Rogério Tolomei Teixeira (born September 2, 1956), better known by his stage name Rogério Skylab, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, lyricist, classical guitarist, poet, essayist, record producer, actor and former television presenter. His unique musical style is characterized by

minimalism In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Do ...

and

eclecticism Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain complementary insights into a subject, or applies different theories i ...

, and his lyrics are permeated by acerbic allusions to popular culture,

pessimism Pessimism is a negative mental attitude in which an undesirable outcome is anticipated from a given situation. Pessimists tend to focus on the negatives of life in general. A common question asked to test for pessimism is " Is the glass half emp ...

scatology In medicine and biology, scatology or coprology is the study of feces. Scatological studies allow one to determine a wide range of biological information about a creature, including its diet (and thus where it has been), health and disease ...

nihilism Nihilism (; ) is a philosophy, or family of views within philosophy, that rejects generally accepted or fundamental aspects of human existence, such as objective truth, knowledge, morality, values, or meaning. The term was popularized by I ...

and

black comedy Black comedy, also known as dark comedy, morbid humor, or gallows humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally considered serious or painful to disc ...

(he has, however, always denied that his songs have humorous purposes). Some of his most recognizable compositions are "Motosserra", " Fátima Bernardes Experiência", "Dedo, Língua, Cu e Boceta", "Eu Chupo o Meu Pau", " Matador de Passarinho" and "

Chico Xavier Chico Xavier () or Francisco Cândido Xavier, born Francisco de Paula Cândido (, April 2, 1910 – June 30, 2002), was a popular Brazilian philanthropist and spiritist medium. During a period of 60 years he wrote over 490 books and several ...

Roberto Carlos Roberto Carlos da Silva Rocha (born 10 April 1973), commonly known as Roberto Carlos, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who now works as a football ambassador. He started his career in Brazil as a forward but spent most of his car ...

Biography

Rogério Skylab was born Rogério Tolomei Teixeira in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, Brazil, on September 2, 1956, and is of Italian and Portuguese descent. He has degrees in literature and philosophy from the

Federal University of Rio de Janeiro The Federal University of Rio de Janeiro or University of Brazil (UFRJ; pt, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro or ') is a public research university located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the largest federal university in the ...

,Bate-papo com Rogério Skylab , Bate-papo UOL
and also began attending a law course, but never finished it. Prior to his musical career, Skylab worked for 28 years as a

public servant The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

at a

Banco do Brasil Banco do Brasil S.A. ( en, Bank of Brazil) is a Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. The oldest bank in Brazil, and among the oldest banks in continuous operation in the world, it was founded by John VI, King ...

agency in Maracaju, Mato Grosso do Sul. After a brief stint as the vocalist of punk rock band Setembro Negro in the mid- to late 1980s,Entrevista / Skylab
in 1991 he participated as a solo artist in a music festival in

Juiz de Fora Juiz de Fora (, '' Outsider Judge''), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to 2020 estimates the current population is about 57 ...

, Minas Gerais; he won the first-place cash prize with the song "Samba do

Skylab Skylab was the first United States space station, launched by NASA, occupied for about 24 weeks between May 1973 and February 1974. It was operated by three separate three-astronaut crews: Skylab 2, Skylab 3, and Skylab 4. Major operations ...

", from which he took his stage name. Rogério used the prize money to finance the recording of his debut album, '' Fora da Grei'', which was released the following year; it was very well-received by the critics, and awarded him many appearances on

Jô Soares José Eugênio Soares (16 January 1938 – 5 August 2022), known professionally as Jô Soares (Portuguese: /ˈʒo soˈaɾis, ˈswa-, -ɾiʃ/), or Jô, was a Brazilian comedian, talk show host, author, musician, actor and writer. Early life ...

late-night talk show A late-night talk show is a genre of talk show popular in the United States, where the format originated. It is generally structured around humorous monologues about the day's news, guest interviews, comedy sketches and music performances. It i ...

s ''Jô Soares Onze e Meia'' and '' Programa do Jô'' throughout the 1990s and 2000s. In 1999 he released his second album, the first one in a series of ten self-titled albums, ''

''. It was produced by Robertinho do Recife, but Skylab was slightly unsatisfied with the final result, saying that it had "too much keyboards" and that he was not too creatively involved with it. His third album, ''

Skylab II ''Skylab II'' was a space station concept proposed in 2013 by the Advanced Concepts Office of NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, to be located at the Earth-Moon L2 Lagrangian point. Proposed by NASA contractor Brand Griffin, ''Skylab II'' wou ...

