People had already heard about her when drummer and composer Mariá Portugal, who was born in São Paolo, Brazil, became Moers’ ‘Improviser in Residence’ in 2020. That she is an instrumentalist who mixes (Afro)Brazilian rhythms and the song tradition of Brazil with jazz, improvised and new music with American and European influences. That she has developed the vocabulary for her own language with her projects. And that she not only studied drums, but also communication and semiotics. Erosão is typical of her way of working. The songs were written in Brazil, in the tradition of composers such as Caetano Veloso and Maria Beraldo. In 2019, she had these songs recorded by various musicians. She brought this material back to Germany, processed it further using analogue and digital means and rehearsed it with a septet of Cologne-based improvisation artists. Each of these layers further eroded the music, ultimately transforming Portugal’s songs beyond recognition.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Mariá Portugal – voc/dr/comp
Lotte Anker – sax
Angelika Niescier – sax
Matthias Müller – trb
Moritz Wesp – trb
John-Dennis Renken – trp
Reza Askari – b
