Roge

Roge, born Roger Jose Cury, is a Brazilian singer, songwriter and guitarist from Rio de Janeiro who has been based in Los Angeles since 2019. He built his reputation in the samba clubs of Lapa, Rio's downtown nightlife district, where a decade-long residency at Carioca da Gema earned him the nickname prince of Lapa, and he recorded eight albums in Brazil before his first American release. He works in samba, samba-funk and Brazilian soul, singing in a raspy, conversational voice over songs about nature, Brazil's Indigenous and African roots, and endurance in hard times. He received a Latin Grammy nomination for work with the sambista Arlindo Cruz, co-wrote a theme song for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio, and recorded an EP with Seu Jorge in the Netherlands shortly before the pandemic cancelled a planned American tour. He moved to Los Angeles with his family in 2019, citing Brazil's political and cultural climate, and struggled financially at first. There he met the producer Thomas Brenneck, guitarist of the Budos Band, and the two made Curyman, cut live over four days in Hollywood studios with mostly American players and released on March 31, 2023 as the first record on Brenneck's new label, Diamond West Records. Its eleven songs, among them Pra Vida, Nacao Tupi, Camara and Yemanja, carry string arrangements written by the Brazilian composer and arranger Arthur Verocai and recorded in Rio; the album title blends Roge's surname with the Guarani language and a nod to the singer Dorival Caymmi. Verocai returned for the ten-song follow-up, Curyman II, released November 22, 2024 on the same label with Brenneck again producing, which pushes further toward classic samba. Both records were widely reviewed in the United States, including by NPR, and Roge now tours American clubs and theatres behind them.

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