VOZ DEBAIXO by João Madeira & Margarida Mestre

João Madeira, double bass
Margarida Mestre, voice

"In his writings, Pierre Boulez posed the question: Is the poem to be sung, recited or spoken?
On this album, we added more nuances to the possibilities of expression; we asked ourselves if there is really a difference between singing, reciting or saying, and if there are any boundaries at all, between these nuances.
We therefore invite the listener to accompany us on this journey."

Best Thanks to:
Abel Neves, Alexandra Lopes, Carlos Zíngaro, Constança C. Homem, Ikue Mori, Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg, João Magalhães, Joelle Leandre, Luis Manuel Gaspar, Miguel Martins, Pedro Campos, Shelley Hirsch, Sociedade Portuguesa de Autores, Teresa Lima, Tó Zé Brito, Vasco Saltão.

Reviews:

"A voice and a double bass. A fascinating alliance like a beautiful bird singing and yawning on a branch. The double bass vibrates with all its wood, its soul, its hatches, its throbbing bridge and with all the depth of its case that covets feminine curves. Faced with this imposing instrument, which seems awkward but which João Madeira's wit and talent make vibrate and sing, bounce and reverberate, Margarida Mestre's voice swirls and rises, fragile and confident, inspired and garrulous, secret and audacious, multiform, a storyteller and poet of the ineffable. Margarida creates and renews narratives over the course of ten pieces that each have their own story, their own feelings, their own allusions and a distinctive poetry. And the sound of the Portuguese language is magnificent. Phonetic sound poetry versus fragments of bowed ostinatos re-recorded in "Aconteço-me". In "Deu la Deu", the timbre of her voice evokes Jeanne Lee, backed by a slight walking-bass of circumstance. If the bow oscillates lovingly in "Paisagem", the wandering voice murmurs a wordless refrain in "Muiñera para 2" and we recognise a Diction recording of an English story, "The Walrus and the Carpenter", a poetic narrative in which the double bass plays the role of the carpenter sawing logs: we hear the wood vibrate as it is transformed into planks and react instinctively to the narrator's words and emphases, penetrating the meaning of the text with the stroke of a bow, during ten superbly well-filled minutes in which the double bassist's sensitivity embodies a second imaginary character, the voice accompanied with great talent by the double bass. In "Ço", Margarida's voice implodes vocally with borborigmos - intimately oral sonorities that trigger the tongue, lips, cheeks, roof of the mouth, throat, inspiration, and the double bassist chastises his double bass with a scalpel bow in tune. Each of the duo's compositions - an amazing conversation - takes on different meanings of sung, spoken and improvised vocal work, in a poetic and dramatic dimension of the human voice, using all the resources of an experienced singer with advanced techniques. The bassist's role is to create a sonic thread that brings together the different imaginative compositions within a work that is completely open to diversity. And this by inserting into it a remarkable improvised and playful dimension, didactic and superbly original."
Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg

"Uma Voz e um Contrabaixo. Uma aliança fascinante como um bonito pássaro cantando e bocejando sobre um ramo. O contrabaixo vibra com toda a sua madeira, a sua alma, as suas escotilhas, o seu cavalete palpitante e com toda a profundidade da sua caixa que cobiça as curvas femininas. Face a este instrumento imponente, que parece inábil mas que a sagacidade e o talento de João Madeira fazem vibrar e cantar, ricochetear e reverberar, rodopia e eleva-se, frágil e confiante, a voz de Margarida Mestre, canto inspirado e gárrulo, secreto e audacioso, multiforme, contadora e poetisa do inefável. Margarida cria e renova narrativas ao longo de dez peças que têm cada uma a sua história, os seus sentimentos, as suas alusões e uma poesia distinta. E o som da língua portuguesa é magnífico. Poesia sonora fonética versus fragmentos de ostinatos de arco regravados em “Aconteço-me”. Em “Deu la Deu”, o timbre da sua voz evoca Jeanne Lee secundada por um ligeiro walking-bass de circunstância. Se o arco oscila amorosamente em “Paisagem”, a voz vagabunda murmura um estribilho sem palavras em “Muiñera para 2” e reconhecemos uma gravação Diction de uma historieta em inglês, “The Walrus and the Carpenter”, uma narrativa poética em que o contrabaixo desempenha o papel do carpinteiro que serra troncos: ouvimos vibrar a madeira transformada em tábuas e reagir instintivamente às palavras e às ênfases da narradora, penetrando, a golpes de arco, no significado do texto, durante dez minutos soberbamente bem preenchidos, em que a sensibilidade do contrabaixista encarna uma segunda personagem imaginária, sendo a voz acompanhada, com grande talento, pelo contrabaixo. Em “Ço”, a voz de Margarida implode a vocalidade com borborigmos — sonoridades intimamente bucais que fazem accionar a língua, os lábios, as bochechas, o céu-da-boca, a garganta, a inspiração, e o contrabaixista castiga o seu contrabaixo com um arco-bisturi em sintonia. Cada uma das composições deste duo — conversa espantosa — assume diversas acepções do trabalho vocal cantado, falado e improvisado, numa dimensão poética e dramática da voz humana, usando todos os recursos de uma cantora experiente com técnicas avançadas. O papel do contrabaixista consiste em criar um fio condutor sonoro que reúne as diferentes composições imaginativas no seio de uma obra completamente aberta à diversidade. E isto inserindo nela uma notável dimensão improvisada e lúdica, didáctica e soberbamente original."
Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg.(Tradução: Miguel Martins)
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"João Madeira on double bass, guitar and magnetic tapes containing recordings he made outside meets vocalist Margarida Mestre.
Both are looking for something new, on the border between acting, singing spoken words, always beyond the listener's expectations, putting together a bit of everything, noises, vocalizations, but also the warm sound of the double bass strings. .
The two are concentrated on their work, a short work, around forty minutes, which is a concentration of new ideas which one after the other find their way onto the recording medium, before they disappear into the air." Vittorio Loconte, Kathodik.org

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"Voz Debaixo – voice below – is an intriguing collection of pieces that also employ Madeira’s guitar and field recordings. The project was instigated by Pierre Boulez’s question about poems: Are they to be sung or spoken? Using texts from sources as diverse as Lewis Carroll and Abel Neves – the poet/playwright/novelist who resisted the revision of his early works to comport with the New Spelling Agreement of 1990 creating a uniform Portuguese orthography – Madeira and Mestre created a rabbit hole for the listener to delve into and hear text morph and merge into vivid soundscapes. The bromide that committed listening yields a rewarding experience certainly applies here."
Bill Shoemaker, pointofdeparture.org

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Musician, Composer.

João Madeira has been totally committed to discovering new processes of creating and composing music, whilst, at the same time, exploring new concepts of musical performance.
Soundcloud upload with constant activity! Follow!
“A Fábrica de Nada”, 2005, and “A Máquina Hamlet”, 2020 - “Parece que o Mundo”, 2018, (contemporary dance).

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