The (En)chants in Coimbra

In the Northern Hemisphere, warmer weather is arriving, and along with it, is spring break too!

Here's what I took as an inspiration last time I was in Coimbra. These are stories and images made with joy and brought to you with Spring energy. Being North or South, might it inspire you in your next holidays! Take a look!

The Architecture blend

One of the things I find fascinating about Coimbra is the quality and the historical mix of architecture it covers. Architecture built over centuries lives harmoniously in this city in a very special way. 

Roman, Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance, Mannerism, Baroque, Modernism, International Style, Português Suave style (one of Estado Novo's architecture style) and Modern architecture are all present! Here's a taste of my my inner tour in some of those striking examples.

In the urbanist and archaeological chapter of this city, are included buildings from the 18th century (as the Botanical Garden), 16th century (e.g. University royal palace), 11th century (e.g. Almedina Tower), or the 1st/2nd century (e.g. Roman underground city Aeminium, whose cryptoporticus can be visited in the Machado de Castro Museum. It is the biggest of its kind in Portugal).

Santiago Church silhouette, in São Bartolomeu District. 
One of the examples of the Romanesque architecture in the city.

Detail of the Old cathedral of Coimbra (foundations built in 1139)

Santa Cruz Monastery

One other example, is the Monastery of Santa Cruz.

 The foundations of one of the National Pantheons, are Romanesque and dated between 1132 and 1223. Though, over time, the church had several refurbishments done, until what we can see today. Those include a full refurbishment in the 16th century in Manueline style, tiles from the 18th century, and a triumphal arch from the 19th century, just to name a few. Defining, here, was the artistic contribute of Diogo de Boitaca, Nicolau Chanterene, João de Ruão, Grão Vasco and Cristóvão de Figueiredo.

King Afonso Henriques (the 1st king of Portugal, founder of the nation and of this monastery) and his son, King Sancho I, are buried here. The monastery was also one of the best ecclesiastical schools in medieval Portugal, and was where Saint Anthony of Padua (or Saint Anthony of Lisbon) studied Latin and Theology. Reportedly, Luis de Camões studied there too.

Right next to this historical city hub, there is a musical oasis, Salão Brazil, one of my favorite concert venues in Coimbra. I have made several drawings there, and have published one of them here.

Interior of the New Cathedral of Coimbra. Tiles from the 17th century and holy water sink.

One can read "Please do not talk in the church", a detail inside the New Cathedral of Coimbra. The Cathedral started to be built in 1598.  I felt the need to photograph this, in contrast to the smashing magnificence of this church.

Besides all that, in the 20th century, and during almost 30 years (from the 40's to the early 70's), the Alta district was largely refurbished. The biggest national names in the arts scene were called to participate, and forever mark this city's identity. 

Top-notch painters, sculptures and architects carried out an urbanist revolution here.

Almada Negreiros, Leopoldo de Almeida, Cottinelli Telmo, Cristino da Silva, and many others, were some of the major figures involved.

Salvador Barata Feyo's sculptures (from 1951) at the entrance of the Letters College, with the University Palace as background. The four figures represent Demosthenes (Politics & Eloquence), Aristotle (Philosophy), Thucydides (History) and Sappho (Poetry). 

South wing of the Department of Mathematics

The Department of Mathematics dates from 1969 and it's a project from the Portuguese architect Lucínio Guia da Cruz. It is one of my favorite buildings in Coimbra! The concept, the breeziness... I absolutely love it!!

View to the Queen Elizabeth or Europe Bridge and Mondego River

On top of that, more recently, all this amazing background was enriched with contemporary architecture examples, such as Museu Machado de Castro (I wrote more about it below), and the view you have from Alta to the bridge (Engineered by António Reis and designed by Bureau d'études Greisch).

Inside the buildings, there are also pearls, like the recent Law College Auditorium done by Architect Fernando Távora.

