Hotel Room #101 Faro, in the Algarve capital, is much more than a simple hotel room. It is also a venue for concerts, where, in addition to the musicians, only 20 spectators can fit…and a glass of wine.
The Projeto Quarto #101, which is absolutely innovative in Portugal, continues this Saturday, the 27th, at 18 pm, with an acoustic concert by the Algarve group OrBlua. Of the twenty spectators, half are invited by the organization and the remaining 00 places will be awarded to the first people who, today, pass by the Hotel reception Faro and express their intention to attend the concert.
As André Oliveira, Marketing and Sales Director of the hotel located in Baixa farense, in front of the dock, revealed, «we will also have a hobby at the Facebook, to give away one of the tickets, in which people will have to post a phrase that includes Room 101, music and the name of the band. The most creative phrase will be chosen».
But how did this Room #101 project start? «It all started with a partnership we made with Associação ArQuente and with Gil Silva, its leader, to sponsor and promote concerts in the late afternoon in the center of Faro. The counterpart was to perform a concert at the Hotel as well. Faro». But instead of doing them in the lobby, or in another more public space, these concerts took place in that room.
The Quarto #101 project started in November last year, with a concert by the band «Mudo as Maria», followed later, in March 2013, by another with «Bad Luck & Trouble». Tomorrow, Saturday, follows «OrBlua». The three bands have in common the fact that they are local, of Faro, and being on the rise in the music business.
André Oliveira, speaking to Sul Informação, explains that «this concept aims to make known musical projects, national and international, at first aimed at a restricted audience that will share with the musicians in a small space and which will later be expanded, as all concerts will be filmed, edited and published on the web. It is intended, therefore, to challenge the bands themselves for the innovative concept and for the visibility that this concept will bring to them».
The partners of the Room #101 project are currently the Hotel itself Faro, Associação Ar Quente, through Gil Silva, who is also a musical producer at Teatro Municipal de Faro, Producer Blind Note, by Pedro Bartilotti, which is responsible, for example, for the space d'Os Artistas, and also the company Design Thinking, which conceived the image of the project in a graceful way. Carmim, from Reguengos de Monsaraz wines, also joined the project, offering the wines that the public will taste. «With a glass of wine in your hand, sitting on the sofa or on the floor, what you want is a relaxed acoustic concert», guarantees André Oliveira.
The choice of bands, so far all from Faro, is guaranteed by Gil Silva and Pedro Bartilotti. "They are the ones who have had the task of convincing the bands to participate." Because the Room #101 project provides for everyone involved to work pro bono, that is, for free. «For now we have always had bands of Faro, but when we gain some more critical mass, in the medium or long term, we hope to extend the project to national and even international bands», adds André Oliveira, who notes with pleasure that the project has been «very cherished by the Chamber of Faro, by the Regional Tourism Authority, by the Algarve Tourism Association and by RUA FM».
Through this initiative, it is intended to provide all interested parties with a new approach to the musical panorama of Faro and the Algarve, in an innovative action together with Associação Ar Quente and the Producer Blind Note, which intends to open up horizons for more bands who want to join to the concept of Room #101», adds the person in charge.
And what does the Hotel earn Faro with all this? “We want to continue our support for the arts, open doors to innovative concepts. all this is done pro bono: we do not charge tickets, bands do not earn fees, the media company does not charge for their services. What do we gain from this? Notoriety!».
As in summer a concert in a hotel room with twenty people plus musicians becomes very hot, the intention is to promote these performances only between September and May. «Our intention is, in 2014, when we start with another season of the Quarto #101 project, to have a schedule already made, with the band planned and the day of the concert scheduled. We want to create a true cultural poster», concludes André Oliveira.
You already know: if you want to be one of the privileged spectators to attend this intimate concert in Room 101 of the Hotel Faro, today you just have to be one of the first people to go to reception and say you're interested. If you don't make it this time, next year there will be more.
the band that follows
OrBlua is a project created in 2011 with musicians from different musical universes, for a single purpose – to create a sound that represents the heritage in the most diverse
senses and directions.
A sound that smells of the Algarve, the sea, the mountains, the Mediterranean, Europe, the world. A sound that collects smells, colors, stories, memories, landscapes and dreams.
OrBlua is a band of originals, which uses the musicians' multi-instrumentalist character for a diversified and complete sound, where approaches to musical aesthetics achieve both complex and minimalist effects.
On stage, three musicians use a panoply of instruments, acoustic, traditional, ethnic, to step back into the past, experience the present and imagine the future. A space where traditional, contemporary and experimentalism intersect.
Formed in June 2011, they recorded in August of that year the song “Azul” which was part of the Algarve edition South Blue. In 2012 they edited the EP Trihologia Noctiluca, with official release on December 14 and with a concert at the main hall d'Os Artistas in Faro. Now is the time to make OrBlua known to the rest of the world…
EP Trihologia Noctiluca available for free download at www.orblua.bandcamp.com
Band formation:
Pedro Leote Mendes - sound technician
Agnes Grace – voice, bouzouki, guitar, bass, concertina, cracked cane
Nuno Murta – water gourd, glockenspiel, darbouka, assorted percussions
Carlos Norton – voice, bagpipes, jackdaw, banjo, harp, bodhrán, piano, melodic, concertina, duduk, accordion
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