By Laura Emerick

Among other festival highlights will be the Chicago debut of vocalist-guitarist Seu Jorge, who's best known in the States as an actor. He played Knockout Ned in "City of God" (2002) and the Bowie-loving sailor in "The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou" (2004).

His just-released second disc, "Cru" (which translates as "Raw"), bypasses Bowie, unfortunately. But it does include intriguing covers by other iconic figures such as Serge Gainsbourg and Leiber & Stoller (as well as his own original works). We caught up with Jorge in between stops of his current tour.

Q. Why did you decide to call the album "Raw"?

A. My first band, called Farafo Carioca, was very theatrical, a mixture of samba, jonga, reggae, funk and dance. This was very much due to all the acting I did in the theater. Our stage show was wild with dancers, trapeze artists and jugglers. For my new album "Cru," I have stripped it down to its basics. It allows my voice and soul to emerge. And onstage, what you see is what you get. It's more the naked man rather than the fully dressed man!

Q. What drew you to cover the song "Chatterton" by Serge Gainsbourg?

A. Simply it is all about suicide. Serge is such an icon in France and I got to know his music when I visited there. I think bizarrely it was watching an erotic movie called "Emmanuelle," and I came across his music. The original song talks about figures such as Van Gogh, Socrates and Cleopatra, who all killed themselves.

We Brazilians have a problem with suicide. I say in the song however tough things get for us Brazilians, however depressed we get, there is no point being suicidal and ending your life. On a lighter note remember coffins cost a lot -- it's an expensive business. We just can't afford it! Maybe we are crazy, but we always think there is hope.

Q. What about "Don't"? You've said that "Elvis took the black people's music, and I was taking it back," but Leiber & Stoller wrote other "blacker"-sounding songs. What compelled you to select this particular one?

A. Yes, I suppose they were the most important and prolific writers of rock 'n' roll of their time, and I do love other songs they wrote. But this was not the point of recording "Don't," I recorded it because Elvis sang it. I really have respect for how he brought the sound of black music to the ears of the white people in America.

It was not that I wanted to sing a song which was "more black" in sound, but I suppose I thank Elvis, who was a demigod at the time and influenced a whole generation of people to open up their musical tastes and listen to other music than what was then typically white. He opened up black music to white people and enabled black musicians to be not only heard but "accepted" by white people in America.

Q. Who would you single out as the greatest influence on your musical tastes/sensibilities?

A. It's very difficult for me to do this, as each year I am influenced by different people. As you know in "The Life Aquatic," I learned a lot about David Bowie's music. I listen to all styles of music; at the moment and am listening to the Rolling Stones as well as Radiohead.

I suppose all your childhood music has more influence over your writing than you realize. Although I must have been influenced by the Tropicalia movement -- artists such as Gilberto Gil, and Milton Nascimento -- I think there were others more suited to our less intelligentsia background, such as Joao Nogueira (who composed many sambas and wrote for artists such as Elis Regina and Clara Nunes). I suppose the key person for me was the "King" in the favelas, Zeca Pagodinho. He had more influence over me and hence the people in the favelas than the Tropicalia movement.

Q. Do you have any other acting roles coming up?

A. I have just done another film called "Casa de Areia," a beautifully made film by Andrucha Waddington. The name actually means "House of Sand" and brings together for the first time two of Brazil's most celebrated actresses, Fernanda Montenegro and Fernanda Torres.

It is about the lives of three generations of women. They persevere as they are challenged by the forces of Mother Nature and the tough, inhospitable sand dunes of northern Brazil, celebrating the struggles, passions and deep, hidden desires of people trapped by their fate. It is situated in the paradise of the Maranhenses, but the paradise has its black side and is therefore a metaphor for frustrated desires!

Q. Did you ever hear any reaction from David Bowie himself about your fabulous versions of his songs in the movie "The Life Aquatic"?

A. Not directly, but first he had to sign off on my versions of his tracks, which were not literally translated [into Portuguese], but I personalized a lot of the lyrics that meant something to me. And secondly, I did hear him being interviewed on the radio saying that he did like my versions -- quite a compliment, really.

In Brazil, we are not that used to Bowie's music, and the track that he is well known for in Brazil is "Let's Dance," so I had to do a lot of research into his music. Also, most of the tracks in the movie were his lesser-known tracks. As for my favorite, that's quite difficult. I suppose because the original "Life on Mars" was used in the film, it's quite fun to have my version and his version appear in the same film. The tracks are just so different. David's is a full production track, and mine is completely stripped-down.