Rodrigo Amarante de Castro Neves (born 6 September 1976) is a Brazilian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer and arranger. He is part of the bands
Los Hermanos,
Orquestra Imperial, and
Little Joy, and released his first solo record, ''
Cavalo'', in Brazil in late 2013 and worldwide in May 2014. He also wrote and performed the (
bolero style)
narcocorrido
A narcocorrido (, "narco-corrido" or ''drug ballad'') is a subgenre of the Regional Mexican corrido (narrative ballad) genre, from which several other genres have evolved. This type of music is heard and produced on both sides of the Mexico–U ...
"
Tuyo", the theme song for the
Netflix Original Series ''
Narcos'' (2015) and ''
Narcos: Mexico'' (2018), and wrote the score for the film ''
Entebbe'' (2018).
Biography
1997–2007: Los Hermanos
Amarante was born in
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...
. He studied Journalism at
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro ("PUC-Rio"), where he met
Marcelo Camelo and
Rodrigo Barba. After a few rehearsals with
Los Hermanos, Amarante was invited to join the band.
On their debut album, ''Los Hermanos'' (1999), Amarante contributed very little, playing
transverse flute and singing the backing vocals. There are only two songs written by him: "Quem Sabe", which turned out to be one of the CD's singles, and "Onze Dias".
On the band's second album, ''Bloco do Eu Sozinho'' (2001), Amarante was able to show his real musical quality, playing guitar together with Marcelo and writing more songs. He recorded "
Sentimental" (considered by
Dado Villa-Lobos from
Legião Urbana to be the best song of 2001), "Retrato pra Iaiá", and "Cher Antoine" (sung in French). He also co-wrote with Marcelo "A Flor", one of the album's hits, and the instrumental part of the song "Mais Uma Canção".
With their third album, ''Ventura'' (2003), came Amarante's national recognition as a great songwriter; he wrote songs of indisputable quality, like "Último Romance", "O velho e o moço", "Um par", "Do Sétimo Andar", and "Deixa o Verão". His role as a sideman in the band ended, and he became recognized as one of the band's leaders, which role until then was attributed only to Marcelo Camelo.
On the group's fourth album, ''4'' (2005), Amarante wrote almost as many songs as Marcelo. Although ''4'' did not have as much success as the previous album, Amarante's songs are much more distinguished, like "O Vento" – the only hit in this album – and "Condicional". He also wrote "Primeiro Andar", "Os Pássaros", and "Paquetá" (
Paquetá is a small island in Rio de Janeiro).
In 2006, Amarante won the prize of "Best Instrumentalist" in the Prêmio Multishow (Multishow Awards).
In April 2007 the band announced they were going on hiatus, since 2009, the band has been gathering from years to years for concerts and musical tours.
2002–2006: Orquestra Imperial
After a hiatus from
Los Hermanos (in 2007), Amarante dedicated himself to
Orquestra Imperial (a band in which he plays with
Moreno Veloso (
Caetano Veloso
Caetano Emanuel Viana Teles Veloso (; born 7 August 1942) is a Brazilian composer, singer, guitarist, writer, and political activist. Veloso first became known for his participation in the Brazilian musical movement Tropicália, which encompas ...
's son),
Nina Becker, and the actress
Thalma de Freitas) and went to California to record "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon" with
Devendra Banhart. There, he started writing songs with
Fabrizio Moretti and
Binki Shapiro, a trio that would soon become
Little Joy.
2006–2010: Little Joy
In 2007, Amarante joined with
The Strokes
The Strokes are an American Rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1998. The band is composed of lead singer and primary songwriter Julian Casablancas, guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond, Jr., Albert Hammond Jr., bassist Nikola ...
drummer
Fabrizio Moretti and American musician, singer, and songwriter
Binki Shapiro to form the trio
Little Joy, a Brazilian/American rock supergroup. Amarante and Moretti had met in 2006, at a festival in
Lisbon
Lisbon ( ; ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 567,131, as of 2023, within its administrative limits and 3,028,000 within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, metropolis, as of 2025. Lisbon is mainlan ...
where both their bands were performing, and the idea came up to start a new musical project unrelated to their respective bands. When Amarante came to work in Los Angeles with
Devendra Banhart on his 2007 album ''
Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon'' they renewed the acquaintance and started making music, then Binki was brought on board.
Little Joy was signed to
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis, who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. It is currently run by co-managing directors Travis and Jeannette Lee and ...
label.
