straight hair like a porcupine, a face engraved with the proverbial "saudade" inscribed on it; as for his vocal musicality, he is closer to Joao Gilberto rather than the unrestrained voice of Carlinhos Brown.

With his last album "Sol na cara", which means "The sun on your face", he gained the nickname "star of Brazil" also because this success is the first one available on the European market. But he previously recorded six other albums, all acclaimed in his country as small works of art. The new star of Brazilian music scene is called Vinicius Cantuaria, who owes his recent but truly deserved success to the work of Arto Lindsay: the genius who treated the sonority of "Sol na cara", after having produced the last album of Caetano Veloso and Marisa Monte.

  Interview

Mr. Cantuaria, do you think that Lindsay was important for your debut outside Brazil?

"More than important, I'd say fundamental. Just like the other "guest stars" who worked with me, David Byrne and Ryichi Sakamoto. But between Arto and me there's a special and unique feeling, enforced and verified during the realisation of his albums "O Corpo Sutil" and "Mundo Civilizado". I asked him to join my project and me because I knew about his special ability to conceive sounds in a new way , far different from the traditional manner used in making music in this country. And anyone who had the occasion to listen to "Circulado" knows exactly what I'm talking about."
 

Therefore are you profoundly interested in electronic experiments in music?

"Of course I am. To be even clearer, I'm very excited about Jungle music. Thanks to the interest of DJ Spooky I'm trying to create a sort of fusion between Jungle music and Bossanova. You can easily imagine how delicate this operation is. The two kinds of music represent two expressive worlds completely apart, even almost antitethical. This project excites me a lot. I have recently been in Botafogu in order to capture the rhythms of the street I intend to develop for my next record."

In your music, I tend to hear a strong spiritual tendency. Or am I wrong?

"No, you're not wrong at all. It's been there since the first moment when I began jotting down the chords of harmony, then the melody of the song (the words come later as a consequence to the sounds that I hear playing inside my head.). For what concerns spirituality, I can simply say that the music I make is a reflection of my soul. A soul which is fragile, but with a strong spirit - may I say - much like the one of many other Brazilian artists such as Caetano Veloso, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Chico Barque.."

Talking about the present Brazilian scene, what do you think?

"At the moment the scene is very confused, but just like in other parts of the world. Nowadays it cost less to make music, much more economical than before, because of the birth of computers. Now you can make music at home any which way you like. This helps the production of scarce quality stuff supported by radios and TVs, which play a major role in their distribution and broadcast, creating more confusion.And all this confusion leads to keep great artists like Donato unknown. It's crazy, but true."

Right. But have you got an antidote for this kind of extended confusion?

"Certainly: patience. In other words we just have to wait. Even such a confusion can't last forever."