Arnaldo Dias Baptista returned to the stage in October 2011 for the Sarau o Benedito? (What’s Going On?) Tour when he played piano and laughed with the audience as a big screen displayed his paintings. Arnaldo’s logic-defying humour and capacity to extract poetry from the improbable has been his trademark since his adolescent years at the end of the 60s as the Os Mutantes leader. Arnaldo speaks directly to the hearts of young people of all the generations he’s passed through, and today 81% of his followers remain between 17 and 34 years old. Often discovering Arnaldo’s work on the internet they are in awe when they see him perform. The same fans also enjoy a trip back in time, listening to Arnaldo’s music as part of Os Mutantes, and also his solo career productions including the albums Loki? (1974), Singin’ Alone (1982), Elo Perdido and Faremos Uma Noitada Excelente (1977-78 and released in 1988). Kurt Cobain, Sean Lennon, Stereolab, Torloise, High Llamas, the Wondermints and dozens of great Brazilian musicians that are big names in rock are almost certainly Arnaldo fans. In fact, his name has become synonymous with the term ‘genius artist’. Arnaldo was born in São Paulo in 1948 to a pianist mother (composer Clarisse Leite Dias Baptista) and a poet and journalist father (César Dias Baptista). In 1982 he suffered cranial traumatism and since then has been dedicated to fine arts, supported by his wife, Lucinha Barbosa. In 1987 Arnaldo released the cult album Disco Voador - a result of musical imaginings of that period. Arnaldo continued to paint, participating in art exhibitions and musical projects, such as the compilation Give Peace a Chance (2001), a tribute to John Lennon. In 2004, he released the album Let it Bed, produced by John Ulhoa. Listed by Mojo Magazine as one of the ten best releases of the year, the album also received prizes and praise from critics in Brazil. Between 2006 and 2007 Arnaldo was at the reunion of Os Mutantes in London, playing at the wonderful event dedicated to Tropicália at the Barbican Centre. He performed across Europe, the USA and Brazil to audiences of up to 80,000. The life and work of Arnaldo was then told in the exciting documentary Loki! Arnaldo Baptista (2008). Produced by Canal Brasil and directed by Paulo Henrique Fontenelle, the movie received 14 prizes in Brazil and abroad. In the same year the publishing company, Rocco, released Arnaldo’s romance novel Rebelde entre os Rebeldes (Rebel Among Rebels), written in the 80s. In 2012, Arnaldo’s first great individual exhibition, Lentes Magnéticas (Magnetic Lenses) at the Emma Thomas Gallery in São Paulo achieved some of the greatest media coverage ever seen for a solo exhibition by Brazilian artists. Juliana Freire, partner and owner of the gallery, remarks, “Similar to artists in the CoBra movement, Arnaldo works in a spontaneous and experimental way, with a focus on the fantastic world of imagination. His expression through the use of colours and textures permeates the psychedelic universe as well as contemporary art.” Arnaldo’s canvases and drawings also served as digital scenery for his Sarau o Benedito? shows that moved across the most eminent stages and events in Brazil between 2011 and 2012. The tour visited the Virada Cultural/ Theatro Municipal de São Paulo, MIMO/ Teatro de Santa Isabel (Recife city) and classic locations such as SESC Pompeia, Vila Mariana, Belenzinho, Santos and Sorocaba. Arnaldo also took on the famous Salão de Atos at UFRGS. The next generation awaits him….