Born Luciano Nakata Albuquerque in Brazil to Spanish/Japanese parents, he earned the moniker of Curumin (KOO-roo-mean) – a term reserved by indigenous Brazilians for their more precocious children – early on while growing up in São Paulo. Discovered by Blackalicious while touring Brazil, Curumin began his journey through the world’s music as a child. By the time he was 8, he’d already formed his first rock band with classmates, with pots and pans substituting for a proper drum kit. Within two years he’d formed another band, this time an instrumental funk group called ZU. By the time he was 14 he was already a percussionist at Sao Paulo’s top clubs.
I hate to pull straight from the press releases, but it does a good job of introducing the tremendous talent that the people at Quannum Projects are trying to open us up to. While his 2005 debut Achados e Perdidos (also on Quannum, initially released on a local label in São Paulo) was released to little fanfare, Curumin made his debut US performance during CMJ of 2005 and 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. But for many who were not at any of these show, their introduction to Curumin came subliminally via his song “Guerreiro” which was featured in a heavily used Nike soccer (or Futbol) ad that premiered during the World Cup.
Curumin’s sophomore release JapanPopShow will hit stores digitally on October 7, and physically on November 4, but the single “Sambito (Totaru Shock)” – featuring Bay Area icon Tommy Guerrero on guitar – is available now.
MP3 Download – “Sambito (Totaru Shock)”
