De Madredeus - Mexico - the legendary '99 tour

MADREDEUS: The ambassadors of Saudade, in México

After almost an year from their successful tour to promote the release of one of their albums at world-wide level again, the Portuguese group Madredeus returns to Mexico to offer a series of concerts during the month of April in the cities of Mexico City and Guadalajara. In May of 1998, the group, headed by the singer Teresa Salgueiro and the guitarist and composer Pedro Ayres Magalhães, had a full success during their shows in our country, which they hope to strengthen in this new series of recitals, that includes a concert in Sala Nezahualcóyotl of the UNAM on April the 18°. In this new world-wide tour of Madredeus which started in Zamora, Spain, and which will continue until end of year, they will visit several countries of Europe and America, in addition to Australia.
After the 1998 tour, the group took a long period of rest, due to the pregnancy of Teresa Salgueiro (who already was evident during the concerts in Mexico but had not been confirmed officially), who gave birth in the middle of 1998 to a pretty baby that has been baptized with the name of Inês.
Almost immediately after the concerts in Mexico, it appeared in the world-wide market a new album (the second live album of the group) bearing the title "O Porto", a live recorded in the Coliseu of Oporto April 4° of 1998, in which the songs of their previous studio recording "O Paraíso" are included almost in their totality, in addition to a handful of unpublished songs.
In the present year, they decided to start the tour without having new material, although Ayres Magalhaes has promised publicly that they will show their new production from the second half of the tour.
In addition to the new album, has been also announced the release of a video that will include the videoclips that the group has filmed to the date, as well as fragments of a concert in the Palace of Beautiful Arts of Belgium and the concert in the Coliseu do Porto.
The 1998 has been a good year for Madredeus, if we considered that they have been chosen to the Expo98 of Lisbon. The ceremony has been seen by millions of people anywhere in the world through the television, which served to elevate the sales of their albums and to stress the new Portugal presence in the world, which, in addition, was crowned with the granting of the Nobel prize for Literature to another portuguese treasure: José Saramago.
In a recent interview for the Brazilian television, Teresa Salgueiro indicated that it is difficult to recognize that they did not wait for the success that they have obtained, because they had never worked in the group without hoping that their music would have been listened and appreciated.
"When you play music, it becomes a type of communication with the public, in such a way that always there is some hope from which to somebody it could get to him to please what you are doing. We have been very lucky with the public of all the countries where we have played and very we are been thankful with them ".
Nevertheless, before the absence of unpublished material and the transformation of their style in "O Paraíso " (where the cello and the accordion are out, and they incline much more on harmonical textures woven by the guitars), their more and more numerous followers asked: Has Madredeus stagnated? Pedro Ayres in a recent interview says: " It is difficult that Madredeus stagnates. The history of this group is already a miracle and 12 years ago very few people thought that our group could last so long. Madredeus is incorruptible ".
However, before the prolonged silence of Madredeus, there were rumors of parallel projects of several of many members, with totally different styles. Pedro Ayres, leader and brain of the group, were forceful to cut of edge the rumors: " the crises are inevitable, but now nobody creates problems; we will stay together. The group is now more balanced, and it is the natural consequence of a project. We are writing new music. We have fortified ourselves because we continued with perseverance".
With her singular voice and charismatic scenic presence, Teresa Salgueiro continues being the emblematic figure of the group, since she joined the group when she was 17 years-old. The singer recognizes that she has changed much since that years. "I have traveled and I have sung a lot, that is what I like more to do. I have had the opportunity to travel thanks to the passport of music, to meet many different cultures. Whenever I return to those places I like to offer them a song."
On the symbiosis Teresa-Madredeus, Pedro Ayres, the creative and thinking pole of the group explains: " you cannot speak of Madredeus without speaking of Teresa. It is the figure which the group serves and supports. All this is paradoxical, because Madredeus is Teresa and Teresa is Madredeus. She has grown and now she is very happy and she loves to sing ". But would Madredeus exist without Teresa Salgueiro? Pedro answers: " No. Neither without me. It is something that we have grown together. Madredeus is unseparable from her. She is the icon that Madredeus has built. There would not be Madredeus without her. But if she will continue, the group will never finish ".
In this it seems to agree the more and more increasing number of fanatics of the group, scattered everywhere, and that thanks to the electronic mail and the Internet.
One of the most fervent admirers of the group in the cyberspace, the italian Corvinus, already organized the international club of fans of Madredeus and is next to be carry out the first world-wide convention of admirers of the group, in Lisbon, in the middle of 1999. He hopes that the members of the group will be present and there is the possibility that they will offer a special concert to these special fans.
Meanwhile, and before the immediate impossibility to travel to Lisbon for this encounter, in Mexico we prepared ourselves to delight again with the voice, the presence and the music of Teresa Salgueiro and Madredeus in the Metropolitan Theater and Sala Nezahualcóyotl, in the City of Mexico, and the Auditorium Pedro Arrupe of the ITESO in Guadalajara.

