He can say, “I love you” in five languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French and his native English. Actually, local world musician Robert Everest can say pretty much anything in any of them. So when this talented multi-instrumentalist sings to audiences from Minneapolis to Madrid, his fluency of language resonates with genuine intention and emotion.

The St. Paul native taught himself guitar when he was 12. Upon graduating from high school, he traveled to Ecuador, where he discovered a passion for world music. While studying linguistics at the University of Minnesota, he visited Brazil, where his fervor for Latin music intensified—and left him broke (he spent all of his money on CD’s and sheet music). Soon after he formed the quintet Beira Mar Brasil so he could focus on bossa nova, samba and other Brazilian sounds.

Everest continues to travel, feeding his appetite for indigenous sounds. He’s performed in Rio de Janeiro­ and studied percussion in Ghana. He can rock a sitar, mandolin, Cuban tres (a six-string, guitar-like instrument) and Andean charango (a small, 10-string lute).

But he still finds the Twin Cities an exciting place to perform, the perfect blend of interested patrons, a variety of venues and a welcoming, yet not overcrowded market. His annual Carnaval Brasileiro—a celebration with native Brazilian musicians and dancers, and a reunion of Beira Mar Brasil—heats up Minneapolis every February, drawing hundreds of revelers.

To Everest, music has no boundaries. Evidently, neither does his musical journey.