Originally known as AURA, VIA LUMINI were formed in Brazil by a quintet of young musicians interested in reviving the traditional sounds of seventies progressive music in South America. Though quite young at the time, the band managed to secure a recording contract with PRW and released their lengthy debut album in 1991.

The band's sound shows obvious influences from a variety of classic progressive groups, among them GENESIS (vocals, dramatics), YES (keyboards), and CAMEL (overall tenor). Cézar Pacca in particular has been praised for his energetic and innovative guitar work. While the recording quality of their studio releases (and particularly the debut) was poor, their youth and energy largely made up for the weak production. Also noteworthy is that all VIA LUMINI's vocals are sung in Portuguese. Translations of the lyrics are virtually impossible to find, and the poor production quality makes the singing difficult to follow at times.

Guitarist and vocalist Edilson Rodrigues left the band following their first release and was replaced by flautist Silvio De Oliveira, giving the band an added dimension of sound, as well as another band to emulate (JETHRO TULL) on their second and final release.

There is no clear record of when the band called it quits, but their 1995 release "What Have We Done About Us" marked the end of their recording career as a group. Today Mauro Cannalonga performs in an AOR cover band in South America; Edilson Rodrigues is a music producer; Marcelo Dias most recently appeared as a member of the metal band SOULFLY; and Fernando Loia tours locally in Brazil with his own prog cover band, GENESIS LIVE.

VIA LUMINI deserve recognition in the Archives for being one of (if not the) first Brazilian band in the nineties to launch a revival movement for progressive music in northern South America.

Bob Moore (ClemofNazareth) Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.