[ad_1]
With this pair, Rodrigo Costa Leão Muñoz Miguez, born in 1964, celebrates with us 25 years of solo career, to which we can add eleven others with the Seventh Legion and Madredeus.
plus years when he repeated at home with his friends, two guitars and buckets of skip . Three voices join the party: Ana Vieira, Selma Uamusse and Camané, to recreate the songs of Rodrigo Leão in Portuguese. What does this man like, who seemed so shy once? It's 25 years of solo career, plus everything behind, a new album and many concerts.
That's right. I am happy because I have been lucky and hardworking, and I have mainly had very different collaborations, Argentinian singers related to tango [Daniel Melingo] to British singers Pop J & # 39; have always loved a lot
Like Beth Gibbons?
And Neil Hannon. This marks those 25 years, this opportunity to work with a lot of people and to have in songs that I compose very different influences, from the classic I've listened to in my parents' home to French or to Brazilian popular.
The great inspiration was soon the empathy with António Barreto and, in the same way, with the same musicians and with a voice.
The Social Portrait is even inspired by the Portuguese? the director Joana Pontes. We had a series of meetings and realized that we were on the right track, with the ideas I was putting out. He received fantastic images, not only old records but also some made by Joana. These images were the first source of inspiration for the soundtrack. After the process is similar to others, as if the composition of music for a disc, because we forget the picture and we are working on the arrangement of the music, the instruments we want to use, so intuitive.
lyrics, it's only instrumental. Does this give you more freedom?
Maybe. I had great freedom. When I work with filmmakers, documentaries or filmmakers, sometimes the relationship is not easy and they look for something that I do not find at the beginning. Some ideas that I presented were omitted but it was a natural process and it went well.
And it's a bonus for those who are buying now The Portuguese because this song reminds us of a series was remarkable.
It did not make much sense to only do the reissue of a work that was published ten years ago. In the context of 25 years of my first work, Ave Mundi Luminar [1993] we thought of a series of initiatives throughout the year, one of which was the following : have an extra CD with songs in Portuguese. When the documentary came out, we toured Portugal with ten or fifteen concerts and the title The Portuguese ended up staying. The Pastor and The Guitar and a Theme of the Seventh Legion, A Thousand Ways to Love This Is Really the New Album The Portuguese who finally became the key album of this edition with the voices of Ana Vieira, Camané and Selma Uamusse
These are the three voices that have worked the most with me four or five years ago. Ana Vieira worked for many years, since the cinema [2004]. With Camané, I worked for the first time four years ago. In fact, one of the songs in this disc called Remains of Life was made to think of the voice of Camané, who sings Rosa [de Rodrigo Leão e Ryuichi Sakamoto, 2004] originally sung by Rosa Passos
She s Rosa No, it was because of my daughter, it was a song dedicated to Rosa who was born precisely that year.
There are people who prefer the original version and others who like this version a lot.
There are in the interpretation of the ways of singing which end up giving a cadence, up to a rhythm
He always worked with great voices, he has always worked with great voices
…
Almost imperceptible but that happens. Do you have to adapt to each voice?
Of course. For me it is the work that has the best sound of all the records that I have made, because we worked with the German engineer Tobias Lehmann, come to Lisbon to capture all these instruments, and with João Eleuterio who produced the record with me. Then we went to Tobias' studio in Berlin to mix. When we record a voice or an instrument, we always give our feedback trying to convey what we want. It's a very special process, in that we are closed in a studio the hours that are necessary to achieve the goal we have. It was fine to work with these singers
There are times when you feel scary?
Yes, it is obvious. Especially in concerts. There are concerts that particularly excite me, I can not explain why. By day, by the audience, by the sound, by the musicians. There are others that excite me less, but that's part of the whole process.
I was talking about the technical side of recording in the studio. There you will be aware of what will be recorded. I guess they make several recordings.
Then you have to choose the best parts. But it's more for the people who work with me in the studio.
I have the chance to work with very strict people, like the João Eleutério, Pedro Oliveira, because in most cases, for me "that's fine, it's a good thing. is good, let's go from the front. " And it is not perfect. This is a flaw, of course.
Or no. There are first shots that have small functions and are better than others very perfect.
Is the perfect one chosen or who has a little disagreement?
In many cases, one chooses the one who
Because it can not be an absolutely clean thing, there must be people inside
[19659002] Of course, they were not machines. This is a year full of concerts. It started in March and has a program that includes a presentation Thursday at the Fnac of Chiado, then goes abroad, but not only to Portugal. We have a series of concerts in Spain – Granada, Madrid Barcelona – and then we go to Vienna, Paris.