With all this, no wonder Alta and Sofia districts are UNESCO's world Heritage!

Other points of interest inside the University, include, for instance, the Joanina Library in full Barroque style or the Fox tile.

The "Raposa" or the Fox tile

Why am I mentioning a single tile? Well, this one holds an interesting story and reveals a lot of the student life in Coimbra.

It is said that out of the hundreds of tiles existent in the University, there is only one with a fox. This tile is located in a small atrium in the way from Via Latina to Gerais.

It has a sort of a ritual associated with it. It is said that touching or kicking three times (!!) this fox tile, will help students pass their exams. This explains the lousy state the tile is in!

A fresh look to the ancient

Still in Alta de Coimbra district, is located Machado de Castro's Museum where once was, the former Bishop's Palace. Keeping and restoring the old structures, it was refurbished and expanded in 2008, with a project by the Portuguese architect Gonçalo Byrne. The building won the Piranesi Prix de Rome. 

And there are so many reasons for that! This is not a "regular" museum, since its building actually is itself a piece of live history of the genesis of the city. 

In the terrace of the museum's restaurant, Loggia.

Besides that, Loggia is the perfect spot for a sunny lunch break.

The package includes a meal with a fantastic view over the city.

A visit is worth, not only by the astonishing museum collection, as by the architecture, the location, the city view, the restaurant and the graphic design, inside. It is also an accessible museum, with special activities for such publics.

The light maneuvered as play-doh, wrapping the space and the masterpieces.

A witty light design

This museum, is a great example of how architecture perfectly manipulated the light, in favor of the existent masterpieces, from the dark and massive Roman cryptoporticus, passing through the light design, to where the windows, are placed, in the newest part.  Absolutely sublime. 

Not revealing much about any museum's masterpiece, was a deliberate choice of mine. I find it all so good, that I think you should see it with your own eyes!

Inspiring calls

The time passed in Coimbra, was creative time to me.

Not only historically, but also visually, I felt like this city was having marvelous dialogues with me.

The proof is here.

Beauty in small details

The colors, the movement and the happy-go-lucky attitude

A colorful clothes-line flutters the white street

The colors, the light, the shapes and the angles

The different volumetry, height and color combo

Detail of the cloister of the New Cathedral of Coimbra

Sunset between Colleges

The elegance and the dignity of this balcony

Coverlet and pillow's fabric detail in the New Cathedral of Coimbra

Clinical Analysis, roses and a balcony. Sounds much more dulcet. And reminded me of the Saint Elizabeth's miracle, with bread transformed into roses. A religious legend of the city.

This is my city type

You guys know I can't resist a type! Wherever I looked, there was an interesting typography to photograph! Here are some of the alphabets I loved the most.

Horticultural of Coimbra

Letters College

Carlos Guimarães Lawyer

The cats street

Modern Salon Hairdresser

Street poetry

And how would it be if - besides the official typography - walls would calligraphically scream at you feelings, doubts, quotes, or sounds? That's exactly the feeling I had when I took these pics: an open book of the city's soul.

"Don't want to hear catcalls in the street"

? ? ? Why ? !!!

"Fear kills"

Bird song

A bird landed on my shoulder. What can I do?
Music follows me everywhere :)

Life (vida) Toilets (sanitários)

- Here no hazing
- If Medicine doesn't want to

Controversial or not, initiation rituals known as Praxe, make part of Coimbra's University current practice. I found funny that this "confront" about hazing, kept the black and white colors, in line with the ones in Coimbra's Academic Association logo and Coimbra's academic dresses (Batina and capa).

"What is good for garbage is good for poetry"

This one up, quotes a poem by the Brazilian Poet, Manoel de Barros. The original poem can be read here.

The obligation to produce alienates the passion to create.

The one above, is a sentence written by the Belgium philosopher Raoul Vaneigem, in his book The Decline and Fall of Work. 

Overall, these street poets made my city stroll much more fun and unexpected!

