By Iminza Keboge
Published May 17, 2020
An album that spans world, folk and classical music has been released.
Titled Cante, the new collection comprises 26 traditional folk songs, instrumentals and dances from the Portuguese city of Serpa in the Alentejo province, sung to classical arrangements and interpretations by one of Portugal’s leading composers, conductors and cultural programmers, Nuno Côrte-Real. It is performed by the Portuguese choir Coro Ricercare, with musical accompaniment by the Ensemble Darcos.
According to Angie Lemon PR who are handling the publicity of the album, “Cante started its journey as ‘Cancioneiro de Serpa’ – the Songbook of Serpa – carefully collected by author Maria Rita Ortigão Pinto Cortez.”
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The collection, that includes songs, poems and stories encountered throughout Maria Rita Ortigão Pinto Cortez’s life in Serpa, piqued the interest of Nuno Côrte-Real, one of Portugal’s leading contemporary composers, who adapted it to a form that can be sung by a classical choir while maintaining the traditional melodies.
Described as a doorway that opens into the world of Alentejo folk songs, Cante starts with the marching beats of Ó SERPA, POIS TU NÃO OUVES? (Oh Serpa, you don’t listen?), reflecting the movement of traditional folk singers who naturally stomp the floor while singing.
MENINA QUE ESTÁS À JANELA (Girl that is by the window) is a tender portrayal of a popular Portuguese folk song that celebrates Alentejo’s magical night sky. RAMA, Ó QUE LINDA RAMA (FOLIAGE, BEAUTIFUL FOLIAGE) is an energetic song of praise for the olive tree, which holds great importance for the production of olive oil, close in rank but not master to the Portuguese grapevines.
Two lively Galician dances or Muiñeira–MUIÑEIRA DE CALLOBRE and MUIÑEIRA DE A PAÍNZA–that celebrate the historical ties between Portugal and Galicia, also feature on Cante.
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“I will never forget the beauty of the concert that was held in the Praça da República in Serpa, with performances by Ensemble Darcos and the Coro Ricercare,” says Maria Rita Ortigão Pinto Cortez of Nuno Côrte-Real’s production of Cante. “The square completely full of the people of the Alentejo applauding enthusiastically the music which many of them knew how to sing now performed at a level with which they were not familiar.”
Nuno Côrte-Real, who is no stranger to adventurous productions and admits to being most at home with opera, won Best Classical Work from the Portuguese Society of Authors in 2018 and 2019 for the album, Agora Muda Tudo (Now Everything Changes) and the opera Canção do Bandido (The Libertine’s Song), respectively.
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“The meaning of this recording to the Portuguese music scenario is crucial,” says Ana Proença, a patron of the arts who sponsored the Cante project. “If there is no courage to do these kind of recordings, nobody will know them.”
As the project grew from songbook to fully produced album, Angie Lemon PR says, it received wider support from the Portuguese Ministry of Culture, the Municipalities of Serpa and Torres Vedras, Tourism Alentejo Ribatejo and Antenna 2, Lisbon’s classical, world and roots radio. The album is released through Odradek Records.
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The songs on the album that runs 69 minutes are:
- Ó Serpa, pois tu não ouves? (Oh Serpa, you dont listen?) 02:53
- Menina que estás à janela (Girl that is by the window) 01:57
- Estrelinha do norte (North little star) 02:14
- Vou-me embora, vou partir (I’m going away, I’m leaving) 02:13
- Alentejo, que és nossa terra (Alentejo, you are our land, instrumental) 01:44
- Lindo ramo verde escuro (Beautiful dark green branch) 02:11
- O Lírio roxo (Purple Lily) 03:35
- Serpa que és minha terra (Serpa you are my land) 01:54
- O Alecrim (Rosemary, instrumental) 01:41
- Ó rama, ó que linda rama (Foliage, beautiful foliage) 01:39
- Os olhos da Marianita (Marianita’s eyes) 02:08
- Adeus, ó vila de Serpa (Farewell, Serpa village) 05:43
- Muiñeira de Callobre (Muiñeira is a traditional dance from Callobre in Galicia) 01:26
- Oliveiras, Oliveiras (Olive trees, Olive trees) 03:18
- Nana, nana, meu menino (Fall asleep my boy) 02:08
- Ó Laurinda, linda, linda (Laurinda is a woman name; linda is the second part of the name but also means beautiful) 03:54
- Interlúdio Alentejano (Alentejo’s Interlude) 03:19
- Oh! Bento Airoso (Oh, airy Bento, airoso means airy and Bento is a name, also means saint) 02:20
- Nana, nana, meu menino (Fall asleep my boy) 01:16
- Bendita e louvada seja (Blessed and be praised) 05:30
- Muiñeira de A Paínza (A Galician dance. This one is from A Paínza) 01:16
- Ai, ó divina Santa Cruz (Divine holy cross) 03:46
- Vou-me embora para Lisboa (I’m leaving to Lisbon) 02:59
- Nana, nana, meu menino (Fall asleep my boy) 02:34
- Interlúdio Transmontano (Interlude from Tras-os-Montes – a northwest region of Portugal) 01:12
- Ai, tu é que és o meu rapaz (Oh, you are the one that is my boy) 03:08.
