Today i had 2 glimpses of a not so distant me. I had freshly arrived from my Portuguese natural habitat into the Indian subcontinent. The sensations overload may be too much to put on words, but that's exactly what words do ... cascade feelings onto words. My first 24 hours in and around New Delhi and the sequence of events that led to my first night in northern India seemed to have washed away all my beliefs , strenghts , hopes and fears. Not reborn , just awaken and alive. That night was a night of discovery, first and foremost of the people around me. Who's . What's. How's. Those came up every few minutes. The place was as far away from my hometown bed has i had ever been. When i'm away i allways close my eyes ..see the earth globe and think how far or how close i am to home. Home being where love is. We were staying in a sparkling white sand beach on the banks of a river that a few kms down shall be named Ganges. The tents were setup but noone dared go inside and miss the starry night in front of us all. There were monkeys. Deers. Cows. Bears. "We must watch over the fire all night long!" was the advise given. I asked why and the answer sounded alien to me. Bears. I laughed just to be pointed towards 2 small and shinny points in the dark. "There. A Bear. Not big. No problem. probably wants some food". 

How i miss to be warned of a bear in my life. 

Varanasi. After a week wandering alone i'm met by friends. I tell you now .. you will never in your wildest dreams be alone in India. Never. There we were, the four of us, not alone on some uneventfull street (it's a lie .. an uneventfull street does not exist in India). One of us thinks it's a good time to get an haircut and the oportunity presents itself a few meters down the road. All roads seem to be an inifite succession of (im)possibilities waiting to happen. Lucky for the rest of us a nice looking place just in front of the barber shop is offering beverages and Chamuças. My grandmother does some mean Chamuças and i'm so happy to compare hers to the world we have in common between India and Portugal foodwise. On the old rundown radio sounds a music we all feel inside is the perfect theme song for that moment. The song was Shiva Moon by Prem Joshua remixed by Maneesh de Moor. I know this so well because we bought the CD later that day from a friend of a friend of a girl we encountered on the street. a street. Can't remember the haircut result. I think to myself how i travel around the world to experience the daily routines the (un)eventfull moments. And how much i love it. Having an haircut in Mallaca, Malaysia. Sleeping the Saturday morning in bed in Vienna with some delicious pastries. Going to the cinema in Ljublana with a monster popcorn bag. Playing basketball in Paris under the RER. Getting my Singapore shoes renewed on Mustafa once again. at midnight. 

Those are the moments. 

Hoje de manha quando vinha para o trabalho, fiz logon ao Spotify e 2 ou 3 shuffles depois ouvi esta música. Mistura Tom Jobim, com concertos ao vivo com uma boa interpretaçao. Para quem lhe agrade musica brasileira. * Da simpática Ivete Sangalo (na foto) a música "Eu Sei Que Vou Te Amar"

"Eu sei que vou te amar
Por toda a minha vida eu vou te amar
Em cada despedida eu vou te amar
Desesperadamente, eu sei que vou te amar
E cada verso meu será
Prá te dizer que eu sei que vou te amar
Por toda minha vida
Eu sei que vou chorar
A cada ausência tua eu vou chorar
Mas cada volta tua há de apagar
O que esta ausência tua me causou
Eu sei que vou sofrer a eterna desventura de viver
A espera de viver ao lado teu
Por toda a minha vida"

I know i shouldn't ... but from time 2 time i heard this boy steps into a deep hypnotic state that throws him onto mp3 downloading frenzy. When i periodically mess up all my music property and (re)start the arduous task to (re)populate my music players .. a question comes to mind : what now? 

Now Lauryn Hill. Miseducation and MTV live. Remember that night "oh so fresh and  crisp"? I was a young apprentice at a computer firm, in charge of putting a million tapes in order. (what was the order... i still ask today...) Every 30 days? Bo-Ring. Now and then this time was used to find new sounds. New Paths. One beautiful night .. a Monday i believe, there was this CD to download on a forgotten internet web page that i still remember. A cute petite girl from a Hip-Hop mainstream group named Fuggees had release an album recorded live on a MTV Studio somewhere. 7 minutes download later i hit play. A deep meaningful voice comes storming in. Speaking. Whispering. Laughing. Singing. Sharing. That night night the word was S-H-A-R-E. The tapes fell lovingly in place. Found slowly my place. My pace.

What now? It seems Lauryn Hill is in Australia these days. Showing up late on some concerts randomly.