'', was his first live release; commenting about it, he has stated that "this is 100% Skylab. The other was 80% Robertinho". ''Skylab II'' counted with a guest appearance by Löis Lancaster, vocalist of avant-garde group Zumbi do Mato – Lancaster would return for Skylab's second live album, '' Skylab IX'', which also had guest appearances by Maurício Pereira (of Os Mulheres Negras) and Marcelo Birck (of

Graforreia Xilarmônica Graforreia Xilarmônica is a Brazilian Prêmio Açorianos-winning rock group from Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul. Famous for their humorous, unpretentious lyrics and for their sonority influenced by 1960s-era bands, the ''Jovem Guarda'' movemen ...

). Zé Felipe and Marlos Salustiano, respectively bassist and keyboardist for Zumbi do Mato, collaborated with Skylab on his 2007 album '' Skylab VII'', which was nominated to the Prêmio Dynamite de Música Independente in the "Best Rock Album" category; two years later, Felipe and Skylab made a collaborative album, '' Rogério Skylab & Orquestra Zé Felipe''. In 2005, Skylab won the Prêmio Claro de Música Independente, in the "Best MPB Album" category, for '' Skylab V''. After the release of '' Skylab X'', Skylab put aside his experimental sound to work on the "''Trilogia dos Carnavais''" ("''Trilogy of the Carnivals''"), which focuses more on traditional Brazilian genres such as ''

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havi ...

'', ''

bossa nova Bossa nova () is a style of samba developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is mainly characterized by a "different beat" that altered the harmonies with the introduction of unconventional chords and an innovat ...

'' and MPB. The trilogy comprises the albums '' Abismo e Carnaval'', '' Melancolia e Carnaval'' and '' Desterro e Carnaval'', and included the guest appearances of many musicians, such as

Jorge Mautner Henrique George Mautner (born January 17, 1941), better known by his stage name Jorge Mautner, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, lyricist, violinist, actor, screenwriter, film director and poet, considered to be a pioneer of the MPB scene and of ...

Jards Macalé Jards Anet da Silva (Rio de Janeiro, March 3, 1943), known as Macalé, is a Brazilian composer, singer and actor, known for his influential role in Brazil's tropicália movement in the 1960s. Background Jards Macalé was born in Rio de Janeiro ...

, , Arrigo Barnabé,

Fausto Fawcett Fausto Borel Cardoso (born May 10, 1957), better known by his stage name Fausto Fawcett, is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, rhythm guitarist, lyricist, novelist, short story writer, playwright, journalist, actor and screenwriter, famous for his f ...

and Michael Sullivan. Between 2016 and 2018 he collaborated with Lívio Tragtenberg on a further trilogy of albums aptly titled ''Skylab & Tragtenberg''. On November 15, 2017, he released the self-titled ''Skylab'' EP, which counted with guest appearances by

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

-based

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...

noise rock Noise rock (sometimes called noise punk) is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extre ...

duo Farme&Hixizine and ''

carioca Carioca ( or ) is a demonym used to refer to anything related to the City of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil. The original meaning of the term is controversial, maybe from Tupi language "''kari' oka''", meaning "white house" as the whitewashed stone ...

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

musician Cadu Tenório. Of its three tracks, only one ("Bocetinha de Cocô", a teaser for the then-unreleased final volume of the ''Skylab & Tragtenberg'' trilogy initially uploaded separately to YouTube as a single on November 5) was written by Skylab; the other two ("Let's Play That" and "Pra Dizer Adeus") are poems by Torquato Neto set to music by other artists, namely

and Edu Lobo, respectively. On March 7, 2018, Skylab officially announced that he began work on a new studio album, entitled '' O Rei do Cu'', released later that year on May 17. On a Facebook post he further elaborated that ''O Rei do Cu'' would be the first installment of a new trilogy, the "''Trilogia do Cu''" ("''Trilogy of the Ass''"); the second installment, '' Nas Portas do Cu'', came out on January 1, 2019, and the third, '' Crítica da Faculdade do Cu'', on December 20, 2019. On March 19, 2020, he uploaded to his official YouTube channel the single "À Sombra de um Horizonte" as a teaser for his album ''

Cosmos The cosmos (, ) is another name for the Universe. Using the word ''cosmos'' implies viewing the universe as a complex and orderly system or entity. The cosmos, and understandings of the reasons for its existence and significance, are studied in ...