2010–present: Solo works

In 2014, Amarante released his first solo album, ''
Cavalo'', one of the first releases on the Easy Sounds Recording Company label. The album received strong critical reviews and featured as one of
NPR Music's "50 Favourite Songs of 2014 So Far". He performed the album on tour in nearly 30 different countries.
In 2015, Amarante wrote and vocalized the Spanish-language song, "
Tuyo"("Yours"), as the opening theme for the
Netflix Original series ''
Narcos''. He was inspired by the thought of what kind of music Pablo Escobar's mother would have listened to when raising her son. The song debuted at No. 6 on the Latin Pop Digital Songs around the 2015 series premiere and was nominated for a
Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Theme Music.
Collaborations
Amarante composed the song "Olá Rubi" ("Hello, Ruby") on the album ''Rádio Alegria'' (released in November 2007), by the Portuguese band
Os Azeitonas. The lyrics were written by Mário Brandão, vocalist of Os Azeitonas. The original name of the song was "Tema Castanho".
After in 2008, on the album ''Maré'' by
Adriana Calcanhotto, as an arranger and instrumentalist, on the album ''Na Confraria das Sedutoras'' by 3 Na Massa, as composer of "Tatuí" and sung by his ex-wife Karine Carvalho. On the album ''Minor Love'' by
Adam Green as an instrumentalist. In 2012, "NYC Subway Poetry Department" with
Tom Zé in his record ''Tropicália Lixo Lógico'' and "Azul" with
Natalia Lafourcade as a singer in her record ''
Mujer Divina – Homenaje a Agustín Lara''. On the album ''Gilbertos Sambas'' in 2014 by
Gilberto Gil as an arranger and instrumentalist. In 2017, Rodrigo Amarante with
Marcelo Camelo recording producer and engineer, instrumentation the album ''Vem'' by
Mallu Magalhães. On the album ''Sinais do Sim'' by
Paralamas do Sucesso he collaborated. He appears singing in video
City Music of
Kevin Morby.
On the albums ''Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon'', ''What Will We Be'', and ''Mala'' by
Devendra Banhart (as an instrumentalist and as a singer of the song "Rosa" on ''Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon'').
"Nu Com A Minha Música" with
Marisa Monte
Marisa de Azevedo Monte (; born 1 July 1967) is a Brazilian singer, composer, instrumentalist, and producer of Brazilian popular music and samba. As of 2011, she had sold 10 million albums worldwide and has won numerous national and internat ...
and
Devendra Banhart for the
Red Hot Organization's most recent charitable album ''
Red Hot+Rio 2''; the album is a follow-up to ''
Red Hot + Rio'' (1996). Sales proceeds will be donated to raise awareness and money to combat
AIDS/HIV and related health and social issues.
"O Que Se Quer" written and arranged with
Marisa Monte
Marisa de Azevedo Monte (; born 1 July 1967) is a Brazilian singer, composer, instrumentalist, and producer of Brazilian popular music and samba. As of 2011, she had sold 10 million albums worldwide and has won numerous national and internat ...
(in her record ''
O Que Você Quer Saber de Verdade'')
Personal life

Rodrigo married actress Karine Carvalho in 2002. Amarante and Carvalho divorced in 2010.
Discography
With Los Hermanos
* ''
Los Hermanos'' (1999)
* ''
Bloco do Eu Sozinho'' (2001)
* ''
Ventura'' (2003)
* ''
4'' (2005)
With Little Joy
* ''
Little Joy'' (2008)
As a solo artist
* ''
Cavalo'' (2013)
* ''Drama'' (2021)
Soundtracks
* "
Tuyo" (2015) on the ''
Narcos'' (Netflix Original series) Soundtrack
* ''
7 Days in Entebbe'' (2018) ALV
See also
*
Narcocorrido
A narcocorrido (, "narco-corrido" or ''drug ballad'') is a subgenre of the Regional Mexican corrido (narrative ballad) genre, from which several other genres have evolved. This type of music is heard and produced on both sides of the Mexico–U ...
References
External links
Rodrigo Amarante Los Hermanos Orquestra Imperial Devendra Banhart Little JoyEasy SoundTSMDT
{{DEFAULTSORT:Amarante, Rodrigo
1976 births
Living people
21st-century Brazilian male singers
21st-century Brazilian singers
Musicians from Rio de Janeiro (city)
Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro alumni
Los Hermanos members
English-language singers from Brazil
Spanish-language singers of Brazil
French-language singers of Brazil
Orquestra Imperial members