Is "Vitor Cunha" really a Portuguese musician or is it Mark Knopfler in disguise?

April 12, 2004 6:12 AM

Calling all internet detectives, music fans and residents of Portugal. Is "Vitor Cunha" really a portuguese musician? [much more inside...]

Okay, so my band has a couple of songs up at garageband.com gathering feedback. Last night I received an unusually insightful review from a user with the screen name "vcmanagement." As I am wont to do, I checked on the reivewers user info and found that he was in a band named Vitor Cunha and the Wet Bandits. I listened to the song the band had uploaded (follow the previous link, click the green "play" button next to the song title "Sound of Pain") and immediately thought to myself "This is Mark Knopfler!". The guitar, the voice, the song construction, the lyrics, even the production values all sounded exactly like Mark Knopfler. I asked my roommate, who's a big Knopfler fan, to listen. He had the same reaction I did. The artist bio, however, claimed that Vitor Cunha was a singer/songwriter from Porto, Maia, Portugal.

I sent a message to "vcmanagement" thanking him for his critique and asking "... be honest, is Vitor Cunha just a pseudonym for Mark Knopfler? I mean, playing "in the style of" or "influenced by" is one thing, but voice, guitar & songwriting all sounding just like Knopfler? If it's not him, then this is an amazing act of emulation. Knopfler's voice, guitar and song contruction are all very distinctive. Doing even a second-rate imitation would be an impressive feat. Doing something that sounds like a GOOD new Mark Knopfler song is nothing short of amazing. ..."

I received a very pleasant response which stated in part:
"...
The Knopfler thing. Well, believe me, I am not Mark Knopfler. I do play fingerstyle and I consider him to be a great influence on the guitar. I am into using the guitar as a voice because my own voice doesn't have a range that allows me to really express emotions as well as with the instrument.
On the other hand, there are other tracks on the album which sound quite differently in my opinion. I knew from the start that I would get a few reviews making the comparison (in a way that I think even Mark Knopfler himself had with J. J. Cale when he started).
I am using the track as a tester really. I don't want to be labeled 'the new Mark Knopfler' because that doesn't really correspond to the truth. I may have a nice touch with the instrument but am not in the same league altogether.

The album comes out July, 10th. But honestly, I suggest you check my site www.vitor-cunha.com and wait on the first page for the flash movie to show. It displays a bit of what the album really is, despite this Knopfler-esque song. ..."

Sounds almost like a denial, doesn't it? At least until you notice that he doesn't sign the message "Vitor" and never claims to be Vitor Cunha, so what he says could be technically true even if "vcmanagement" was actually a bandmate, manager or any other guitar-playing associate of Mark Knopfler.

www.vitor-cunha.com shows up on a whois search as owned by a Portuguese registrar. However the site a) is all English , b) is all new, un-finished even, c) states that the album will be in stores on July 10 (implying a major label release), but doesn't state what label the album will be released by.

Other data points:
The garageband artist page has mp3 downloads disabled, as you'd expect for a major label release. The song can only be heard through RealPLayer streaming audio.
"Vitor Cunha's" album is due out in July. Mark Knopfler has a new album sue out in September.
What major label would sign a new artist who sounds like Mark Knopfler?
Why would the artist Vitor Cunha choose the screen name vcmanagement?
Googling doesn't show any english-language info on "Vitor Cunha", besides his website, but there are some portuguese results.

I'm okay with however this comes out. If Vitor Cunha is real, then I've just discovered a major new artist. If not, then I've just had one of my songs critiqued by someone close to Mark Knopfler. I just can't take waiting until July to find out. I need MeFi's famous internet detective force, I need knowledgeable music fans, I need residents of Portugal. Help me get to the bottom of this!

Note - garageband.com has been a bit flaky this morning. If any of the garageband links above doesn't respond, wait a few minutes and try again.

posted by tdismukes to media & arts (10 comments total)

You think he'd bother to fake a light portuguese accent and everything? ;)
posted by abcde at 10:17 AM on April 12, 2004

Well, the fourth result when I Google "Vitor Cunha" is a mail-log index at knopfler.net which seems to indicate that Vitor Cunha <[e-mail]> is a frequent corresepondant. Maybe these are indexes from the "Telegraph Road" mailing list that's hosted there? The archives are members-only, but you could join and search.
posted by nicwolff at 10:32 AM on April 12, 2004

I forgot to mention the garageband reviewers take on the song (in case anyone thinks that maybe I'm imagining the resemblance).