The absence, intention to take step to the poetry: Salgueiro

Ayres: to play in Sala Nezahualcóyotl is a surprise and an honor

The creator of the Madredeus concept, Pedro Ayres Magalhães, defines: ' ' Our proposal is rather modest: the voice of Teresa Salgueiro, our guitaristic craft and a series of original songs ". Such goods, that constitutes a landmark, could be enjoyed from tonight in a Mexican tour that will start in the Metropólitan theater.
After that night of October, when a multitude of people with tears of happiness assisted to their concert in Guanajuato, Pedro Ayres and Teresa Salgueiro defines it as ' ' unforgettable, unique: a very hard rain fell on the Alhóndiga de Granaditas and unlike moving away the people, it still made that evening more intense, it is a unique concert in the history of Madredeus ".

The word, true presence

The glance of Teresa Salgueiro is radiating even more than the brightness of that night: she talks of Inês, her baby of six months: ''for six months the life has been different. Inês modified it forever. It changed in many ways: in the way to watch the life, to watch it by means of other eyes, new, she has changed my way to understand the life ".
The presence in the scene, for example: ' ' the true presence is the one of the word, the one of music. My will is to be absent to take step to that essence first, the one of the poetry ". To be in Mexico: ' ' the world seems smaller thanks to the communications, but it is still absolutely not easy to cross the Atlantic. To speak of Mexico is to speak of me, means a great curiosity and a great joy, being near the people is a motor of Madredeus ".
The concert which the five members of this Portuguese ensemble prepared ''is practically an history, a biography of Madredeus", has captivated the public of many European cities and now it will be within reach of more mortals, today and tomorrow in the Metropólitan, several dates in Guadalajara, Leon and Puebla, and the 18 of April in the Nezahualcóyotl, university space where Madredeus will appear by accident for the first time and not thanks to a thought, according to what expressed yesterday in press conference by Ayres Magalhães: ' ' We go to Sala Nezahualcóyotl because there were not any more options for dates in the Metropólitan. The fact that they told us that it is an Hall of such importance is for us a surprise and an honor ".
Carlos Maria Trindade made notice: ''In spite of the apparent advances in the communications in the world, Latin America has a slow idea of Madredeus - which transformed itself because of the change of formation - in respect to Europe, where the most recent album, O Paraíso, has been considered as the most important event, while here they continue to speak of Ainda or about the relation with Wim Wenders"

