Portuguese star brings new Brazilian music from artists such as Adriana Calcanhotto, Chico César, Céu, Marcos Valle, and Tim Bernardes to Oslo.
The acclaimed Portuguese singer Salvador Sobral might be best known to audiences worldwide for his landslide victory at the 2017 Eurovision Song Contest with the song “Amar Pelos Dois”, written by his sister. By then, he had already been recognized as a rare singing talent on the Portuguese music scene: A true balladeer, charting his own path in the footsteps of role models such as Chet Baker and the singers from the Música popular brasileira.
His latest project, A Flor do Recomeço (The Flower of Restarting), is his first-ever featuring exclusively Brazilian composers. It was recorded in São Paulo, produced by Brazilians Marcus Preto and Tó Brandileone and features a stellar lineup of previously unreleased songs written specifically for Sobral by renowned artists such as Adriana Calcanhotto, Chico César, Céu, Marcos Valle, and Tim Bernardes.
For Sobral, this project is a deeply personal journey back to his musical foundations:
"I am absolutely convinced that music was born in Brazil. I grew up listening to Maria Bethânia in my mother’s car and Chico César in my father’s. This album stems from the need to go to the supreme origin to deepen and uncover the timeless sounds of this side of the Atlantic." He emphasizes that he didn’t want to make a “Brazilian record” – “Otherwise, we might fall in to the trap of sounding like a caricature of Brazilian music with a strange accent.”
There is no doubt about the musical pedigree of his band, however. He will visit Oslo World backed by Katerina L'Dokova (piano), André Rosinha (double bass), Sebastiá Gris (guitar), Joel Silva (percussion) and Eva Fernández (sax)– all masters of the trade. They will make this evening much more than a one man show: A meeting between a European original and classic, Brazilian musical bliss.
In collaboration with the Portuguese Embassy of Oslo.
