Matthew Whitaker, 17, begins to dazzle under the aura of Stevie Wonder

AMARANTE, PORTUGAL – It is in a New York taxi that Matthew Whitaker at first surprised them. Producer Lu Araujo and his general manager, Malu Allen, made their way through Manhattan, bearing the name of the upcoming Mimo Festival of Portugal . A vignette showed Matthew on a talk show and an excerpt from the staggering image of the seventeen-year-old blind boy who was demolishing the keys of his piano and reminding him of Stevie Wonder. "Look at this guy!"

The producers went behind and had the impression of touching the gemstone first. Matthew's parents were worried about the trip. In addition to being blind, the pianist was a minor and had rarely left safe territories of his homeland, the Apollo Theater in Harlem. With their duly-producing parents on the festival list, along with the bassist and the drummer who accompanied them, Matthew boarded for Amarante, a town with just over 11,000 inhabitants and origins at the age of stone about an hour north of Port of Portugal. Even when he had not yet closed his other attractions, Mimo had the greatest freshness announced with pride by Matthew himself. While he was appearing on the stage of the Amadeo de Sousa-Cardoso museum in front of the strategically placed banquette between a piano and a Hammond keyboard, the boy smiled and addressed the audience with the same phrase as he did. had said in a workshop a few hours earlier:, I am Matthew Whitaker and I am 17 years old.

Matthew's blinding took a complicated and premature birth in three months, with a 50% chance of survival. The piano at home became a fun and a portal through which he discovered the world in which he wanted to live. When the parents noticed, Matthew was already on the other side. "I played Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star on the keyboard that I had received at the age of three," he recalls. His classes began at age 5 at a school for the blind in New York, and in Harlem began learning bass, drums, clarinet and percussion. His artistic growth comes to examples of stories in American black music, three times faster than his biological maturity. Matthew on stage and in front of his musicians, is a boy still nervous when he does not float on his keys.

The show at Amarante was an equally early performance. Matthew can be of any significance if he manages to stabilize his artistic personality by removing the weight of the aura of Stevie Wonder and Ray Charles who was born with him, or just content himself with of a success that is already right in remembering the two major American music synthesizers. Charles Bradley died satisfied with James Brown's coverage status. Matthew was generous with the audience playing familiar themes from the 70s like Earth, Wind and Fire September . He is essentially a blues pianist, apparently caught up in the lineage of Pinetop Perkins and Johnny Johnson, and Hammond is by his side to prove it, but he also enjoys playing with headlines for his musicians. What he did with Mas Que Nada by Jorge Ben, was a rare recreation, with improvisations raising chairs and an appropriation that only devotees can achieve. Matthew Whitaker is also a devotee of Ben Jorge, and it is there that he can begin to be born.

His first album was released in 2017 and he called Outta the Box . But this Nothing is there in another format than the one shown on the show. There is an early Afro percussion and a Latin clave, and soon his piano is balanced by saxophone solos. A job to do what I wanted with Brazilian music. Matt 's Blues presents it in his most comfortable place, the grandparents' piano blues, and Flow the lyrical show, with the influences of a classical piano who is always mentioned in the middle of his improvisation.

The festival Mimo in Amarante follows until Sunday 22, with musicians from around the world. The opening night was attended by Portuguese guitarist Marta Pereira da Costa, the Portuguese collective Dead Combo, the Brazilians Baiana System, the Mozambican group Timbila Muzimba and the queen of the carimbó, Pará Dona Onete. For this Saturday are included the singer of Mauritania Noura Mint Seymali and the Brazilian Otto. One of the most anticipated attractions arrives Sunday, to close the main stage. A stellar ensemble named Hudson led by drummer JackDeJohnette, with John Scofield on guitar, John Medeski on piano and Scott Colley on bass.