GO AUSSIE GUIDE

Flight Anywhere to London : Easyjet

Fly from London to Brisbane : Air Brunei  (the cheapest)

Sleep in Brisbane : Limes Hotel

Eat in Brisbane : Cloudland

The year was, I've been told, 2005. On a city cornering the Peninsula I'm living in. Iberica. A group of people gathered by language, beliefs and aesthetic got together for a concert. It was Caetano Veloso younger sister. Maria. Bethania. I must say I'm an old dog on this one ... saw her frequently in Portugal. As frequently as her own schedule allowed me. 4 out of 4 presences. With her brother on Expo. Alone at least twice .. and i may adventure another couple of times. I miss going to a show like this once again .. once she enters the well prepared stage, my eyes leave her no more. Today wondering the www i re-found people, blogs and such that reminded me of that faraway night in 2005. The very best end of concert i had in a long long eternal time. I don't know about the others .. or how well informed they were on that particular show ... but i was more than pleasantly surprised with the last encore song "O que é, O que é". On the first chords of the song, groups of equally surprised Brazilian stood up (they had flags), followed closely by this Portuguese boy and the rest of the deeply enchanted music hall. I still feel goosebumps on the thought. Or maybe I'm just having a cool never-ending day @ work.  For you all .. or maybe a selective wonderful few .

MARIA BETHANIA LIVE : "O QUE É , O QUE É"

one.
No more than 14 years old. Holding a soft hand i enter my own "Theatre of Dreams". The Master Pupetteer rests her green and almond brown eyes into my own. Takes a deep breath of my own life and asks me to sit down on a pillow playing around. It's her own room. I'm her guest. An old record player comes into the arena. She graceously dances around me, sharing words, telling stories, singing emotions. The purpose of this visit is to listen to some of the musics this muse loves. My teenage logic is plain simple .. i love you , you love this music, i love this music. Trio musical affair. Lying down i listen to the very first music to come out of the "music machine". It was called and still his , Rua do Capelao. Life starts Now!

Two
I'm a rookie playing basketball on a snow based Portuguese University.Today i've had a Hard practise .. 3 hours long. In the end they propose me to go and lock the university, on a protest about something i really don't care about. Some of the players find it funny and go on to gather a few huge Alcatraz-style locks. I get a juice and previewing the snow that eventually never arrived on this city while i stayed there, i roll down the hill to my cottage like house near the train station and an old not so haunted chappel. I feel tired, thinking that maybe i'll have to pass on my weekly thrusday Sex-Lure-Dinner i religiously prepare for the future female Mathematicians of this litle country i like to call Portugal. Statistics. I lay on my bed. Wonderfully alone. Turn on the radio .. and the most amazing of sound comes out. Amalia on some fado house, joined by Alain Oulman on the piano. Heaven. I'm in heaven. And my heart feels so ...

Three
I'm Fangio on a Chevvie driving wild 50Hm/h on a lousy ran down road not too far from Olhos d'Água, a beautifull water garden. Hidden Gem. I'm in charge of taking the product of a New Zeland Kid Lamb Slaughtering to a dye house. In the end all the wool i have behind me will have this ethereal blue color. I try not to imagine a million out-of-this-world freak blue baby lambs running after Frodo on a Kiwi landscape. Well i just did it. Imagined it. It does look good. My toughts are coitus interrrupted by a radio announcement. Amalia died. DIED? I oddly imagine Amalia dyed in a beautifull celestial Blue. I'm also sad. Listen to "Povo Que Lavas No Rio" and disconnect the radio. Just want to keep the chords holding in time. On a hold, inside me.

JOAO GILBERTO @
Gran Teatre del Liceu
Barcelona

If anyone is going to the concert ..the ones in Spain or anywhere else in the world i recomend listening to a few songs so you can sing along while at the event. In case you want to , you may go to the next link and get a few MP3's onto your computer.

Link for Joao Gilberto CD's

These last few days ... i have been digging deep into Lisa Ekdahls music. Jazz , Pop and Bossa Nova. Her voice is gentle and warm. Me likes it a whole lot. Don't know how .. but i managed to get a handfull of her music MP3's down to my player ... and it's been on since. Looping. Loop after Loop if that's possible by the word's own definition. A hundred times .. a million times. Maybe only 65 times. But the lyrics along with her silky voice start to sink deep into my never-again-to-be-forgotten kinda'music space of brain. That's how i consider one of the songs she delivers, called :

I Will Be Blessed : Youtube (live) , Youtube

I truly think you should clik one of those links and listen to it. Afterwards go to Itunes, Fnac or Torrentz and clik/buy/download the cd. That's my advice. I must say that this song has some kind of unpretentious Bossa Nova rythm that i like a lot ... specially after knowing that the Joao Gilberto concert is about to become very real for me. So i'm getting in the mood for some nice moments all through these 39 days i have to endure until his/mine concert. Too many times in Portugal i arrived home to a nice fresh Lemon Ice Drink in a hot summer night, open all windows of the house and listen to Joao lied on my cold tile floor. Oh .. how sweet can life be sometimes. The simplicity of that moment brings such chocolate sweet flovour to my water thristy mouth right now. That's how music alone is supposed to be tasted no sound but the sound of that quiet quiet voise and crystal clear guitar chords coming my way.