Literary Nest

Here's some facts about the Portuguese language: it's the 4th language most spoken in the world, the 3rd most spoken in Europe and the 1st most spoken in Southern hemisphere. It is spoken by 250 million people all over the world.

That being said, it's good to remind that the city that gave birth to the Portuguese language as we know it nowadays, was Coimbra!

For many centuries, Coimbra had the only Portuguese language University in the world.

It welcomed and educated several generations of thinkers, decision makers in the country, politicians, writers, philosophers, musicians and many other relevant Portuguese-speaking icons.

So, no wonder the city is also known for its literary strand.

The facade of the house where the poet Eugénio de Castro was born, in 1869.

Besides Eugénio de Castro, the city gave birth to other poets such as Sá de Miranda. And, the University of Coimbra, was a place where poets and writers from various epochs, like Luís de Camões, Antero de Quental, Almeida Garrett, Mário de Sá Carneiro, Vergílio Ferreira, Miguel Torga, Ruben A. and many others passed by, as students. 

Since Luís de Camões is considered the most important Lusophone poet, and Portugal is a country of poets itself, the Day of Portugal, Camões, and the Portuguese Communities, is in the day he died.

But exactly when (it's only known his birth year was around 1524) and where he was born (guesses include Alenquer, Coimbra, Constância, and Lisbon) is still a mystery.

His tomb is next to Vasco da Gama's, in Jerónimos Monastery, in Lisbon. (Jerónimos Monastery, Santa Cruz Monastery, Santa Engrácia Church and Batalha Monastery are all national pantheons)

Other notorious students of the University of Coimbra, include Marquis of Pombal (Head of the Portuguese Government in the 18th century, and great reformer of Lisbon after the 1755 earthquake), Egas Moniz (who won the Medicine Nobel Prize) and Manuel de Arriaga (1st Portuguese President). Many musicians studied there too, but I will write a bit more about that, below.

The University & Fado Music

Coimbra is one of the Portuguese cities that has a music style and instrument of its own: Coimbra's Fado and the Coimbra Portuguese guitar. Fado music (from which Coimbra's Fado is a specific genre) is UNESCO's intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Being a lively student City, Coimbra has one of the oldest Universities in the world. It was started in 1290 in Lisbon, and then relocated in Coimbra until now, since 1537! Many Portuguese Kings were born here, and a lot of politic decisions were made inside the University too.

A student's black cape, part of the official Coimbra's Academic Dress, also used in Tunas.

These two - Fado music and the University - kept, until nowadays, a close relationship through the "Tunas" (academic musical groups) and by musician-students like Artur Paredes, Edmundo Bettencourt, António Menano, Luíz Goes, Carlos Paredes, Fernando Alvim, António Brojo, Zeca Afonso, Adriano Correia de Oliveira, Jorge Chaminé, José Cid, and many others!

Not all of them followed the Fado expression. And sure one should have in mind, that Coimbra has provided much more than this musical style.

Anyways, from the 1950's on, and as a reaction towards Salazar's dictatorship, the older Coimbra Fado approach gave place to a new movement. Musicians like Adriano Correia de Oliveira and Zeca Afonso, started to use as lyrics, classic and contemporary Portuguese poetry, having a greater focus on folk music and ballads. They totally revolutionized the music scene in Portugal. 

Grândola Vila Morena (a censorship banned song, at the time) by Zeca Afonso, was the song broadcasted in Radio Renascença, on the 25th of April of 1974 at 12:20am, and used as a code to announce the troops to move forward and make the Portuguese Carnation Revolution happen. Embracing the ideals of democracy and freedom, Zeca Afonso and his music, became a major cultural icon for generations to come.

On the other hand, Carlos Paredes's family, was already rich in elements (Artur Paredes, his dad; Gonçalo Paredes, his grandfather, and Manuel Rodrigues Paredes, his great-uncle) that mastered the Portuguese Coimbra Guitar. But he, not only soaked up all his family's and Coimbra's musical tradition, as he changed the course and the identity of Portuguese traditional music.