Because they are different formations, we have to do a lot of rehearsals, and at a certain point I do not know: which musicians are in concert?
What are we going to do Saturday? It's a big mess. Then we get used to that. We do a first concert and the second is different because I took two or three songs that did not fit very well, and we put some others. It was a challenge for this year. One of the concerts is this album that has just been released – The Portuguese . Another is The Anniversary of a collection of three months ago, with greater training – ten musicians and three singers, with drums, bass, and we do it in the summer festivals, larger sites. And then there is another concert entitled The Essay with a smaller, practically instrumental formation, where we play for the first time subjects that I have been composing for five or six months for a new work that will leave for the year
This is not a trouble, spread the word, do the same concert successively in several places, always the same thing you already know how does it begin and end? from room to room, the arrangements change, it's not a big trouble like that. But obviously we can play different directories, with different musicians, it's fantastic. There are common themes in these three projects, with different arrangements
How do you organize yourself mentally?
I remember a theme, for example, The Comedy of God, an instrumental theme in which we are ten or seven, in " The Portuguese are four or five. is the same theme but with a different arrangement, without drums, without bass.
This ability of adaptation is in your
The truth is that it happened, there were variations of But this year are in greater numbers, are more concerts and are more differentiated.
Freshness I do not know, I have a lot of enthusiasm to trying to compose, I think the same thing that I had 36 years ago when the Seventh Legion But there are some tough times when we look for moments of inspiration, and I try to 39, save ideas.There are times when everything seems like what I did, but then comes a light.I have between 30 and 40 ideas, others more worked or less, for a new album and I still have no idea of the direction I am going to take. It is good to feel that I continue to work, to play, that it happened all at once. Then I look at these 25 years and do more things than I ever imagined.
What did you imagine? How did you get into the song? The seventh legion dates from 1982.
We had played since 1978 or 1979, with 14 or 15 years.
The same?
Pedro Oliveira [voz e guitarra] the Nuno Cruz [bateria] I [baixo] the first nucleus of the Seventh Legion
We played in my house, I took it very seriously. I'll call them tomorrow at five o'clock, five-thirty. We put a recorder to record, we had two guitars, passing buckets to make rhythms. We invented. Most of our friends who were interested in music wanted to learn to play the Beatles songs, the Pink Floyd. We did not play well but we wanted to do our own thing. Of course, I did not know … I still attended the second year of law school. I abandoned it because I did not identify it during a time when the project of Pedro Ayres Magalhães, the Madredeus, had already started, at the time when the seventh legion was 50 or so 60 concerts a year, to go all over the country. We always had the idea that it was a time that was ending and that we were going to study law and let it go.
Have a serious life?
Good. But that did not happen. Already at the time of the seventh legion began the Madredeus, there was coincidence, and then a new coincidence with the project alone.
There have always been several recordings simultaneously.
There are points in common and there is this desire not always to be attached to the same formula. It reminds me of a project that I really liked to do with Gabriel Gomes – The Poets – and even today we have two or three concerts a year, with very old recordings by Herbert Helder and Cesariny. And it always gives me so much pleasure to play with Gabriel …
… the Gabriel of the accordion …
… and with l & # 39; actor Miguel Borges or Rogério Samora. With all this poetry that we love so much.
This is never just a path, there are always loopholes?
It's in me. I need to go through different influences, to work with different musicians.
Says that there are 30 or 40 ideas in the head …
… and on the computer. ] How do these ideas appear? Said that sometimes it seems like it can not, then comes a light. How is it? Are you sitting or walking in the middle of the street?
Sometimes I work from six o'clock in the morning to six in the morning, I stop just to eat no matter what. I'm here, I save four or five ideas and the next day I hear that, "but why did I waste so much time with that?" Sometimes we are all in the room, there is the piano and I move my hand, not even touch it, I make two chords, "what is it?" and in 30 seconds two or three chords can come out. My goal is always to record the ideas that I have. "Today, I will work a date and hours will come out." And it does not come out. Other times, I leave and try to do it with some intensity, that is to say, two or three times a week, I try to work a full day . There are days when I do not do anything, I think about the songs I wanted to do and I can not do, or I think about this idea that may give results and I'm obviously happy. There are things that I already like a lot in these ideas, in fact we have already played in two or three concerts that I have done as part of the project.
