Portugal holds two musical styles that have the status of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by Unesco: fado and cante alentejano. À Porta do Cante is a band of young Portuguese with outstanding artistry, with which to discover these two sides of the musical soul of Portugal: Buba Espinho (voice and guitar), António Caixeiro (voice) and Bruno Chaveiro (Portuguese guitar).
À Porta do Cante
Fado is world-wide renowned, a musical flagship of the country, associated mainly to Lisbon (and Coimbra, with its particular fado related to the students of the university) usually related to feelings of sadness, longing and that iconic and ineffable feeling, so Portuguese, of the saudade. But, in fact, fado is much more than saudade, and this style can sing about joy, about poetry, about the charms of Lisbon,… and is made of many sub-styles, like the lively fado corrido, the gloomy fado menor… even fado cigano, Gypsi fado!
Fado is urban music while, on the other hand, cante alentejano, from Alentejo region, arises in the rural world, and its main key themes are the land, the farming tasks, the community life and, of course, the flirting. It is usually shown as a choral singing, by groups of men, woman and, more recently, also mixed. But the modas, that is the way of naming the songs in this tradition, can also be sang a solo. After some decades faded into oblivion because of the socio-economic changes in the region and the rural-urban drift, cante alentejano has been strengthened by groups of very young artists who foster their cultural heritage with big respect and knowledge.
| Bernardo “Buba” Espinho (Beja, 1996) and António Caixeiro (Cuba, 1991) are some of the most active artists nowadays in the dissemination of cante alentejano.
Buba has been involved in traditional music since he was able to stand on his own feet. When he was 16 years old he created the band Os Bubedanas, with a dozen of other young guys, and he has also worked with Adiaga, A Moda Mãe, Rui Veloso or António Zambujo. Currently living in Lisbon, Buba became to delve into fado more recently. He brings a delightful youthful freshness and an interpretive sincerity and mastery that show his total commitment to art. He was winner in the Great Night of the Fado of Santa Maria Maior at the Coliseu Dos Recreios and has sung in all the renowed fado houses in Lisbon, like O Faia, Casa de Linhares, Clube de Fado, Adega Machado. For António Caixeiro, his childhood in the alentejana village of Cuba put him direct and constant exposure to the cante alentejano. After starting music studies he got involved in groups like Os Ceifeiros de Cuba, where he learnt from the masters the modas, the songs from the Alentejo. In 2012, with some friends he created the band Cant’Aí, that will be followed soon by another band, A Moda Mãe, that recorded two albums and colaborated with artists like Janita Salomé, Júlio Resende, Paulo Colaço, Pedro Mestre and also Buba Espinho. This group was a landmark at the country, and was an example for a lot of other young guys and many other bands started to emerge. Buba Espinho plays guitar and fado has other iconic instrument: the Portuguese guitar. In charge of this will be Bruno Chaveiro (Switzerland, 1993). At his 4 years old, Bruno and his family moved from Switzerland to Portugal. At the age of 8 he starts to learn classical guitar and at 10, guitar for fado at the alentejana little city of Montemor-o-Novo. In 2007 he starts to learn Portuguese guitar and from 2012 he is disciple of teh master Custódio Castelo. Like Buba, Bruno plays regularly at fado houses and has accompanied even the absolut myth of fado Celeste Rodrigues. |
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