Seu Jorge: The Eclectic Brazilian Who One-Upped David Bowie

There's not many a cover artist can teach David Bowie about music. But when the art-glam-rock king heard Seu Jorge perform his hits acoustically, in Portuguese, for The Life Aquatic, he said he heard a whole "new level of beauty".

That's certainly no easily-earned praise. Jorge, who cut his deep yet irresistibly tender voice in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will make his debut Australian performance this summer at Sydney Festival. He’ll be playing an array of his famous, unique interpretations, as well as a bunch of originals, accompanied by a delicious mix of Latin and Caribbean beats, in both live and electronic form.

We checked in with Jorge just before the new year rolls around and he starts making his way to Australia, delving into those Bowie covers, teaching his daughters to sing, thinking up the perfect song while washing your face and finding your feet from homelessness in Brazil.

Will this be your first visit to Australia?

 Yes. Everybody knows Australia is such a nice country and I’m so excited to come and play for you. It's so far away – I never imagined all my life that I’d play in Australia... It’s a great test for me, a very important test for me, to see how I can work my music.

What will you be playing at Sydney Festival?

My music is Brazilian: samba, afro-pop and Brazilian songs. I want to make a different experience for people... We'll do my [original] songs, but we’ll do covers, too. People like these works and I want to play the David Bowie songs in Portuguese.

When you compose songs, what topics do you write about?

In Brazil, we have a lot of topics to sing about. My favourite is looking at the lives of every day people and trying to chronicle what happens to them: funny things and some of the complexities around my culture. I'm from the suburbs — the ghetto. I don't talk about it all the time, but I do talk about things happening there. On my last album, there's one song about a girl affected by depression and another about two people who have spent their lives side by side. I try to make drama around my lyrics with these stories... Sometimes I need to send a message.

I worry about the future or the kids or my country and I need to send a hopeful message for people — or show my point of view — my critique of what's happening in my community. I hope that, one day, I can make music that everyone understands. I'm working on my English, but it's not ready yet [laughs].

Do you ever find it difficult to come up with ideas for new songs?

No. I think for composing, you need your spirit to be free. Music is a completely different science. Sometimes, you spend three hours jamming and then for five minutes you compose. Sometimes you spend eight hours in a jam session and you don't find anything. Another moment, you go into the bathroom and you're washing your face and the music's coming so quickly. You need to be focused... I can't explain where inspiration for composing comes from. I have great musicians on my side and we have fun always. You need to laugh.

Do you write music every day?

Yeah, I try to make contact with music at all times — sometimes solo, sometimes with my band.

Who are your favourite songwriters and composers?

I have a lot. In Brazil, there's Anton Jobim and Caetano Veloso. Ray Charles is great, Stevie Wonder — all of these composers touch me so much. Ennio Morricone writes beautiful things for beautiful movies. I find a lot of inspiration from all over the world. I try to be worldwide. I want to touch people with my language, but it's really, really hard, to explain me, about myself.

You spent some time homeless in Brazil. How does it feel, now to be so successful?

I don’t think so much about that. I'm just playing and it's something good. For me, the thing is to make my music with rhythm and make it touch people. This is a great thing for me... If I have a great, great success, one song, it's not a guarantee that I will have it all the time. Every album is a new start. Every album, when you record, you need to be starting again. I’m thinking like that — always, it's a new process. I prefer to be working on the best qualities I can.

When you’re not playing music, what do you do in your spare time?

I'm trying to be a father. I'm working a lot, so sometimes I don't have much time with my family. Whenever I'm not playing shows, I try to stay with my family. I have three children, three daughters. They're 11, 10 and 8. They’re great singers. I'm so proud of them.

So will you ever take them on tour?

Maybe one day. It's really hard, being on the road with the kids — all the hotels and all the hours. Maybe not so much in Australia, but in Brazil, the shows start so late at night — midnight and 1am.

Catch Seu Jorge on January 10, 8pm in The Domain (free) and January 11, 8pm at The Star Event Centre. Tickets $45-89 and available here.

Seu Jorge is one of our top ten picks of the Sydney Festival. Check out our other favourite events over here.