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Luiz Carlos "Lula" Barbosa

Luiz Carlos "Lula" Barbosa was born in the Vila Mariana neighborhood of São Paulo, the only Paulistano (born within the limits of both the state and city of São Paulo) among the five siblings of a family from the city of Mar de Espanha in Minas Gerais. He inherited the gift of singing from his mother, Sebastiana, who liked singing the songs of Cascatinha and Inhana, a Brazilian singing duet, with the young Lula. He learned to play the guitar at age six with his aunt Aparecida "Bicida" and accordion with his godfather Arthur. From an early age he participated in family singing around the bonfires in Vila Santa Catarina in São Paulo.

Lula tells a little of his life... "I grew up in São Paulo's Vila Santa Catarina neighborhood behind Congonhas Airport, where the favorite leisure activity in the late 1960s was to go to the airport to drink coffee while watching planes takeoff and land.  This was the favorite past-time of Paulistanos who lived around the romantic airport.  At that time, it was as if we lived in the countryside because there were few street lights and music was played around fire pits:  my uncles with guitar, ukulele, accordion, and flute.  The serenades lasted until the early morning hours and I observed and dreamed of songs of Francisco Alves, Orlando Silva, Ataúlfo Alves, Dalva de Oliveira, Caubí Peixoto, Luiz Gonzaga, Jackson Pandeiro, Angela Maria, and Cascatinha & Inhana, etc.  While in middle school I played the guitar and was invited to accompany the class of Ms. Dona Lourdinha, my music teacher. Encouraged by her, I participated in the first student music festival of São Paulo. Together with my partners Joel e Paulinho we won 2nd place with the samba “My Dream on the Avenue” (Meu Sonho na Avenida). I didn't stop there. I continued to participate in student festivals."

Lula began his career at age 15, in the effervescence of the late 1970s, when the hopeful airs of political re-democratization aided the creation of bands like his Grupo Semente (Seed Group) in Brazil's national culture. In the early 1980s, he decided to go solo, performing in a good number of the legendary nightclubs of the Bixiga neighborhood: among them the unforgettable Boca da Noite bar in São Paulo. In this environment, the true school for those who wish to establish themselves in the artistic life, Lula was able to develop his musicality in close contact with well-known artists such as Filó and Geraldo Cunha and many others. It was not long before he was invited to record his first album, still in 1981, by independent label, and in 1982 was invited to sing on the LP “Cau Pimentel Entre Amigos”. However, although he was gaining more and more recognition in the music industry, Lula only got national recognition four years later with the second place in Brazil's Globo TV Network trendy Festival of Festivals, for the song “Mira Ira”. Since then, he has become a sought-after composer, having songs recorded by several prestigious names in Brazilian music including Roberto Carlos, Fábio Jr, Jair Rodrigues, Jessé, Sergio Reis, Olodum, Miriam Mirah, Catavento Group, Celia, Jane Duboc, Christian & Ralph, Tarancón, Tania Libertad (Peru), Pedro Fernández (Mexico), Tito Gomez (Puerto Rico), Jim Porto (Italy), Amaya Uranga (Spain), Katinguelê, Negritude Jr, and others for a total of 500 recorded songs.

In 2019, Lula celebrated 38 years of a successful music career with another album distributed through all major digital music networks.