Marcio Local's tunes will wash over you like a wave of wonderfully sunny summer thoughts. It's said to be a mixture of Brazil's two great modern musical traditions: samba and soul. The attractive Brazilian describes his music as "a mixture of Jorge Benjor, Seu Jorge, Banda Black Rio, Wilson Simonal, but model 2008, 4×4 and turbocharged." That's what I said. Like a turbocharged 4x4. Okay, let's try something. Close your eyes and visualize your favourite Friday afternoon with a couple of friends on the beach, add a good game of football or a wonderful swim and top it off with live music around a bonfire. Exactly! Mr Local was born in 1976 in Realengo, a lively working-class neighbourhood on the west side of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil. The area received a certain measure of fame when Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Gilberto Gil gave a shout-out to its community in his 1969 hit "Aquele Abraço". He rhymed 'realengo' with 'flamengo', Rio's beloved football team, and made crowds go absolutely crazy. Mr Local used to play for the Flamengos. "I grew up on soccer and where there is soccer there is Samba - it's part of the day to day life in Rio," Mr Local says in an interview with Urb magazine. "Whenever there is football, it always ends up with Samba." When he was fourteen years old, he took two guitar lessons and then started to compose. He gets inspired by the things he sees around him and considers himself to be an author, a musical writer. His parents were not very pleased with his laid back creative attitude and threw him out of home at the age of fifteen. "My family wanted me to join the military," he says. "My dad was a policeman - my mother is a lawyer. Nobody had anything to do with music. I'm the black sheep of the family." But a black sheep that can sing. His mum is now one of his biggest fans and after years of hanging out and soaking up the musical multitude that Rio has to offer, Local found a sound of his own. Fat horns, deep grooves and his smooth baritone in combination with his thick black curls are sure to make girls weak in the knees. His last name was given to him by his friends, supposedly because he is all about being "a local" everywhere he goes. Let's see how Abu Dhabi will suit our bilingual soul star in the making. <b>Marcio Local will perform at the North Stage from 22:30 - 23:15</b> <i>His debut EP was produced by Mario Caldato (Red Hot & Rio, Beastie Boys) and his first album, </i>Marcio Local says, "Don dree don day don don" Adventures in Samba Soul<i>, will be out May 12 on the kooky world music label Luaka Bop.</i> <br/>lhecke@thenational.ae