Alcides Neto On Finding Home Between Two Worlds
Melbourne-based Brazilian artist Alicides Neto has just released his introspective debut album, Amú. Ahead of his first appearance at WOMADelaide, Neto spoke with The Note about his childhood, immigrating to Australia and performing at WOMAD.
Words Emily Wilson // Image James Morris
Alcides Neto is stepping into a new era. But, somewhat ironically, this new era has its roots in his long-ago past.
The Melbourne-based Brazilian guitarist, percussionist and vocalist is gearing up to release his debut album, Amu (out now), written largely during a COVID lockdown and deeply inspired by his childhood in the Brazilian countryside.
Over a Zoom call, Neto describes his childhood as “definitely the most creative” period of his life. “I was always dreaming about things. I grew up in this small country town in Brazil. I used to spend a lot of time with my grandmother - she was very funny, very creative, a very nice person to be around. So I think it was a very fruitful time for me, in terms of being creative. It was a happy time in my life, so I feel like there’s still a lot to explore from that period.”
The album is personal, but he specifies that it is still “quite abstract, and gives people a lot of room to interpret what they want from my music.”
And although Amú explores the past, it is still an emotionally immediate project for Neto.
“I would say it still represents my day-to-day life. Especially because I guess it reflects life as a migrant here, which is still the context I’m living in right now.”
Neto immigrated to Australia when he was twenty-seven years old.
“We don’t travel much in Brazil because it’s so expensive,” he explains. “So I felt like I didn’t get to see much outside of my area.” He spent years working as a musician, saving up money to leave his hometown.
“I felt like it was time for me to go and visit a new country and experience a new life for six months or something like that.” He was originally planning to spend some time in Ireland, but a friend of his who used to work in an agency that specialised in allowing people to live and study in Australia convinced him to change his mind.
“She told me to come to Australia, she said it’s a beautiful and open country. I always liked the little things I knew about Australia, so I thought it sounded great. This was the goal: spend six months here to study English and then return to Brazil. But things changed along the way, and I ended up staying. Eleven years later, I’m still here.”
Neto delves into his experiences as an immigrant trying to excel in the Australian music industry. He describes Australian audiences as open, appreciative and honest. “The music I’m playing is easy to digest most of the time, so I feel like I never had any difficulties as a performer. But then in the industry, I feel like I had many more challenges.”
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Neto discusses feeling pigeonholed into a sonic stereotype of what people outside of Brazil expect Brazilian music to sound like and occasionally struggling to make connections. “I feel like it’s much harder to burst the bubble and be part of the industry, it’s been hard to be noticed and get support. At the same time, I never let that bother me much. I always believe in the music I make and the things I do. I don’t have the goal to be a bigger artist. The industry, in general, it’s a bit of a networking game, and if you don’t know people, it might not be enough. You need to be able to make connections, which is hard, especially for a migrant.”
The music he makes here allows him to connect to his family and his culture abroad. His latest single, ‘Ari, Sérgio, Melo, Marco, Merda’, for example - which debuted on the artist’s birthday - interpolates audio of his grandmother and aunt having a light-hearted, jesting chat. The intimate track simulates the experience of being in the room with an affectionate family (along with a very adept percussion player, guitarist and vocalist).
The audio wasn’t originally supposed to be a part of the song. “I decided to include it in the track while I was mixing it. It was very sudden. It’s an interesting way of saying how I came up in the world. It’s me having fun with the day I was born, and having fun with my grandmother’s voice. She’s just saying funny things, it doesn’t even really make sense. I don’t know exactly what she’s talking about, I just know she’s talking about me for sure.” He speaks of his grandmother, who struggled with Alzheimer’s late in life, with warmth and affection - she was clearly a colossal presence in his childhood.
Though feeling connected to Brazil is still of deep significance to him, Neto describes Australia as home. “The plan is to stay here.” He hesitates. “But I like the idea of going back as well. Now I am a citizen, so I have the option to stay or to go and come back. It’s good to have this freedom. It’s very open, and I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the future.”
But there is one thing about the future that Alcides Neto can be sure of: the fact that he will be playing sets at this year’s WOMADelaide.
“I feel very grateful. I think it’s an amazing opportunity,” he says. “I’m feeling excited, not stressed out at all. I have this where performing on bigger stages is more relaxing for me than small intimate gigs. You feel more exposed, for some reason.”
He is keen for Amu to be heard in a live context. “I feel like performance is inherently more expressive. Maybe it’s my personality or my way of seeing things. I feel like the recorded album sounds great, but I don’t feel like it represents the live experience. The performance is more my thing.”
When it comes to music and expression, Neto is ever-evolving. He is constantly working his way through a variety of different sounds and styles. “Sometimes as a musician it feels like you’re in a cycle, revisiting certain styles and wanting to practice them again,” he says.
“I never formally studied music, so I never know where the music’s going to go. I let it move freely,” he explains. “I guess there are so many things we practice every day that we never attempt to study. And then we get very good at those things. Music is just another tool we use to express ourselves. I just do what makes sense for me and people seem to resonate with it.”
Catch Alcides Neto performing at WOMADelaide on Friday 6, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 March 2026. Tickets on sale now via womadelaide.com.au.