Adding innovative elements and his own composition style, he recorded several albums and collaborated with artists like Amália Rodrigues, Charlie Haden, Chico Buarque, or Carlos do Carmo (Latin Grammy Award winner). 

He died in 2004, but his worth remains unquestionable and his talent recognized worldwide. 

His legacy is alive, not only through his music, as through contemporary artists, that use samples of his music, and contribute to keep making the Portuguese music evolve to something continuously new, as he also did. One of my favorite examples thereof, is the song Viva! from Sam the Kid. 

And speaking about Sam the Kid, he will be the headline act of the next Queima das Fitas (Burning of the Ribbons). This is the golden moment of the year regarding Coimbra's student life, and also of Coimbra Fado. It's a huge city party, organized by the Students Commission, on the pretext of the new graduates. It includes a week full of concerts, bands, photography, poetry and stand up comedy contests, and many other activities. Take a look at this Monumental Serenade, from last year's event opening.

As the previous link proves, to this day, most of Coimbra songs' thematic is about the student life, the life in the city, the romances, and the history of Coimbra.

A popular song of this type of genre, that I must mention - because it was the inspiration for this article's title - is Balada da despedida, from Fernando Machado Soares. The lyrics say: "Coimbra tem mais encanto na hora da despedida" (something like "Coimbra has more enchant at the time of farewell". See the full lyrics translation here).  

Capital of love 

But, one the most famous Coimbra Fado music's worldwide, probably is Coimbra, sung by Amália Rodrigues.

Originally, the song made part of the movie Black Capes (1947), that was the first movie Amália starred in (She did plenty more. See here). It was a blockbuster in Portuguese Cinema, and propelled Amália to an internationally acclaimed career. The success was such, that later on, an English version of the song was made (called April in Portugal).

Great artists, like Louis Armstrong, Bing Crosby, Perez Prado, Chet Atkins, and Roberto Carlos got inspired (check the links to hear their amazing versions!), and all of them have made covers of that song.

 Unsurprisingly, Amália Rodrigues has sold over 30 million records worldwide and is still the best selling artist in Portugal. She passed away in 1999 and the country mourned deeply. Amália is so emblematic in Portuguese culture, that she is buried among the kings, in the Santa Engrácia Church (National Pantheon) in Lisbon.

The portuguese lyrics of "Coimbra" have several references to the university course, and to the romance of Inês de Castro and King Pedro I of Portugal. (Lyrics translation can be found here).

The link between this love story and this university city, lies in the fact that, that was where they both secretly used to meet, more specifically in Quinta das Lágrimas, whose name (Estate of Tears) derives from the tragic end of this story.

Back then, the hunting grounds of the royal family was Quinta das Lágrimas, where Inês de Castro was killed at the behest of King Pedro I's father (King Afonso IV, who was against the relationship). She died for love, and therefore, perpetuated herself for eternity as a heroine.

This whole story, generated a love legend and inspired many artists over centuries, to do texts and songs like Coimbra. Nowadays the property is a 5* hotel and one of its restaurants, Arcadas, has one Michelin star. For our delight, the gardens can be visited.

 There are so many good things to discover, and to say about this city. I hope you enjoyed the ride!

I have been many times to this town, and I'm looking forward for the next time I go there.

Meanwhile, Coimbra, will remain in my memory with great (en)chant.

This article is dedicated to Néné.

A festival of personalities

My last musical adventure took place, drawing the 9th edition of the Creative Sources Festival in Lisbon. I drew and wrote impulsively during the concerts, and the outcome is here.

Francisco Trindade, a.k.a. Monsieur Trinité

From the Trinity in the world, came Monsieur Trinité.

