Gomo

When Portugal's radio listeners first encountered the genre-blending, Cornelius-like sounds of Gomo, they were entranced. It was 2001 and Gomo's demo was put into regular rotation, but the DJs were of no help when listeners phoned in, asking, "Where can I get this lovely and strange music?" Paulo Gouveia, the man who is Gomo, had sent the demo to radio stations with no contact information — just a note saying: "Thanks for all the inspiration. Hope you like this." The multi-instrumentalist was working on new songs and a multimedia live show while all this was going on, and he had no idea Gomo was becoming an overnight favorite. Reviews in the national press and the invitations to play most of the major summer festivals in Portugal clued him in to the phenomenon and soon he was working with Mário Barreiros, the producer who was partly responsible for Silence 4's rise to the top of Portugal's pop charts. It was an odd title for a debut but Best of Gomo was the result, and the quirky, precious, and playful album became a radio and music press favorite when it appeared in early 2004. During October of the same year Gomo won the Best New Artist award given by Portugal's SIC TV, and he was also nominated as Best Portuguese Act at the MTV European Music Awards 2004.