By J.J. Perry
Hoosier Times

BLOOMINGTON -- Those expecting a shy young man wearing a red stocking cap singing Bowie songs were in for a shock.

Instead, Brazilian pop star Seu Jorge -- a thin, handsome man with a captivating presence -- confidently wore a black knit hat, tight dreads peeking from under, and a long-sleeved pink dress shirt. He was also armed with some of the catchiest, danceable pop songs in any language.

Jorge played the first set at the Union Board Stage on Sixth Street at Saturday night's edition of the Lotus World Music & Arts Festival.  Jorge is as big a name as Lotus has ever booked; a major musician in Brazil, he has found some fame in the States as an actor in Wes Anderson's "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." He also played a mobster in the acclaimed film "City of God."

And Jorge’s life does sound ready for the silver screen: Just a decade ao, he was homeless and living in the slums of Brazil.  Today, he is fusing samba and bossa nova with chill music and urban dance grooves to appreciative crowds around the globe.

Add B-town to the list: The audience was sitting on the street in front of the stage for good 20 minutes before the set even started. And when Jorge did begin, much of the crowd already knew the words to the songs -- in Portuguese -- from his very new disc, "Cru."

Acoustic guitarist-vocalist Jorge and his tight hand (with electric bass, cavaquinho – a small guitar -- drums and percussion) leaned heavily on music from "Cm," a disc being reviewed quite favorably in publications such as Entertainment Weekly, Rolling Stone and the Onion AV Club. His "Tive Razao (I Was Right)" was exemplary; it was upbeat, optimistic and booty-shaking -- a good indicator of the rest of the night. As was the slightly askew protest song, "Mania de Peitao (Large Chested Mania)," a musical voice against breast implants.

The crowd was into the band immediately, bopping up and down to his melodic and hypnotizing grooves. For his part, Jorge sang soulfully, dashing off licks on his guitar, while his energetic group smiled and created a funky backdrop.

Hundreds of people were within the barricades of Sixth Street. More than a hundred were on the sides and behind the stage on Washington Street; though they didn't have tickets, they danced and swayed as though they had to get their money's worth.

The best seats might have been the roof of the apartments at Seventh and Washington; the residents strung Christmas lights and threw a party high above, turning the Union Board Stage into our own musical Wrigley Field.

Jorge kept all those people enraptured over the course of his hour-plus set. A particular highlight was his call-and-response with the audience, asking them to throw their hands over their heads and shake out their bad vibes. As the music built, forge ripped off his cap. The mid-tempo groove moved faster, harder, louder, and Jorge's lyrics became almost a chant. The audience caught the fever, dancing with a reckless abandon.

Jorge began winding down the set with the title cut from his disc "Carolina," a stutter-step of a song with a lyrical hook easy for the crowd to catch.

Jorge came back for one encore, a spoken/sung, down-tempo percussive song about politics and poverty. It was certainly an unexpected encore, seemingly meant to stimulate the brain more than the feet. But the audience didn't seem to mind, and it became a nice way to wind down from the rest of the energetic set.

It was certainly a thrill to see Lotus -- and Bloomington -- catch lightning in a bottle. Seu Jorge is a star on the rise, perhaps coming to the height of his powers as a songwriter, performer and star.

He will certainly go down as an all-time Lotus favorite.