Virtus

Italy

Born in Rome, Italy, Federico Gidaro aka Virtus expressed his interest towards music at an early age. During his childhood, he studied accordion and later attended for a short time the “School of Music for Films” of the master Elio Polizzi. He graduated in 2013 in Musicology at the Faculty of Letters and Philosophy of the University of Tor Vergata in Rome.

Virtus began composing his first songs exploring many genres from rock to dance music. His introduction to reggae music began in the summer of 2004 thanks to friends from his origin country in the south of Italy (St. Andrea Apostolo dello Jonio – Cz). 2005 marked the year he started his own productions along with his first performances. In the winter of 2006, he started the collaboration with the Pakka Sound (of which he was a member until 2009) with whom he could perform at the CSOA Global Village and the CSOA Intifada.

In 2012, the site, Reggae.fr, included VirtuS among the “upcoming artist and revelations for 2012”. In 2013, Virtus joined Redgoldgreen and Piotta (popular italian rapper) leading him to produce in 2015 the music for ‘Rise up’, a song collaboration with the living hiphop legend, Afrika Bambaata, which was included in the recent Piotta’s album.

In 2016 VirtuS collaborated with the electronic-duo, Retrohandz, with a feature in their EP released by DIM MAK, one of the most influential EDM label in the world, as to be played by Diplo, founder and soul of Major Lazer, on BBC Radio. He also performed that summer at the famous Rototom Sunsplash Showcase stage along with other artists of his music label.

Virtus newest release, ‘Dem Fi Know’, is composed and produced by Cool Up Records, the reggae label from Seville, Spain, formed by Alameda Sound & Legalize Sound.