" Sounds like Mark Knopfler 100%. In fact I'm wagering that this is Mark. Im' sorry but the only way to describe this is Dire Straights.
If you're reviewing this, honest to God that's the best description.
Song - Dire Straights
Lyrics - Dire Straights
Mood - Dire Straights" - nix100

"Mark Knoffler is that you?
Obviously someone loves Dire Straits. I think the vocals, guitar, bass, drums sound great, but this is scary. Is straits putting thier stuff on garageband.com? I like the mood to the song, the playing is very tight and the lyrics are fine." - smootrain

abcde - good point!

Come on folks, where's MeFi's legendary detective work? I'm 70% certain that "Vitor" is actually Knopfler, but I want evidence!
posted by tdismukes at 10:34 AM on April 12, 2004

I can't offer proof, just more doubt. Everything about the vitor-cunha.com site strikes me as unprofessional, from the MS FrontPage generator tags, to the uncompressed photo on the "Latest" page, to the slight lapses in English ("available on stores," "your opinion is very important for us").

All of this web evidence could be faked, of course. Short of going to Portugal to see Vitor Cunha play, only time will tell if this is some elaborate viral marketing prank, but ask yourself how it would benefit Knopfler to create an obscure, foreign alter ego. It's not as though he suffers from over-proportion or is crippled by his audience's high expectation. Nor is this music a departure from his typical sound, a la Chris Gaines.
posted by eatitlive at 11:35 AM on April 12, 2004

*over-promotion. Lsat time i use psell chequer.
posted by eatitlive at 11:37 AM on April 12, 2004

"...how it would benefit Knopfler to create an obscure, foreign alter ego. ..."

I'm thinking the alter ego wouldn't be meant to last too long or seen too widely - just enough to get a test screening of his new material on garageband from folks who didn't know who he was & wouldn't have biased expectations.

Of course, I'd be happy if Miguel or someone dug up a write-up on Mr. Cunha in Portuguese. I'd be encouraged to think that a major label was actually signing a new artist who sounds like this.
posted by tdismukes at 12:10 PM on April 12, 2004

I've never heard of a musician called Vítor Cunha, though the journalist Vítor Cunha is the (excellent) deputy editor of the O Independente weekly newspaper.

The best forum to find out for sure, where all music experts dwell, is Fórum Sons. Anyone can post there and they all understand English so I suggest you try, tdismukes.

Or, if you like, I could post a link to this thread there. Let me know.
posted by MiguelCardoso at 12:17 PM on April 12, 2004

Miguel - I'm heading off to school right now so I won't have a chance to post anything for a while. If you could post a link to this thread at Forum Sons, that would be wonderful. Thanks!
posted by tdismukes at 1:04 PM on April 12, 2004

I just did, tdismukes - if anyone can help you, they can. Best of luck!
posted by MiguelCardoso at 5:04 PM on April 12, 2004

Wow. I am a huge DS/Knopfler fan, and was intrigued by this post. I clicked on the link for "Sound of Pain", and my jaw dropped. It sounded exactly like Knopfler to my ears.

However, "Name of the Game", the other track up there, doesn't sound nearly as much like MK to me, especially in vocals, song construction, and general mood. Going back and listening to "Sound of Pain" again, I noticed that the vocals sounded slightly strained, in a way that MK's never do.

Incidentally, I found another song, this one available for MP3 download, here. It's reminiscent of Dire Straits, I think, but it's also pretty clearly not Knopfler.

If I had to guess, I'd say that Vitor Cunha is a talented guitarist and songwriter who is a fan of and strongly emulates Knopfler...and in the case of "Sound of Pain" succeeded in doing so to an uncanny degree. (Even the production sounds like MK's/DS's to me.)

(Any chance you'll translate the intriguing bits from your Forum Sons thread, Migs?)
posted by Vidiot at 10:47 PM on April 13, 2004