The invisible cities of Dead J and Dora.S

This image above is the drawing I have made live from Dead J and is the reason why I am writing about that lucky February night, where I had the chance to see live both Chinese, Dead J and VJ Dora.S. 

Dead J aka Shao Yanpeng is an electronic musician and producer from Beijing and VJ Dora.S aka Wang Meng is a visual artist from Tianjin.

 Presentations made, I have to say the music just smashed me. It was that type of music that fills every minimum black hole of dust. Invaded with dreams with a future living that is universal, not just Chinese. It filled the room with something you could not touch, but that one could deeply feel and relate to. The word in mind is goosebumps.

The VJ'ing was absolutely overwhelming too. With a black and white geometric language, the visual connections Dora.S made to the music were always purposeful and opened other possibilities to the sound. Shown the root of things to be built, it reminded all of us the fascination of geometry, without ever being boring or repetitive. It was the road to follow dreams. 

The duo was so present and powerful, I just couldn't take my eyes from them one single minute. Dead J and Dora.S made me fly over cities I had never seen before. Who knows if it could be a continuation of an Invisible City of Italo Calvino. They fully caught my attention.

A new Chinese art scene is going on, and these guys definitely have interesting things to say and a role to play. Actually, if Modern China is too complicated they made it a breezy flight with many things to learn. 

May it widen the perspectives of electronic music and art scene in China and abroad. All that talent is needed to shape the sound of a better world. 

See a video of them, performing live in Beijing here.

This concert was held in Music Box and was organized it the ambit of This is my City. 

Thank you Clara, Manuel and Nuno for inviting me and making this happen. It was beautiful. 

Tindersticks

As wine, some drawings need time to age better. Very often I need more time and space to finish drawings because sometimes I need that distance from the paper that allows me to see things I didn't before. This was one of those cases.

Here is a selection of my favorite live drawings made in November last year when Tindersticks played in Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon. It was a cold night with music warmed hearts :)

I imagined Stuart Staples as if only rain could color him. For me his music is all about poetry, intimacy and indoors. He had a red line in one of the coat buttons and that was my favorite part of his look. Lucky I was in the very first row to see that!

David Boulter was the first one I drew. I was enchanted from the very first moment. I imagined this composition as a stone sculpture with his beautiful blue coat over it. 

The band was fantastic, all musicians were great. I was so happy also to see Earl Harvin live. His playing quality was remarkable and explains why he was playing with guys like Air, Seal or Micatone just to name a few.

And by the way, Gina Foster don't be uncertain, you are amazing too!

Some pictures of this concert with reports (in Portuguese) here and here.

Thank you Rute for inviting me, it was unforgettable :)

Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love and Yaw Tembe Report for Jazz.pt

It was last friday that Ken Vandermark, Paal Nilssen-Love and Yaw Tembe played in Lisbon. Bernardo Álvares was there to tell us about it, Nuno Martins to photograph and I was there to draw these amazing musicians live for Jazz.pt. 

Team work :)

See the full report, photos and all the drawings here. 

Mountain like you

Mountain like you 

Is her hair on the stings

and her mood as she swings

with time, all the things

with elegance of fine strings

raw curves are rings

and, a true palette brings

freedom with wings

it's a mountain that springs

For Érica Zíngano, a dear Brazilian poet from Fortaleza. 

Espaço APAV & Cultura Poster for Gabriel Godoi & Gonçalo Falcão Concert

This is the poster and painting I did for Espaço APAV & Cultura that is hosting this Gabriel Godoi and Gonçalo Falcão concert on the 18th of March at 19.30h.

The Brazilian guitarist Gabriel Godoi has prooved its crafts in Chorinho and Gonçalo Falcão is a Portuguese guitarist whose designer skills weren't enough to test his need to improvise. Is it that the trigger here is Experimenting Chorinho? You have to attend to find out!

I think I already mentioned Espaço APAV & Cultura is one of my favorite places in Lisbon for concerts. The space is very intimate, the walls are fool of books, and the acoustic is great. 
Also to mention the location is central and breezy with Jardim Constantino (Constantino José Marques de Sampaio e Melo was the king of the florists, back in the XIX century, also inspiring to know!) just in front. 

I made this painting thinking already to use it for this purpose. Before I started painting, I mentally saw the colors to use, how to mix them and their layer order since I wanted it to go from the lightest color to black. It was before I finished the painting that I pictured I wanted a full color poster with the letters as the only thing in white. Also I wanted to make something lively, that could represent the happy encounters provided by these initiatives in APAV. 

I'm sharing all these things because - and as someone said the other day in on LXII Conversa in our studio (Década) - I agree both the process and the result are important.

This concert was programmed by Nuno Catarino who told me he chose the musicians according to my painting!

If you want to know more about this event, please follow this link.

APAV is in Rua José Estevão, 135A (Lisbon) and the entrance for this concert is free.

Lume trombonists at Jazz.pt

This is my drawing of Luís Cunha, Eduardo Lála and Pedro Canhoto (the trombonists of LUME), grooving!

It was made live at the Hot Club where the band last played.

Check out the drawing at Jazz.pt, here.

If you don't know who this fantastic band is, take a look at the article where I wrote a bit about them and drew Marco Barroso for Jazz.pt.

Worth to check them live and search their videos too!

Irmãos Catita

Irmãos Catita claim to be five siblings of different parenthood, abandoned at birth, gathered by chance in life. Well... let's just say the Portuguese band formed in 1991, came to change the dullness of the days, to say the least!!

Their last concert in Lisbon at Teatro Villaret, preceded their third album, to be released soon. 

It had been about 17 years since I last saw them live - unforgivable!! 

The venue was packed and I was in the first row. Through smoke and plumes, it was fantastic to listen to their music again. 

Very graphic at all senses, was a pleasure to draw them. 

Here is a selection of what I made there:

This is my live drawing of Manuel João Vieira, the vocalist of the band. His shirt was a folding screen for his world to come: vivid, and ironically political. 

Frenetic, tropic-exotic and unpredictable, Manuel João Viera is a master of entertainment one can't get tired of. 

On my live drawing of Francisco Ferro,  thought of him as a percussion chess piece. Indeed, a fundamental piece, he is one of the pillars of the band. All the way, this music is a game to be played.

My live drawing of the guitarist João Leitão was a result of my encounter with Kermit during the concert. All I can say is that I travelled far!  

This one is the live drawing of the double bass player, João Custódio. The colours where his, that at all times engaged fun and elegance. Simple and great.

And then my live drawing of one of the guests: the guitarist Phil Mendrix. 

He is a legendary musician I wanted to draw live for a long time, since I saw him at Inner Urge documentary from Isabel Cardeira, where I quickly appeared too.

His presence in the band is irreplaceable and absolutely charismatic. It was like everybody wanted to see him, every time he'd show up on stage there was a silver glow around him. 

What a trip this gig was. Make no mistakes, this was no common concert (not to mention it lasted 3 hours) and I guess none of their concerts will ever be.

As in Paul Simon song, they are Still crazy after all those years and we're very happy it is so. 

See a bit of that night here on this video from Rogério Machado.

Thank you so much Void Agency for trusting my work.