Hip Hop artist, Ithaka in Sintra, Portugal 2005

Poet, contemporary artist and hip hop vocalist, 

Ithaka in Sintra, Portugal 2005

Photographed by: Livia Brisa

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ithaka_(musician)

In Lisbon he recorded his first two hip hop albums, Flowers And The Color Of Paint and Stellafly. His song, Escape From The City Of Angels appeared on the soundtrack for Columbia Pictures' feature release, The Replacement Killers.^[1] Using his alter-ego name of Korvorão (the raven-shark) sometimes spelled Korvowrong or Korvorowng, Ithaka was also the lyricist/vocalist on the track "So Get Up" by Underground Sound Of Lisbon.

During his active years in Portugal, the artist's projects were nominated for a total of nine Blitz Awards (the Portuguese equivalent of The Grammy Awards) including; Best Album (for "Flowers And The Color Of Paint" in 1995 ^[2] and Stellafly in 1997) and Best Male Vocalist (in 1995 & 1997). In addition, the prestigious national newspaper, Publico awarded his 1997 release Stellafly as "Album Of The Year" and considered his most popular song from that record Seabra Is Mad as both the "Song Of The Year" and "Video Of The Year". In an end of the decade retrospective article about Portuguese music, Publico also cited his debut release "Flowers And The Color Of Paint" as one of the country's Ten Most Influential Albums Of The 1990's.

In 1994, the international hit "So Get Up" that Ithaka wrote the lyrics for and vocalized (in participation with Underground Sound Of Lisbon) was nominated for "Song Of The Year" at that year's Blitz Awards, and later climbed to 8th Place on Billboard's U.K. Independent Dance Charts (and 52nd on Billboard's U.S. independent Dance Charts).

In 1998, after over six years in Portugal, Ithaka returned back to California where he recorded his third album called Somewhere South Of Somalia with producer Conley Abrams III. The lyrics from this album were written on a two month journey into East Africa.^[3] Later Ithaka relocated his base to Rio de Janeiro where he recorded two more albums, Recorded In Rio and Saltwater Nomad. In 2007, he briefly returned to Portugal to record with former Underground Sound of Lisbon member DJ Vibe, providing vocals and lyrics for the track "You".