What is the instrumental?
the violinist Viviena Tupikova sings in two or three themes, but all without words, more environmental things, long notes. My youngest daughter, Sofia, and Rosa herself are singing on two tracks, but these are recordings that we release and continue to play. But it is a record that I really liked that I finally had in three or four songs, a young choir with 50 singing kids.
The concert calls This concert will call Essay or the concert is called because it is a test?
The concert called ] Essay but I do not think the next will have this title. It's open, you may end up getting used to it and you can stay.
Which instruments do you prefer to play? There is a piano at home and the skip no longer comes in buckets.
The acoustic piano is a fantastic instrument. I learned to play alone, I have no technique at all. My three children play much better than me. Antonio went to the 8th grade, plays Rachmaninov, at the Children's Music Academy, AMAC, a school that has existed for over 50 years.
Rachmaninov?
Toca
How old are you?
He is 17 years old in a month. I've always been afraid of the piano, I'm not a pianist, I play synthesizer, simple things. I lost that fear and in two of these concerts I play acoustic piano, in five or six pieces. Viviena Tupikova plays the piano very well and plays a few songs. The piano has the distinction of being a giant instrument right in front of us. I have synthesizers at home with all the programs, with violins, cellos, an infinite number of discs that can even give birth to a theme. When we look for sounds, suddenly a harp arrives and we stay there for five minutes … I like to play bass, which was my instrument of the Seventh Legion and that I've recovered a bit in recent years , even for the work of two years ago with Scott Mathew, Life Is Long a record of songs from an alternative pop .
We have a string quartet that usually works with me The Portuguese do not have the same musicians in all the songs. Many arrangements were made by Carlos Tony Gomes who has been with us for many years and who played cello, Bruno Silva played viola de arco, Viviena Tupikova played violin and Denys Stetsenko too. Frederico Gracias plays drums / percussion on the back of the guitar, and this is the first time I played with Carlos Barretto on the bass and I was absolutely fascinated by his posture, his way of playing so fantastic . Celina da Piedade plays the accordion, Marco Alves plays trombone and vibraphone and is also a fan-musician.
Many of your songs come from Ana Carolina
This is my wife.
I compose first and Carolina does not consider himself a lyricist
Rodrigo composes first? It was almost a joke. The first time she wrote it was Pasión, the theme of Alma Mater [2000] sung by Lula Pena. We were in the studio and we needed a sketch of the lyrics to get an idea and Carolina sent it to us by email. And then he did it. She is the person who knows me best, to whom I show what I do.
Yes, of Pedro Ayres de Magalhães, whom I like very much, The Pastor [Pastor] And he has two songs of Madredeus and The guitar a popular block. And then there is the Thousand Ways to Love the Seventh Legion, The Fire [1992] which is from Francisco Menezes, the lyricist of the group.
It's a record to feel good, because we know all these songs.
I hope so and that people like that. It's the first time I can put together my songs in Portuguese. Twenty-five years ago, my concern, or one of my goals – my way of working is very intuitive – was to break a bit with what I was doing in Madredeus and Seventh Legion. I did not want lyrics in Portuguese, I wanted a more instrumental song, I had songs sung in Latin. In the Alma Mater appears for the first time a theme in Castilian, Pasión and The Chamber sung by Adriana Calcanhotto, in Portuguese with a Brazilian accent. In 2004 Rosa appears, in Portuguese, and only in 2006 or 2007 appears the first song with Ana Vieira singing who called Voltar in Portuguese. From there, but later, little by little I put a theme in Portuguese. Now they are all here
What can we expect? More collaborations with Ryuichi Sakamoto, Beth Gibbons, Scott Mathew? Where does it happen?
It goes without a doubt. I do not think about a collaboration for the next album but it could happen, and it happens in a last step where I already know that the disc will have these songs. We are three months from beginning the recordings in the studio, we are me, João Eleuterio, Pedro Oliveira – listening to the songs, then it is possible that "this theme could be sung, we could invite someone. "
What do you like to do the most right now?
Can you, can you? Several years ago, I liked it but I preferred working in the studio. A few years ago, concerts are a great joy for me. Be with the musicians with whom I like to play.
And the public?
The relationship with the public is important for us to feel this permanent contact. We ended up playing almost every week and picked up spectators from the south, from the north. We were in Bangkok recently, we played for 500 Thai and they liked it. It was interesting to see how these people reacted precisely to this project of The Portuguese with Selma Uamusse
[ad_2]
Source link
