Before the canopy of the tree nursery at the Kulturforum clears, musicians from the Portuguese Artists Collect ive once again accepted the invitation of the Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut (IAI) and the St. Matthäus Foundation on September 10 to give a rousing concert at this special new venue in the heart of Berlin.
The Portuguese Artists Collective brings together Portuguese musicians and performers living in Berlin to create music with Portuguese influences, ranging from performance and poetry slam to experimental sounds and free improvisation, jazz, classical and pop. In various formations, they presented old and new pieces on this evening, drawing on Portugal's diverse musical roots:
The "Hummana" project led by singer Paula Cristina Sousa Vieira - together with Nuno Filipe on piano, Mariana Filipe on drums and Higino Andrade on double bass - reinterpreted traditional poetry and songs from the island of Madeira, where all the musicians involved come from. In the "Duo Guitarra e Canto", singer and guitarist Pedro Matos and singer Margarida Pinheiro performed "Três romances portugueses", traditional romances by the composer Fernando Lopes-Graça, who had a formative influence on Portuguese music in the second half of the 20th century. This was followed by melancholic fado melodies from Coimbra, played in an unconventional line-up by Pedro Matos (guitar), Higino Andrade (double bass) and Manuel Matos on the Portuguese guitar.
As "Barettino Project & Guests", Pedro Matos and Higino Andrade once again asked Manuel Matos and Margarida Pinheiro to join them to present traditional Portuguese music in new arrangements. Finally, in a quartet with Nuno Filipe and Mariana Filipe, Higino Andrade and singer Ana Rocha played and sang their own pieces inspired by the landscapes of Camacha and the River Tagus. With "Os índios da Meia Praia", a jointly sung hymn to social justice and solidarity by the great revolutionary singer José "Zeca" Afonso, the Artists Collective released its moved listeners into the early autumn night in Berlin.
The concert is part of the autumn program of the Baumschule Kulturforum (external link, opens in a new window), a project of the St. Matthäus Foundation (external link, opens in a new window) in cooperation with the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation (SPK) (external link, opens in a new window)and funded by the Senatsverwaltung für Kultur und Gesellschaftlichen Zusammenhalt and the Beauftragten der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien (BKM). The artistic direction is by Klaus Biesenbach and atelier le balto.