Olha que coisa mais linda , mais cheia de graça ...

"Jag ska lyfta hennes krona
Den av törne som hon bär
Jag befriar hennes huvud
Från det som tynger det som tär
Jag ska ge henne en gloria
Som lyser upp vart än hon går
Sen ska jag lyfta hennes händer och säga
Där ser du själv hur högt du når
Där ser du själv hur högt du når"

Esta é uma menina Sueca que se chama Lisa Ekdahl. Tem uma voz suave que dá forças. E aqui deixo escrito uma pequenina parte de uma das suas cançoes. Desta menina, uma das músicas que sempre tenho bem pertinho no meu mp3 é uma versao da famosa "Cry me a River".
Hoje como penso numa menina Ursinha, quero-te deixar esta cançao e dizer-te que estou pertinho na tua dor.

Lisa Ekdahl : CRY ME A RIVER

Today's officially been declared the Nina Badrić day. Nina was/is a Platonic love of mine from my old days in Croatia last year. as well as a Music Icon on her native Croatia. We met several times on the road that 2008 Summer... often went to buy some groceries, fruit, towells (portuguese reference) and suddenly found Nina staring down at me from several of her Summer Tour posters. We had our ups and downs but eventually we got to a standstill that i'm saddened to say today... stands still. Her powerfull words and inspiring lyrics have made me realize how precious it is to oneself the challenge of learning basic day-to-day Croatian, so that eventually in the end, you may understand what Nina is wispering your way. I haven't arrived there .. yet. I'm on my way, but it may be a long way ... that's why i have collected a myriad of other Platonic loves that wisper me Brazilian, Crioulo or even Portuguese words.
I'm Now sharing Nina with the world (not in that way) and you may search and ilegally download a few songs to your overpriced Apple Mp3 players and enjoy. Today, looping on my headphones is this love song from Nina Badrić :

"Vjecita Ljubav

Isto nam je nebo
Sto nocas s nama place
Isto nam je suza iz oka kanula
Ja znam da nisi sretan
I mene tuga slama
Jer ljubav kao nasa je ljubav vjecita"

No April rain
No flowers bloom
No wedding Saturday within the month of June
But what it is, is something true
Made up of these three words that I must say to you

I just called to say .

Era uma vez eu. Eu e um Okapi.
Um dia decidiu-se ir a vêr (mais) um concerto da Cesária Évora ao Coliseu de Lisboa. Música que embala e dá vontade de dançar mesmo a mim que nao me movo por quase nada deste mundo. Vários dias antes, para repetir cenas já gastas, verifiquei uma e outra vez o dia e ahora deste concerto. Tudo já me havia passado, ir a um concerto por engano, confundir Segunda con Terça ou sair de um jogo de basket a meio para um concerto (que os músicos decidiram adiantar?). Assim, certinho do que ia passar fui eu no meu cavalo branco á procura de Parking nao demasiado longe do Coliseu. Entrei e sentei. Creio que do lado direito do palco. Uma voz em Off diz que o meu telemovel deixe de estar On. Diz também que um artista convidado preencherá a primeira parte do espectáculo (enquanto a Cisse vai aquecendo a voz). O nome desta artista : Lura. Lura. Na Hora e meia que se seguiu um mundo novo de sons nasceu para mim. Enriqueci. Eu e muitos mais nao queriam que esta primeira parte de concerto terminasse nunca. Enriquecidos que estavam também. Passou voando essa noite. No final, na rua fresca, Lura convidava a Cisse para uma discoteca : "Vem com a gente!" ... Estou cansada respondeu Cesária. Lura nao estava cansada. eu sim.

This is my Top 3 musics on the Iphone. The ones that, after my 3 months with this device, i listened most. So, for your entertainment:

1. Joao Gilberto - Disse Alguém
Found it a few weeks ago and climbed fast to the top thanks to an infinite loop ever since!

2. Barry Manilow - Can't Smile Without You
Listened to it in December on the movie Hellboy II, coming from Singapore and stayed on my mind.

