© Line Gøttsche Dyrholm

The Failed Pianist - Performance for the Album Release: "Friseur"

Manuel Pessoa de Lima arrived in Berlin from Brazil with a sole plan in mind: to break out in the experimental music scene. It didn't take too long for him to realize he wouldn't be able to make a living from his art. Luckily, he was hired by a hairdresser in Prenzlauer Berg who uses live piano music in his saloon. Requested to play light and relaxing piano music, Manuel decided to compose his new album Friseur, where he plays his new compositions synced with a karaoke-like backtrack.

Manuel Pessoa de Lima is a Brazilian composer. He works with the colour red, is interested in the theme of failure and creates site-specific performances with confessional elements. Currently based in Berlin, he develops solo performances with language, sound, video and red light. In these, Lima often uses irony to destabilise the notion of high culture and the habitus of the traditional concert environment. He deepened his confrontation with failure in his most recent solo project The Failed Pianist, which was presented at the Send-Receive Festival (Canada) and at the summer festival of Akademie Schloss Solitude.
Most recently, his work "36 English to Portuguese Lessons" was released on the digital platform of Cafe Oto (London) and his last album "Realejo" (organ, pipes and electronics) will be released in 2020 on the experimental music label Black Truffle. He graduated in the Performer Composer programme of the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts).