SEU JORGE with ROGÊ Night Dreamer Direct-to-Disc Sessions

Singer, songwriter, film actor (City of God), and Rio native Seu Jorge is the reigning king of samba-funk: a sound, born in the 1960s, that merges Brazil’s trademark dance rhythm with soul, R&B, hip-hop, and other black pop styles from the U.S. His hits, notably “Carolina,” “Amiga da Minha Mulher” (My Woman’s Friend), and “Burguesinha” (Bourgeois Girl), are as irresistibly danceable as the best of Motown. Later he branched out into bossa nova as well as the songs of David Bowie, which he sang in Portuguese in Wes Anderson’s 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou. Bowie raved about “this new level of beauty which he has imbued them with.” He now stars in the Netflix crime drama Irmandade (Brotherhood).



Since 2013, Seu Jorge (pronounced SEH-oo ZHOR-zhee) has lived in Los Angeles. In 2018, so did his friend of 25 years, Rogê, whose swinging samba-funk and onstage charisma have made him a star in the clubs of downtown Rio. Now, they have come together to record their acoustic album of originals, Seu Jorge & Rogê: Night Dreamer Direct-to-Disc Sessions.

SEU JORGE (which means Sir or Mister Jorge) came to international attention not as a singer but as an actor. In City of God (2002), the film about life in Rio’s crime- and drug-ridden slums (favelas), he played Knockout Ned, a ladies’ man who is targeted and victimized by a murderous drug lord. Seu Jorge is no stranger to that world. He was born Jorge Mário da Silva in a favela in Belford Roxo, one of the poorest towns in the state of Rio; his brother was murdered by police as a teenager. Infatuated with both samba and Stevie Wonder, he spent his youth grooving to “funk carioca,” a socially-conscious dance music that hailed from the favelas. In 1993, after years of working blue-collar survival jobs, he joined an acting company. Homeless at the time, he slept in the theater for four years. His life changed when he and a group of young musicians formed a band, Farofa Carioca. In 1998 they released an album, Moro no Brasil (I Live in Brazil), that combined samba, rap, reggae, and funk carioca to form a magazine-style portrait of their troubled city. The breakout member was Seu Jorge, who quickly went solo. A dozen albums and as many films later, he remains one of Brazil’s biggest stars and most popular musical exports. He has brought his sound to Austin, Sydney, Ottawa, and Montreux; he sang in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. 

Around twenty years ago, ROGÊ (pronounced Ho-Zheh)—born Roger José Cury in Rio—began working his way up through the city’s downtown samba-club circuit.

Handsome, young, endlessly energetic, and a born entertainer, he was hailed as an exciting new voice of samba-funk, with the power to lift up audiences and make them want to dance. Many of the samba’s great elder statesmen, such as Rio’s Arlindo Cruz, embraced him; their 2016 duo album, Na Veia (In the Vein), was nominated for a Latin Grammy. Rogê’s many other releases include Baile do Brenguelé, the soundtrack of his 2014 DVD on Warner Music. A song he wrote with Cruz and another samba star, Arlindo Neto, “Os Deuses do Olimpo Visitam o Rio de Janeiro” (The Gods of Olympus Visit Rio de Janeiro), was chosen from among stiff competition to be the theme of the 2016 Olympics, which were held in Rio. For the last several years, Rogê has been building a relationship with the U.S. In 2013 he made his New York debut at Joe’s Pub; the following year he played Summerstage. Now an expatriate, he commutes between North America and Rio. Wherever he is, he says, “I keep representing the culture of our country. I feel very proud to be Brazilian.”