Only a special person as Monsieur Trinité, could turn rudimentary things of everyday life in sublime specialties. This is about the peculiar abilities of his hands, it's about his jocular humor, it's about making the most with simple things. It's about him.

Abdul Moimême

This drawing's idea started off with the instrument Abdul has built himself, his prepared guitar. I looked at it and wondered about the fragility of its equilibrium and the precision required to maneuver it. 

This is a drawing about the difficulty of rightness, the easiness of mistakes and thence the crooked lines, the clumsy squares, the dirty tracing and also the pallet of colors chosen. 

Black, grey and white reminded me of the Buddhist triple truth: something that can be itself, its opposite and both of them at the same time. But, between the thing itself and its opposite, there is a long process, of exercises, of trying - and, ultimately, that's what this portrait is all about.

Here's a drawing about someone embodying joy and life: the Spanish saxophonist, Albert Cirera. I decided to draw him just in yellows, for a strong reason and it's related to another concert where he played too. So I need to tell you guys a bit more about it. 

This was a group with four musicians - José Bruno Parrinha, Paulo Curado, Albert Cirera and Paulo Chagas. All of them played in this festival too in different groups, but the special thing in this concert I'm referring to, was that all of them played just flute. I wrote a text about it, back then, where I attributed a word to each one of them, and Albert's was the sun.

Effortlessly, Albert is someone that radiates. I felt I had to draw spontaneously with loads of yellow, the color of this star. 

One detail to notice though, is that in the original drawing, one of the three yellows has a fluorescent shade, that's not reproducible here. 

Above is the portrait from the violin player Ernesto Rodrigues. 

It's rare I have such good light and proximity to a musician to the point I can do such a close-up portrait, so I was glad I did.

The Swiss drummer, Sheldon Suter, used something alike Tibetan singing bowls, during the concert, and the shape on the top right of the drawing, is inspired by them. 

With carroty hair, and a matching color necklace, orange was always present, so I wanted to include that element as well. 

It all started with the glasses of the saxophone player, Paulo Alexandre Jorge and, the rest is the story of the hypnotic pattern I created to illustrate his playing.

The whole time the celloist Guilherme Águas Rodrigues was playing - and I was thinking on how this drawing should be - two words crossed my mind: water and earth. 

And those two, determined the materials and colors used. A musician with sensibility and talent. 

Here's the portrait of the drummer Nuno Morão, that I've drawn before. 

This time, in a sharp and focused mode.

The Guitarist Luís Lopes

This is not a drawing about the concert or a performance, it's a drawing about Luís Lopes himself. He's the type of person I imagine living in the countryside, in a beach location, in a cabin in the woods or in the middle of the concrete jungle, in the immensity of a big city.

I think he reunites opposite qualities, like uniting a group with great harmony, grace and sensibility and roaring his bricks out when it's needed. And I love that!

During the concert,  I wrote a poem for and about this musician. Each line in this drawing has a color with a reason to be, that is what's, sort of, described in this text:

The rocks and the shocks

The metal and the settle

The sand and the band

The skin and the gin

The coal and the soul

The wood and the mood

The leather and the feather

Is it brume, is it perfume?

I used metallic inks, charcoal, wooden colors, acrylics and shades related to the city concrete and nature. A dark side (brume) and a soft side (perfume).

A little chat we had before the concert and his sweater were the starting points for all this. But, in the end, this was nothing about what he was wearing or told me, but - deeply - about him.

Pandora's Box, André Gonçalves

Here playing with ADDAC Quarters, is André Gonçalves.

In my mind, was the idea of him taking sounds out of a Pandora's box, and not from a synthesizer, as it happened indeed. 

In ancient Greek Mythology, Pandora was the first woman on Earth. She opened her box, letting all the evils of the world loose. The only thing left inside the box was hope (Elpis or ελπίδα). 

Having been this concert - loud, massive and sonic, I linked it to this story, that I find very meaningful nowadays, having in mind the world's current situation. I have created my own fiction with this Pandora myth, but there could be plenty more possible associations!

