Month: April 2023

words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Paulo Carmona

I didn’t even took a flowers bouquet! Damn it!

How could I know I was on my way to a celebration? Neither I nor the others who were there could. No one knew that they were going to a reunion party with an old friend that not seen for a long time.

Well fellows, that is how Jay Jay Johanson sees it. He is probably one of the warmest and most tender solo artists I have ever seen. He celebrates the end of each song with effusive gestures of thanks and love for others.

The set started with Why Wait Until Tomorrow; So Tell the Girls That I’m back in Town and There’s no Easy Way to Say Goodbye revealing all its happy, nostalgic and contemplative melancholy. Closed in on himself and leaning on the microphone’s tripod from where he enjoys picking up the songs, he walks around the stage, gently, with a slight smile stamped on his face. He plays with his voice, oscillating between dark low tones and midium highs filled with melodies and harmonies.

From trip-hop to electroclash through synth-pop, wiith melodic jazz breezes everywhere, I found myself having sensations only bossa nova can give. Perhaps it was the beautiful cadence of Erik’s keyboard sounds, with Jay Jay Johanson’s smooth, nostalgic vocals that make this magic. I don’t know, but it was the feeling I was left with.

The heat in the CCOP room is such that Jay spares no effort and several times fetches water to offer and cool the audiencec A very elegant and nice gentleman, that’s what he is.

She Doesn’t Live Here Anymore gets a big ovation. But not the biggest of all. Meanwhile he introduces Erik saying he was once his dance teacher, if you can believe it. Met, of course, with laughter and squeals and happy hooting. The biggest ovation came from Heard Somebody Whistle.

After a short encore Jay Jay returns with a glass of white wine on his hand and makes magic with his voice by singing acappella, just leaning on himself. Brilliant! Someone beside me comments on the fact and lets it out in an emotional tone, that said gentleman has the best of voices.

The concert ends with Jay Jay Johanson greeting everyone who’s there in front of the stage and immediately dives into the middle of the audience and get lost in hugs, kisses and photos. Interestingly, to accompany this session, Frankie’s My Way is heard interpreted by Sid Vicious, the legendary bassist of the Sex Pistols, and soon after, Elvis Presley’s In the Ghetto. I don’t think anyone would be waiting for it. Not even me! Superfun!

A seguir a um curto encore, volta de copo de vinho branco na mão e faz magia com a voz ao cantar à capela, apenas apoiado em si mesmo. Brilhante! Alguém ao meu lado comenta o facto e deixa sair em tom emocionado, que aquele senhor tem a melhor das vozes.

O concerto termina com Jay Jay Johanson a cumprimentar toda a gente que está logo ali, na frente do palco, para logo a seguir mergulhar no meio da audiência e perder-se entre abraço, beijos e fotos. Curiosamente, a acompanhar esta sessão, ouve-se o My Way do Frankie interpretada por Sid Vicious, o lendário baixista dos Sex Pistols, e logo após, In the Ghetto do Elvis Presley. Acho que ninguém estaria à espera. Nem mesmo eu! Super fun.

A Space-Time Odyssey

words & photos: Marcos Leal; editing; Raquel Pinheiro

Last Wednesday night the Suggia room at Casa da Música served as a spaceship for the German trio Tangerine Dream, so that the audience in Porto could embark on a sidereal journey on their unique visit to our country held within the scope of Musica & Revolução (Music & Revolution) 2023 cycle.

The trio that currently performs under the name Tangerine Dream is composed of Thorsten Quaeschning, Hoshiko Yamane and Paul Frick that were not even born at the time of the band’s formation which highlights the transformative and evolutionary component of a project founded by Edgar Froese in 1967, which remained a member over the years until his death in 2015 and of which Thorsten Quaeschning was the “chosen successor”.

The audience at Sala Suggia highlighted the timelessness and transversality of a project that has been with us for several decades. Grandparents and grandchildren could be seen in the audience, people who grew old with the music of the electronic pioneers and people who came to discover its origins and evolution.

The trio entered the stage a few minutes after 21:30 under a round of applause, taking their places on the machines. Thorsten in the center, on a level above the stage, like the commander of a Star Trek, greeted the audience with a timid voice recording in Portuguese, immediately starting the musical journey that would last for more than two hours, to the sound of syncopated and pulsating melodies from Stratosfear, a theme from 1976. From then on, time came and went not following any temporal order. The screen behind the band served as a window into the world and imaginary of Tangerine Dream and giving context to each theme played by them, with images reminiscent of graphics from video games to sci-fi cinema, also referring the work done for cinematographic soundtracks. As an example Betrayal a theme of the 1977 film Sorcerer.

The journey had several stops and sound and visual landscapes with themes such as Tangram (set 1), Raum, Love On A Real Traim, Los Santos City Map, Continuum, Portico, among others from the vast repertoire. From the oldest and most recent work which the current line-up manages to approach in a very coherent way, bringing the oldest themes closer to the most recent edited work that results from archival work from samples left by the former founder Edgar Froese.

Despite the long concert, the audience asked for an encore with a standing ovation. The band followed with a long one theme, some people ended up leaving early, considering Thursday was a workday.

An the end, Thorsten introduced the remaining members greeted with with applause by the audience and a promise of a return soon, after a few good years without visiting the city.

Already heading for the stage exit, Thorsten steps back to ask for a final round of applause for the late founder of Tangerine Dream.

The show reached the end with the satisfied feeling of the audience having witnessed history.

words: Neno Costa (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro; photos: Telma Mota

Tim Hecker (b.1974, Vancouver, Canada) is a reference in the electronic music world. A sculptor of environments his discography is an experimental journey that providing unusual itineraries, tinged with evocations and spirituality.

The performance at gnration in Braga was the pretext for the presentation of his latest record No Highs (April, 2023). With a sober presence on stage shrouded in a constant haze inviting immersive states, Tim Hecker offered an endless dive into the minimal universe. We were dragged into a resounding, ascetic, almost shamanic waterway, against which it would not be worth fighting.

We allowed ourselves be led on an oceanic journey through territories without words, in which we swim inside ourselves, led by layers of sound that merge, blend and generate new landscapes, in a lycergic, hypnotic and involving continuum.

texto: Neno Costa; fotos: Telma Mota

Tim Hecker (n.1974, Vancouver, Canadá) é uma referência no mundo da música electrónica. Escultor de ambientes, a sua discografia é uma viagem experimental, proporcionando roteiros insólitos, tingidos de evocações e espiritualidade.

A atuação no gnration, em Braga, foi pretexto para a apresentação do seu último trabalho, No Highs (Abril, 2023). Com uma presença sóbria em palco envolta numa constante neblina convidativa a estados imersivos, Tim Hecker ofereceu um mergulho infindável no universo minimal. Fomos arrastados para um agueiro sonoro, ascético, quase xamânico, contra o qual não valeria a pena lutar.

Deixamos-nos conduzir numa viagem oceânica por territórios sem palavras, em que nadamos para dentro de nós mesmos, conduzidos por camadas sonoras que se vão fundindo, mesclando e gerando novas paisagens, num continuum licérgico, hipnótico e envolvente.