Reviews

Artist:Pedro Viana
Album: Ainda Sonho Com Este Som
Label: Self Released
Tracks: 12
Website: http://pedroviana.bandcamp.com

This is an album worthy of inclusion in any music collection. Great musicians don’t need flamboyant introductions and glitzy marketing, because their music does all the talking for them. Produced before the pandemonium caused by the global pandemic, this album is a perfect antidote to the troubles of this world.

The urgent chords that introduce “Do Arco Da Velha” are what continue to drive sections of this wonderfully crisp, Moorish-Mediterranean tune. The playing is exquisite, as it is throughout this album. Therefore, this is a fitting place to introduce those who put it together.

Pedro Viana and I have been connected via Facebook for some years, partly because he noticed I was a cittern player. Born in Oporto in 1979, this 2019 album followed on from other works, recorded with the band Mandragora in 2005 and 2008 who toured the albums across France, Spain and Portugal.

“Ainda Sonho Com Este Som” is a self-composed, contemporary album of tunes for the Spanish guitar, and the ‘viola braguesa’. This is where the album takes on an educative stance. The instrument originates from Braga, and like the cittern is a ten string instruments with five pairs of strings. As such it has a similar vibrancy. Pedro explains: “In Portuguese folk music it is used to play simple harmonies with rich, rhythmic padrons, but it can offer the same melodic possibilities as its ancestor, the baroque guitar”.

Pedro is joined on the album by producer Nuno Silva, who adds a Mediterranean flavour to the album playing Oud and Salterio (track 7); and frame-drum (tracks 7 and 10). This is a work of both ancient and modern, and reminds us of the relevance of what has gone before in our histories. Modern sounds fuse with traditional instruments: Spanish guitar, Viola Braguesa, Adufe and Hurdy Gurdy.

Back to the music, and “Almapasma” initially presents a slower, more mournful sound, periodically enhanced by some earthy percussion. In these sections, the tune seems to fuse flamenco with eastern atmosphere. “Rebento” has more of a medieval feel to it, certainly in the melody of the tune and percussion. However, the guitar work feels very fresh and contemporary. The percussion builds in this track and becomes one of its most compelling sounds.

“Aos Novos e Velhos Idolios” has a more modern structure, and again the percussion is what drives the tune along beneath some very fine playing. “Vislumbre” borders at times on Flamenco, and drifts seamlessly between solo guitar and more rhythmic sections. This is one of three of my personal picks from these 12 expertly composed pieces of music.

Of all the tunes on this album “Luz Vermelha” is the most similar to a British folk sound, but retains that wonderful Iberian mood throughout. “Alis Ubbo” at first sounds like it is going to break into a sonic progressive rock sound, but as with all these tunes it is not predictable. That is what makes this album such a joy to listen to. The second of my personal selections from this excellent work because of its intuitive blending of instruments.

The longest tune on the album, “Noite Crese”, greets us with the sounds of a summer evening on a veranda. From its solo guitar introduction, this song has a beautiful build to it, and maintains the album’s air of expectancy. This is a work that is well worth listening to all the way through to appreciate its many qualities. “Apice” is a more classical sounding short piece, combining beautiful melody with a very Iberian chord structure.

“Sonho Herculeo” is the third of my personal favourites on the album, and very probably the standout track. It rises and it falls with the instrumental blend, but as a guitarist myself I find the guitar contribution to this track to be the finest on the album. It really is superbly crafted. “Primeiro Brilho” has a cinematic quality to it. It feels optimistic. One of the recurring features of this album is the care that Pedro and the other musicians have taken with the build of each track. The album draws to a close with “Sem Saudade” begins with a more melancholy arrangement of sounds, but builds beautifully and concludes with that refreshing sense of optimism I mentioned earlier.

Categorising music such as this is not easy to do, nor should we attempt to. Some would describe it as classical music, baroque, flamenco, southern European, Moorish, Eastern…but this is a fusion between the past and present world and comprises elements of all the above. It really works, and is one of the most relaxing albums I’ve heard in many a year. The expression “less is more” is one way of looking at each track, because you are always left wanting more.

Congratulations Pedro! This is a truly excellent piece of work, produced by Paul Ramos, which I hope receives the attention it deserves.

John Reed

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