words: Paulo Carmona (freely translated by Raquel Pinheiro); photos: Telma Mota
As an introduction, to say that Calexico are indie folk or any other genre is too reductive. outro género qualquer é muito redutor. Extremely reductive I would say.
The band dreamed and conceived by Joey Burns (guitar/vocals) and John Convertino (drums) had us used to always expect something high quality and very “caliente” given their unique and specific musical idiosyncrasies ipor força das suas idiossincrasias The bar was set very high from the start. Therefore, on the 12th of October I went to Casa da Música for the celebration of the so called musical styles fusion. My expectations were fully fulfilled.
Calexico presented themselves at their best and maximum strength. If something can be called a remarkable performance theirs was it. Calexico started more quietly with Sunken, Waltz followed by Quattro and Black Heart, then, drove into apotheosis and there they stayed. Joey Burns is an affabe, kind communicator. An experienced, playful entertainer. He does no shy to praise Porto and its people, its generosity (nothing we didn’t knew). Joye’s folk guitar is called Amália Rodrigues avd he thanked the country its musical legacy. He could see himself spending the rest of his life here.
Almost always with seven musicians on stage, between drums, bass, guitars, accordion, brass, keyboards and xylophone it was an endless superior quality orchestral music.By Attack El Robot joy and exuberance hit the room.There was shouting, Mexican like whistles and happiness and fiesta all over Dub latina, Alone Again or Guero Canedo, Crumble and No Doze and it was hit the gas pedal from then onwards. Tequila Sunrise for everyone. In Victor Jara’s Hands his relevance to music and his ever lasting memory were mentioned. It was pretty..
There was time and availability for everything. Covers and shades of Joy Division , Manu Chao , Buenavista Social Club, clubbing e jazz. In conclusion: to do all this with such quality is not for everyon. It is for banda such as Calexico. It is for those that know. If there was a place opened that late I could had bought a sombrero and a poncho. Viva la música.
Mondo Bizarre Magazine 