" Our message is Peace and will continue being Peace ": Madredeus

By third occasion, the Portuguese group Madredeus visits Mexico to offer their famous concerts-recitals, today and tomorrow, in the Metropolitan theater, and Sunday 18 of April in the Nezahualcóyolt room of the University Cultural Center.
Pedro Ayres, founder and guitarist of the group, said in press conference that in this occasion, Madredeus will offer a concert where they will play mainly their great successes, mixed with some of their most recent compositions.
" We will give an exhibition of our own musical history, to tell that the aesthetic and musical principles with which Madredeus was born continue effectively ", he said.
The Portuguese quintet was for the first time in Mexico in the city of Monterrey, in 1995, where it offered a concert for a reduced number of spectators. In 1997, they returned to our country as part of the International Festival of the Cervantino, in Guanajuato, and to give a concert in Mexico City in the Metropolitan theater, where they made the presentation of their album O Paraíso.
The globalization of the world has changed everything into neighbors, said Ayres; nevertheless, it recognized: "In Latin America our communication has arrived with retardation and in a fractured form; our intention now is to return to America and to continue with you, mainly now who have occurred a great phenomenon of popularity around us".
The Portuguese musician recognized that his first contact with the pop music of Latin America was through the albums of Chavela Vargas: "I felt admired and ignorant in front of the music of Chavela ".
In 12 years of life, Madredeus has changed its musicians, but the ideas that gave origin to it are the same: " At first, the group made music linked to our country, with very pedagogical intentions; later we had the necessity to make songs for everybody ", declared Ayres.
The songs of Madredeus are inspired by the voice of Teresa Salgueiro, but the style of the group is based on the word and music by itself; nevertheless, Ayres recognized, the group is also bound to a social message, shaped mainly in their album "O Espírito da Paz": " Our message is Peace and will continue being Peace; we pursued the idea that music never finishes in the world ".
At the moment, Madredeus enjoys a greater creative freedom and, including the group, " it plays better than a year ago ", the musician said.
Madredeus returns to the scenes after the pause that came with the birth of Inês, the daughter of six months of Teresa Salgueiro, and their presentations in Mexico are part of a tour that will continue in France, Germany, Spain and will conclude in Portugal.
In this occasion and for the first time in Mexico, the vocalista of Madredeus, Teresa Salgueiro, spoke in front of mass media.
The singer recognized that the experience of being mother change her way to see the life now, because, she said, " I must learn to see through the eyes of another one, of my daughter ".
The fact of being the inspiration of the group is reason for much responsibility, but at the same time it is a luck, said the singer: "I thank so much them for having given me the opportunity me to sing, a passion that I have since I was a girl, and to do it in this group that played something that was not fado nor another folk music of Portugal; a music that speaks of the past, but that also allows me to advance ".
It has been repeatedly sai that the heart of Madredeus is Teresa Salgueiro, and she has also been called, "Santa Teresa, voice of the angels", for her beauty and his appreciated throat.
"I did not know that they said that to me, but I thank for it; it is the heart of the people, who are very generous", said the singer, being thankful for the flattery.
In addition to the concerts in the city of Mexico, Madredeus will appear in Guadalajara, Leon and Puebla.

Guitarristic Craft, proposal of Madredeus

They keep pleasing memories from their previous visits; their fans is counted by thousands

Madredeus arrived yesterday at their press conference and suddenly the five members disappeared under an army of photographers. There is no clearer sign of the popularity that the portuguese group is having here in Mexico.
This is the third visit of Madredeus in little more than two years and in each one it is necessary to program more concerts. In this tour, the group will not only play in the capital but also in Guadalajara, Leon and Puebla.
From his previous trips, the leader of the group, Pedro Ayres, keeps pleasing memories. One is of his first performance in the Cervantino Festival: " It was unforgettable for us to play under a deluge".
Always modest, the members of Madredeus do not come for " glorifying " the Mexican enclosures, but to offer their "guitarristic craft proposal ", they explain
The next presentations of Madredeus in Mexico will be different from the ones made in Europe, because of a "discrepancy" between the development of its career in the old continent and its trajectory in America.
Under the pressure of their Mexican producer, the group has to jeopardize itself to offer "a musical history of Madredeus", instead of a program made up of their most recent record production.