'', the first installment of a new trilogy entitled the "''Trilogia do Cosmos''". It was announced on his Facebook page on August 19 and released on October 2. The second installment, ''Os Cosmonautas'', came out on December 24, 2020. On July 25, 2021, he uploaded to YouTube the single "Cantos de Maldoror", a teaser for the final installment of the trilogy entitled ''Caos e Cosmos'' (itself a "trilogy within a trilogy", meant to be counted as a single release). A second single, "As Coisas que Ficaram por Dizer", was uploaded on August 16. A third single, "Será que Tem?", was uploaded on September 1. The first volume of ''Caos e Cosmos'' was ultimately released on October 1, 2021. Volume 2 of ''Caos e Cosmos'' came out on August 5, 2022, preceded by the single "A Gente Vai Ficar Surdo" on July 15. On December 10, 2022, Skylab uploaded to YouTube the single "Juízo Final", a Nelson Cavaquinho cover, featuring , who played the guitar and contributed with the

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orche ...

s. On February 6, 2022, he released ''Live'', his first live album since 2016's '' Trilogia dos Carnavais: 25 Anos de Carreira ou de Lápide''. It was recorded during a July 31, 2021 livestream he uploaded to his YouTube channel, celebrating the 30th anniversary of his musical career, and each track of it was taken from one of his respective albums, ranging from his debut ''Fora da Grei'' to his most recent release at the time, ''Os Cosmonautas''. The recording of "Vampiro" was released as a teaser single on December 27, 2021. Outside music, Skylab authored the

sonnet A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

collection ''Debaixo das Rodas de um Automóvel'', published by in 2006, and was the host of his own talk show, ''Matador de Passarinho'', on Canal Brasil from 2012 to 2014. In 2017 he debuted as an actor, portraying a history teacher on the Fabrício Bittar

comedy film A comedy film is a category of film which emphasizes humor. These films are designed to make the audience laugh through amusement. Films in this style traditionally have a happy ending ( black comedy being an exception). Comedy is one of the o ...

'' Como se Tornar o Pior Aluno da Escola'', based on

Danilo Gentili Danilo Gentili Jr. (born 27 September 1979) is a Brazilian comedian, television host, writer, cartoonist, and businessman and political commentator. He gained national recognition on the TV show '' Custe o Que Custar'' (CQC), aired on the Band n ...

's eponymous book. He also runs and owns the blog "Godard City", where he posts original poems and essays about music and literature. In 2020 he published the collection of political essays ''Lulismo Selvagem'' through Kotter Editorial, who also re-issued ''Debaixo das Rodas de um Automóvel'' after many years out of print. His third book, a literary study on

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

' ''œuvre'' (focusing on ''

The Turn of the Screw ''The Turn of the Screw'' is an 1898 horror novella by Henry James which first appeared in serial format in '' Collier's Weekly'' (January 27 – April 16, 1898). In October 1898, it was collected in ''The Two Magics'', published by Macmil ...

'') entitled ''A Outra Volta da Outra Volta'', was released in 2022.

Personal life

Skylab has been married to photographer, record producer and plastic artist Solange Venturi since 1983; Venturi has designed the cover arts for many of the musician's albums since then. He is a self-described agnostic and has stated that "religion is a non-issue: it doesn't exist" in a 2003 web interview. Known for his extensive and varied musical and literary influences, some of his favorite writers are

Machado de Assis Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (), often known by his surnames as Machado de Assis, ''Machado,'' or ''Bruxo do Cosme Velho''Vainfas, p. 505. (21 June 1839 – 29 September 1908), was a pioneer Brazilian novelist, poet, playwright and short stor ...

(whom he considers "his Bible and his God"),

João Cabral de Melo Neto João Cabral de Melo Neto (January 6, 1920 – October 9, 1999) was a Brazilian poet and diplomat, and one of the most influential writers in late Brazilian modernism. He was awarded the 1990 Camões Prize and the 1992 Neustadt International ...

("the greatest Brazilian poet of all time"),

Clarice Lispector Clarice Lispector (born Chaya Pinkhasivna Lispector ( uk, Хая Пінкасівна Ліспектор); December 10, 1920December 9, 1977) was a Ukrainian-born Brazilian novelist and short story writer. Her innovative, idiosyncratic works ex ...

Jorge Luis Borges Jorge Francisco Isidoro Luis Borges Acevedo (; ; 24 August 1899 – 14 June 1986) was an Argentine short-story writer, essayist, poet and translator, as well as a key figure in Spanish-language and international literature. His best-known b ...

