TONINHO DO CARMO

It is a universe of delicacy, nuance, and emotion that one discovers when listening to the love duet of Toninho, a luthier, composer, and instrumentalist, and his guitar.Toninho do Carmo was born in Honório Bicalho, Minas Gerais, Brazil. At the age of five, after an accident, Toninho had to stay in bed for six months, and his friend Francisco gave him a cavaquinho.He started playing Brazilian guitar and made his debut accompanying Celio Balona at dances throughout Brazil. Toninho has played with Maysa, Dorival Caymmi, Emílio Santiago, Elza
Soares, Alcione, Lúcio Alves, Cauby Peixoto, the Irmãos Borges, Tino Gomez, Júnia Horta, and many others.

Toninho do Carmo arrived in France in 1984 with the Célio Balona Group for a concert at the France-Brazil Festival at the Arena CIMIE. Upon arriving in Nice, he found the city pleasant and decided to live and work there.In France, he accompanied Nazaré Pereira, Lualva Braz, Betina, Katia Werneck, Ana Guanabara, Márcia Maria, and many others. He played with John Mark Jaffe, Robert Perci, Frank Sitbon, Mark Berteaud, Raul de Souza, Cacau, Jean-Loup Longnon, and recorded an album with Luiz António ‘The Star’ and Monica Passos.

He participated in the Montreux Festival in 1987 and 1994 with the Cruzeiro Do Sul Group. In 1996, he met Georges Moustaki and joined his group. With them, he performed in Spain, Germany, Japan, Portugal, Canada, and Belgium, participating in festivals in Montreux, Nice, Lyon, Canada, and performing at venues such as Olympia, Palau da Musica, Philharmonie Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg. He appeared on France 2, Michel Drucker, France Music, Europa 1, in a tribute to Henry Salvator, RTL, France Inter, and many others.

In 2010, he formedhis own group, Toninho’s Band. In 2011, he embarked on a tour in Germany with Papa Wemba, filmed by TV5, as well as a performance on France24.

In 2014, he composed and recorded his first solo album, “Primavera,” for the Défis label. He has been performing at the cabaret Les Trois Maillets since 1993 and is also the musical director and arranger, having recorded three albums for the Harmonia Mundi label with singer Maria Teresa.As a musical director and arranger, he began collaborating with Théâtre de l’Opprimé in 1998, where he directed the music for plays by Isabel Ribeiro and Rui Frati, presented in various cities including Paris, São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Tehran, Milan, Pisa, Genoa, Modena, Alba Julia. He is also co-responsible for the programming of the Migractions Festival.