These mixed concerts will combine more recent songs with some older ones, of albums "Os Dias da Madredeus", "Existir" and "Ainda."
Madredeus was born 14 years ago, when Pedro Ayres along with other friends met to improvise and to write music around the Portuguese style of the Fado. The modest proposal of Ayres changed the following year, when he discovered Teresa Salguiero, a young girl that sang in a table of friends in the Barrio Alto, in the east of Lisbon.
Immediately she was invited to participate to the auditions in the eastern wing of the old Convent of Madre de Deus and then began the group, that has now spread the Portuguese music of the Fado everywhere.
In 1987, the rehearsals of the group became a meeting of musicians and other differnt artists. The tapes of the group began to circulate and at the end of that year the group offered its first concert.
For this first concert, the group enjoyed an unusual privacy thanks to a short circuit that left without amplification the Aula Magna of the University of Lisbon. The five thousand assistants had to keep absolute silence and to make an unexpected effort to listen to them.
This necessity to focus in the music and in the word of Madredeus, is emphasized in their present concerts, in which the members try "to disappear" from the scene so that their presence does not serve as a distraction.
Nevertheless, this task is complicated by the beauty and the extraordinary voice of Teresa Salgueiro. She not only serves as the axis of their concerts, but also of the music of the group, with songs composed for the subtilities of her vocal cords.
The music of Madredeus "is perfectly understood" here in Mexico, thinks Ayres, thanks to "the joy and naturalness,. fruits of the love for music".
At the same time, the group is open to the attractiveness of the Mexican pop music, like the one of Chavela Vargas who Ayres discovered when her fiancee gave a disc to him. Also a visit to the Plaza de Garibaldi impressed him a lot.
The plans of the group for the rest of this year consist in dedicating their time to play live. After Mexico, they will visit France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Poland and Brazil.
The next year the five will have time to prepare a new spectacle, with new songs. In fact, a new album for the spring of the 2000 would be "the utopical proposal", indicates Ayres.
After making two great concerts in the Metropólitan theater of Mexico City, in May of 1997, with sold out tickets, Madredeus has managed to fill it for other two nights, 8 and 9 of April. As a consequence, they will offer another recital in Sala Nezahualcóyotl of the University Cultural Center the Sunday 18 of April.

Madredeus will display a sample of its repertoire in the Metropólitan

the angelical voice of Teresa Salgueiro, who constitutes the axis of the music of Madredeus, again could be listened to tonight and tomorrow in the Metropólitan Theater. After their successful previous shows, the group returns to invite the public to a trip by the musical trajectory of the group of Lisbon. The intention of these concerts is that the public becomes familiar with the work that Madredeus has made throughout 12 years.
As a result of the film of Win Wenders, "Lisbon Story", Madredeus gained thousands of followers in our country and the interest to obtain their albums caused that the record company EMI began to import their music. In this way, the album O Paraíso broke records of sales and the group offered a series of concerts, including its presentation in the Cervantino Festival in 1997, with the songs that this one includes.
The history of Madredeus has developed in the following way: in July of 1985 Pedro Ayres (classic guitar) met with other friends to write and to improvise. It was in 1986 when he took a walk by Barrio Alto, to the east of Lisbon, to discover a young girl that sang with friends. Teresa Salgueiro was invited by Pedro to participate in the auditions in the eastern wing of the old Convent of Madre de Deus; in this way born one of the more exquisite musical groups of the last quarter of century.
Although the musicians of Madredeus have changed with the passage of time, the original concept of the group has not varied absolutely, although now their lyrics do not talk only about Lisbon. But the subject continues being Peace. At the moment the group is formed by Teresa Salgueiro (voice), Pedro Ayres (classic guitar), José Peixoto (classic guitar), Carlos Maria Trindade (sintetizadores) and Fernando Júdice (acoustic bass guitar).
The essence of Madredeus is music and the poetry of its lyrics, being the voice of Teresa the inspirer of the ideas, the words and the songs of the group, because as Pedro says, "it is around her voice that we organized the first repertoire and it is very important for us that the songs adjust to her, to her voice. We all have a great complicity with her it is equal among the musicians, but without Teresa and her dedication the group did not continue".
The repertoire that Madredeus will offer tonight includes the songs that they composed 12 years ago: " Some of them have new arrangments, but the public will be able to listen to something that will be familiar to him. "On the matter, Ayres says that the musical creation depends on each one of the authors: "It can arise from a melodic idea or from words, it can also arise from some moments of improvisation of the group. We have created a factory of musicians who write professional music in their language and following their traditions ".