra Banhart
• Little Joy
• Easy Sound
• TSMDT