3. Blackout - Paixao
Music from my youth. Sang by Kika Santos the voice of Blackout a portuguese group from the 90's.

You say goodbye and i say hello. I had this Beatles song hoovering on me for a while now. So now it's out. Thank you. This photo was taken in Bocas del Toro (Colón Island) in Panama. I was waiting for a boat to take me to the next island (Bastimentos) Old Point. It was raining. A whole lot. Not the best of things when you're going for a Caribean Sun and Sand week.. but the Naturalito's and the Caipirinha's (juice/alcool drinks) made wonders to forget all the rain pouring down on me.

I recommend a Jack Johnson song called : Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

Agora adormecerei. Durante 10 dias. Em menos tempo, deuses al longo da istória dos homems, crearam mundos, mares e ventos. Jardins e Edens sempre proibidos. Sempre desejados. Fecho os olhos e jogo tudo de uma vez. (referência clara para quem sabe) 10 dias. Estava à procura de algo que marcasse esta despedida .. e o que encontrei é uma referência para mim. Creio que também para um mundo de gente.

Sempre na temática do escuro. "Se vim ao mundo, foi só para desflorar florestas virgens, e desenhar meus próprios pés na areia inexplorada!". Esta tofo feita na India, em Varanasi (Benares). Recebi a notícia que os meus companheiros de viagem estavam atrasados um dia. 24 horas nteirinhas. Já nao tinha forças para continuar sozinho. Decidi fazer um auto-Spa reparador. Espreitei fora e vi um céu escuro, um rio imundo e um mundo que nao senti meu. Roubei um livro, escapei-me para a minha cama e li. Li muito. Li para almoçar. Li para a sesta. E no resto do dia, li também. Um livro sobre a história dolorosa da separaçao da India e Paquistao. Dor. Sentir a dor de outros aliviou a minha. Um bocadinho. Despertei no outro dia mais forte. Nao tinha mais medo do escuro.

Xutos. 30 anos. Creio que tenho uma ideia de quem vai aos concertos en Sintra no Olga Cadaval. Acústicos. Se eu vivesse no centro histórico de Rio de Mouro estava lá batido de certezinha absoluta. Vi Xutos em Torres Novas, Entroncamento, Golega, Chamusca, Abrantes, Santarém, Castelo Branco, Covilha, Guarda, Lisboa, Caldas da Rainha, Porto, Braga, Aveiro, Viseu, Coimbra, Beja, Évora, Faro, Portimao, etc. Sem contar as inúmeras terriolas a que eles vao e que eu também fui. Fui ao concerto dos 20 anos, os dois concertos dos 25 e decidi agora há uns 10 minutos que vou ao dos 30 anos no Restelo em Setembro. Sim, este Setembro. Nao vou a estes 2 acústicos em Sintra porque como já toda a gente que está mais ou menos perto de mim sabe, vou para o outro lado do Atlantico pela primeira vez. Eles (Xutos) têm mais ou menos a minha idade. E o pessoal que chega aos 30 ...

"Adeus ás práias
Cheias de gente
E um beijo p`ra quem fica!"

Uma música que hoje encontrei quase sem querer e que me acompanhou em muitas noites de estudo. hehe Os Blackout com uma miuda na voz, a Kika Santos. A cançao tem o nome de Paixao.

i truly believe that a journey into music may well end when you come across this brazilian guy called Joao Gilberto. I don't know what the world expects from music, from life... i do know that this man has something. In other times he may have been a world leader a changer of times. Now ... now he just came up with something we call Bossa Nova. This sweet tender rythm that holds you like a chocolate mousse wave.

I'm know listening to Joao on his album "Brazil" singing "Alguem disse". It may be perfection. Well if i'm thinking about it .. it's cause it is perfection.

Discover João Gilberto!

The legend tells us that he developed this way of throwing words at people on his sister's bathroom. People came outside the house to hear him sing. How cool is that?

This one is for real. The previous post was just to post up a music i really love from Chico. On a few words one day i got a crush on a girl. Most of the times i looked at her, she dropped something. I saw her break a glass, splash lunch on tiles, apples rolling around and the whole show you can possibly imagine. People stay in your head attached to things, situations or photos. This girl has the "honor" of being represented in my life as a song. A beautiful song by The Cure that talks about a girl that drops everything. Ain't it funny? I'm smiling right now. It's such a sweet moment to remenber.

Discover The Cure!

Se algum dia me tivesse apaixonado por uma Rita aos 20 anos e ela me deixasse para abraçar a vocação de missionária na Bulgária, esta seria a música que tocaria no meu Walkman sem parar. Em loop? Música da boa

Discover Chico Buarque!

Foram juntos outro dia, como por magia, no autocarro, em pé.
Ele la lhe disse, a medo: "O meu nome é Pedro e o teu qual é?"
Ela corou um pouquinho e respondeu baixinho: "Sou a Cinderela".
Quando a noite o envolveu ele adormeceu e sonhou com ela...