Nei Lisboa

Since the early eighties Nei Lisboa has sustained a discreet existence after stirring his native Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, through an iconoclastic performance and the release of his debut album Pra Viajar no Cosmos Não Precisa Gasolina. Rejecting the pull of Brazil’s dominant cultural centers in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, he has remained based in Porto Alegre, living according to his own terms. Although he resided for a time in São Paulo and the United States while performing on the university circuit during the late seventies, Lisboa stays virtually unrecognized beyond his home state. Within Rio Grande do Sul and among a small circle of admirers elsewhere in the country, however, he is esteemed as the inventive creator of such landmark recordings as Pra Viajar no Cosmos Não Precisa Gasolina, Hein!? and Carecas da Jamaica. Limiting his promotional appearances to the South region, he was pleasantly surprised by the warm response accorded Hi-Fi, an acoustic set captured live at Porto Alegre’s São Pedro theater with only Paulinho Supekóvia’s guitar for accompaniment. The program contained no original material, presenting instead a survey of his underground and eclectic inspirations that included “Everybody’s Talking” by Fred Neil, “Bennie & The Jets” by Elton John, “I’m Having a Gay Time” by Alberta Hunter, and additional selections. In 2000 Lisboa published his book Um Morto Pula a Janela in France and staged the show Tudo de Novo Um Tanto Talvez pela Próxima Vez at the University of Saint Denis in Paris.