, , Milton Hatoum and Cristóvão Tezza. Musically, he cites Arrigo Barnabé, Os Mulheres Negras,

, Zumbi do Mato,

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by nonconformity, free-form improvisation, sound experiments, musical virtuosity and satire of ...

Jupiter Apple Flávio Basso (26 January 1968 – 21 December 2015), better known by his stage name Júpiter Maçã and by its English-language variation Jupiter Apple, was a Brazilian singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and filmmaker. Before beginning a ...

and

Damião Experiença Damião Ferreira da Cruz (September 27, 1935 – December 10, 2016), better known by his stage name Damião Experiença,Alternate spellings of his name, as they appear on his albums, include Dam nhão Experiênça/Esperiênça, Damião Experiênc ...

as influences; his 2002 album '' Skylab III'' was dedicated to Damião. A life-long fan of

Fluminense Fluminense Football Club (), known as Fluminense, is a Brazilian sports club best known for its professional football team that competes in the Campeonato Brasileiro Série A, the first tier of Brazilian football and the Campeonato Carioca, th ...

, he has even recorded the club's anthem on the 2016 collaboration album '' Skylab & Tragtenberg, Vol. 1''. Skylab has expressed admiration towards former Governor of Rio de Janeiro

Leonel Brizola Leonel de Moura Brizola (22 January 1922 – 21 June 2004) was a Brazilian politician. Launched into politics by Brazilian president Getúlio Vargas in the 1930–1950s, Brizola was the only politician to serve as elected governor of two Brazi ...

(dedicating to him the song "O Preto do Brizola" off his 2018 album '' O Rei do Cu'') and three-time '' petista'' President

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist, and former metalworker who is the president-elect of Brazil. A member of the Workers' Party ...

; in a 2019 interview for radio program ''Pânico'', broadcast by

Jovem Pan Jovem Pan is the main Brazilian radio station based in São Paulo, Brazil. It is also the largest network of radio stations of the southern hemisphere, of Latin Americaand one of the biggest radio stations in the world.The network has several ...

, he described himself as "linked to the

left Left may refer to: Music * ''Left'' (Hope of the States album), 2006 * ''Left'' (Monkey House album), 2016 * "Left", a song by Nickelback from the album '' Curb'', 1996 Direction * Left (direction), the relative direction opposite of right * ...

, utagainst

political correctness ''Political correctness'' (adjectivally: ''politically correct''; commonly abbreviated ''PC'') is a term used to describe language, policies, or measures that are intended to avoid offense or disadvantage to members of particular groups in socie ...

". He was a frequent collaborator of the left-leaning news website beginning in the late 2010s.Rogério Skylab – Brasil 247

Discography

* '' Fora da Grei'' (1992) * ''

'' (1999) * '' Skylab III'' (2002) * '' Skylab IV'' (2003) * '' Skylab V'' (2004) * '' Skylab VI'' (2006) * '' Skylab VII'' (2007) * '' Skylab VIII'' (2008) * '' Skylab X'' (2011) * '' Abismo e Carnaval'' (2012) * '' Melancolia e Carnaval'' (2014) * '' Desterro e Carnaval'' (2015) * '' O Rei do Cu'' (2018) * '' Nas Portas do Cu'' (2019) * '' Crítica da Faculdade do Cu'' (2019) * ''

'' (2020) * ''Os Cosmonautas'' (2020) * ''Caos e Cosmos, Vol. 1'' (2021) * ''Caos e Cosmos, Vol. 2'' (2022)

Bibliography

* ''Debaixo das Rodas de um Automóvel'' (Editora Rocco, 2006; re-issued by Kotter Editorial in 2020) * ''Lulismo Selvagem'' (Kotter Editorial, 2020) * ''A Outra Volta da Outra Volta: Um Estudo Sobre Henry James'' (Kotter Editorial, 2022)

Filmography

Film

Television

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Skylab, Rogerio 1956 births Living people Brazilian rock singers Brazilian rock musicians Brazilian classical guitarists Brazilian male guitarists Brazilian record producers Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian male poets Sonneteers Brazilian essayists 21st-century essayists Bossa nova singers Música Popular Brasileira singers Brazilian television presenters Brazilian experimental musicians Electronica musicians Federal University of Rio de Janeiro alumni Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian agnostics Brazilian male film actors 21st-century Brazilian male actors 20th-century Brazilian male singers 20th-century Brazilian singers 21st-century Brazilian male singers 21st-century Brazilian singers Obscenity controversies in music Male jazz musicians 21st-century Brazilian male writers 21st-century Brazilian poets Brazilian male singer-songwriters