Luiz Rocha, Maria do Mar, Adriano Orrù

The sweet talkative Luiz Rocha (bass clarinet), the bright Maria do Mar (violin) and Adriano Orrù's (double bass) gauge made of this trio, a true moment of communication in the festival!

The Night Owl, Paulo Galão

This is my drawing of the clarinet player, Paulo Galão. 

Here's the text I wrote during the concert about it:

This was the story 

of an owl that wore night

An owl that shown light

as the path of wisdom

Clarity over a thought 

Gravity on a bass lot.

Paulo Chagas & the Scandinavian Angel Trio, with Stephan Sieben, Adam Pultz & Håkon Berre, gave a full energy concert, and my drawing speed followed their rhythm. It was fast, fast, fast!

The bridge, Maria da Rocha

This regards to the second concert where the violinist, Maria da Rocha played in this festival - this time, a solo concert. She played violin over electronic sounds. And it seemed like she was playing "over the city moving" - I interpreted sounds of traffic, and in my mind, there were images of trains, bridges and tunnels involved. 

The whole time she played with the same body posture, and I kept thinking of her as a bridge (I thought of concrete and hence the gray) where sounds (colors) passed under. 

Doing this interpretation on my drawing, I also had in mind the architectonical use and function of bridges - they make a link possible between two distant points that weren't connected before.

All this was present when I made this drawing, and also that, for a musician who searches to be unconventional, I wanted to do a different portrait of what's expected. And on this point, it's handy to remember that in its traditional definition, a portrait shows the head or face of the person featured.

The piano player, Manuel Guimarães

During the concert I wrote in the back of this drawing:

A imensidão dos passos

Vai ao fundo do mundo

The immensity of the steps

Goes to the bottom of the world

That's it. Manuel Guimarães. Brilliant.

The Mask, Yaw Tembe

Sometime ago, I did a drawing of the trumpet player and visual artist, Yaw Tembe with texture and layers. Now, I wanted to do one with texture and sound (when you touch it) with the same material he used at this concert - aluminum foil. I also wanted to make a drawing in homage to his amazing masks (I LOVE THEM!) and I thought of the foil as a possible mask too.

Miguel Ivo Cruz

From the 46 musicians that played in the Variable Geometry Orchestra concert, Miguel Ivo Cruz is probably the musician whom I know the longest. Although I haven't seen him playing for ages, I was very very happy to draw him live, after all these years. This is a drawing of him with his six chord cello-lady, opening up a road of possibilities.

Doors, Simon Vincent

Simon Vincent, who happens to be also a piano player, is English, so I wanted to create the title's letters of this portrait with a British aesthetics influence. I was inspired by one of my English idols, Eric Gill (I know you graphic designers, out there, know what I mean!) - the creator behind the font Gill Sans.

This font was used in Penguin Book covers, in British Railways, in BBC's logo, by the British Government, in the music group Bloc Party's logo, in German traffic signs and by Spanish Government among many other examples, worldwide. It became a classic and also a trademark of the English spirit.

This concert was a high moment of the festival for me, because it made me fly.
I drew Simon Vincent's face, and I guess that was one of the few times I looked at the stage. The rest of the drawing, was made to the compass of the sounds he was sharing with us, with me just looking at the paper.

It was a mixture of electronic sound layers. I have no idea of which real noises were indeed used, but for me, this performance was all about closing and opening doors. And every time they opened, a roaring lion in the adventure of a jungle started, a course of water flowed and refreshed our minds, and some of the sounds were so spiritual, it made you believe they came from heaven.

This was about opportunities and mother nature with its striking force and Simon was a channel to the music.

Indeed, this festival represented a myriad of possibilities to unfold, of channels to be. Many feelings to match the musical variety presented. And, regarding the drawings I've made, it was definitely a festival of very different and strong personalities.