Flávio Hansen

Flávio Hansen came up in Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, born there in 1963. He started playing music early, forming his first band when he was sixteen. By the 1990s he had an album out called 'Batacazo,' and the track 'Baita Baile' from it caught on as a kind of party standard.

That song and others like 'Barranca e Destino' or 'Coplitas da Flor Colorada' have a straightforward, rhythmic feel that works for dancing. He's put out a number of albums since, and the writing tends to be direct, songs like 'Diário de Campo e Distância' or 'Do Poeta pra o Guitarreiro' have that plainspoken quality.

There was some noise around 2003 about a melody in one of his songs, but it didn't really stick. He kept making music after that, working with different people here and there. The records don't try to reinvent anything; they're just songs that sound like where he's from.