Foreign policy and fado: An inside look at the Brazilian ambassador to the UK’s surprising new project
Antonio Patriota shares his views on art as a tool of soft power and the importance of music in his diplomatic journey.
Antonio Patriota, the Brazilian ambassador to the UK, is no stranger to the pages of Monocle – last year he met with our foreign editor to discuss repairing Brazil’s international reputation. He now returns with a very different agenda: an album release. A mix of samba, blues and fado, the diplomat’s record, Meio do Céu, hit the airwaves in June 2025. Patriota met with Monocle Radio’s senior correspondent to talk about his musical turn.
Is streaming a first for a sitting ambassador?
I wouldn’t bet on that – many of my colleagues also play an instrument. I’m not a professional musician but I studied classical piano when I was growing up and I’ve always had the desire to compose and produce music. The professional-quality recordings are thanks to my producer Léo Gandelman, a renowned saxophone player in Brazil.
Did you ever feel that you had to choose between music and diplomacy?
I have to confess, I didn’t love the idea of working in diplomacy – it felt a little too determined by protocol and unwritten rules. My father was a diplomat, so I grew up travelling around the world and living in different countries. I have always loved music, art and the humanities – but at some point I realised that I was also intrinsically Brazilian, and it would be a good fit for me to work for the country.
Is your stage name, Tonio de Aguiar, a way to separate your two roles?
Absolutely. I decided to create a different persona for my musical work. Tonio is a nickname that my siblings used to call me and Aguiar is my middle name.
‘Luz-o-fonia’ is a personal favourite from your album, it’s a song about our lusophone brothers in Portugal. Which are your favourites?
I’m proud of that song. I haven’t heard another a song that mixes the blues and fado, a genre of Portuguese music that I find very beautiful. One evening I was walking with my wife through the old streets of Lisbon and the melody came to me.
My single “Beyond Mountains” is a tribute to the doctor who created a non-governmental organisation called Partners In Health, and saved countless lives in Haiti and Rwanda. He died a few years ago and I was very saddened by his premature passing. I wrote this song to commemorate him with a little bit of gospel and a little bit of pop.
You’ve spoken about music as soft power – do you see your creative work as an extension of your diplomacy?
Diplomacy, to a great extent, is soft power. When you travel and represent your country abroad, you have to be sensitive to the local culture. London has been a really exciting location because I’ve always been a fan of British rock – especially The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. It’s also a city that welcomed some important Brazilian musicians during our military dictatorship, such as Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso.
You also recently published a book, ‘A Humanist Foreign Policy for a Multipolar World’. What are you hoping that readers take away from it?
It’s a collection of essays that I’ve written over the past decade. My objective is to share with an English-speaking public how Brazil is navigating the transition towards a more multipolar world order and geopolitical distribution of power.
‘Meio do Céu’ is out now, as well as Patriota’s book, ‘A Humanist Foreign Policy For a Multipolar World’. You can listen to the full interview on ‘The Monocle Weekly’.
