Guinga (Carlos Althier de Souza Lemos Escobar) (born June 10, 1950) is a Brazilian guitarist and composer born in Madureira, a working-class suburb of Rio de Janeiro. As a child, he was nicknamed "Gringo", because of his pale skin, and the artistic name "Guinga" comes from the way he pronounced the word. 　　His uncle taught him to play the guitar when he was eleven years old. Guinga began composing music at the age of 14. In 1967, when he was 17, his song "Sou Só Solidão" reached the first eliminatory round in Rede Globo's second Festival Internacional da Canção (International Festival of Song). At the age of 26, he began his five-year classical guitar studies with Jodacil Damasceno.