In the beginning everything was Azul, a Sul Azul. The record project of Rádio Universitária do Algarve (a challenge to Algarve bands to sing the south) served as a trigger, in 2011, for Orblua to start their career.
Two albums later, this Thursday, the 19th, the OrBmoon make known their new work, with a premiere concert of «Retratos Cinéticos» at Teatro das Figuras, in Faroat 21 pm.
«We started with Sul Azul. At the time, the idea was to record a song for the collection, it was also a tribute to the Algarve. The recording and preparation of the song went so well that it started a project that is still active», recalls Nuno Murta, responsible for the band's percussions, in an interview to RUA FM and to Sul Informação.
The beginning was made with two more elements, but, for different reasons, OrBlua became a trio, which forced a musical adaptation.
Inês Graça: The concerts are different from the album, «since, when we're recording, we can add one more detail, one more treat…»
The group's first record, «Trihologia Noctiluca», came out in December 2012. For Inês Graça, the female member of the trio, the EP «was a learning experience. We got to the point where we had to choose which musical path we were going to take. It was our learning time until we really defined OrBlua as we are today».
The presentation of «Trihologia Noctiluca» led the trio to the first concerts and the discovery of
a new friend – the pedal of loop, «which allowed us to explore more live», reinforces Inês. The band assumed, from the beginning, that the concerts would be different from the album, «since, when we are recording, we can add one more detail, one more treat…»
The launch of the first record is done in his own name – author's edition – but it reaches the ears of Tiago Pereira, mentor of the project «A Música Portuguesa a Gostor dela Própria», who, with them, produces two videos and invites them to the documentary «The people who still sing», with a special request to create a song, which gave its name to the episode about the Algarve – «I'm the one in charge here».
It is also with «Trihologia Noctiluca» that the sound of OrBlua reaches the hands of Ocarina, an agency in Lisbon that, in addition to representing the band, becomes, as Carlos Norton says, an integral part of the group – «we already knew about Ocarina's work, we immediately accepted and it has been a fabulous partnership. The three of us are here for an interview, but we are three musicians, plus a sound technician and our agent, Ana, is the 5th element here. It is a partnership that has gone very well and has been bearing fruit».
«There were many things that happened simultaneously, the recordings for Portuguese Music are pre-Ocarina. What is certain is that our work reached the hands and ears that liked our work and that made a lot easier», reinforces Carlos Norton, multi-instrumentalist.
OrBlua already has presences in music festivals, in several national radio and television programs. These concerts, he adds, helped the public to get to know the band, «sometimes more than the direct musical part, it ends up working as advertisement. If two years ago, when people talked about OrBlua, nobody knew what it was, even because it is a complicated name, today it is starting to be known and we hope that, in a year's time, everyone will know what Orblua is».
The group seems to be able to counter some of the complaints of the Algarve bands that Serra do Caldeirão is too complicated to overcome. “Distance is always an impediment. It's difficult to go from here to Lisbon when we know the travel expenses, much lower for a band from Coimbra, with more rooms and much closer. This is a big barrier for the Algarve bands. Above all, there is a gap between the few rooms in the Algarve (and Alentejo) and the big rooms in the rest of the country».
Being represented by Ocarina leaves them “much more relaxed. What would be the role of the band, of walking to make contacts and looking for concerts, we remained with our arms crossed. We just have to worry about the musical part. On top of that, being a national agency, headquartered in Lisbon, it becomes easier to make contacts with these rooms and with these promoters for us to play», adds Carlos Norton.
Inês Graça: «Instead of making a simple CD, which people often look at and don't turn on, why not make an object that is interesting to acquire? So we decided to make a photo book, which, by chance, has a CD with our songs, our album»
This Thursday, OrBlua will make their new work known, with a concert at 21 pm at Teatro das Figuras, in Faro. «Kinetic Portraits» is, as the smiling Inês Graça explains, a book of poems, photographs and a music album.
«Last year, we started working with a new friend, Jorge Jubilot, who has some excellent photographs, we started to include them as the backdrop for our concerts, but we decided not to stop there. Instead of making a simple CD, which people often look at and don't turn on at all, why not make an object that is interesting to acquire? That's why we decided to make a photo book, which, by chance, has a CD with our songs, our album», adds Inês.
This new record has 11 songs, some of them already played live or recorded in Tiago Pereira's videos, but, as Carlos Norton says, «when we look at the South Blue e Noctiluca Trihology we're proud of what we've done, along with the feeling that if it were now, we'd do a lot better. We didn't do anything wrong at the time and we're very proud of it, but we've evolved as a band».
Some of these new songs were composed shortly after the EP, “but they weren't recorded, some have a new look, others were composed a short time ago. Kinetic portraits turns out to be the phase of OrBlua that goes through, since the release of Noctiluca Trihology until a month ago».
These Portraits they also bring guests on two themes. When, two years ago, they were invited to participate in the Sérgio Mestre Festival, the group chose to make a version of «Calendar». Now, for his recording, «we decided to invite a friend of Sérginho's, both because he's his friend, they played and recorded together several times, but also because it fit the voice we wanted: we invited Janita Salomé to record the duet with Agnes».
As for the other guests, they result from the various invitations that emerged for radio programs. In this case, a join in the program Past to Present da Antena1, between a new band and another with some career. The relationship with the Lisbon pipers he stayed out of the radio studios and when they were recording the album, “we decided, why not? We did the interview, we get along well, why not?” The invitation was accepted and the voices of the Lisbon pipers can be heard in the theme «Tempo Estado».
Carlos Norton: The band no longer maintains the tradition of the first concerts, with new songs at each performance, but «we compose a lot and we always have musical news».
This Thursday, at Teatro das Figuras, OrBlua will play the new work in its entirety, but «some musical news is already available. Kinetic portraits». The band no longer maintains the tradition of the first concerts, with new music at each performance, but, reinforces Carlos Norton, «we compose a lot and we always have musical news».
On stage, the band uses around 20 ethnic and contemporary instruments to talk about the Algarve, its past and traditions, heritage, people and landscapes.
The concert is scheduled to start at 21 pm, tickets cost 30 euros and can be attended by people over 7 years old.
After their performance at Teatro das Figuras, OrBlua are one of the six names that represent Portuguese Music in the Exploratory Cycle of Traditional Music, on April 1st, at Teatro de S. Luiz, in Lisbon.
The Orblua are:
Agnes Grace – Voice, bouzouki, guitar, bass, concertina, cracked cane, cello
Nuno Murta – Water gourd, adufe, darbouka, glockenspiel, assorted percussions
Carlos Norton – Voice, bagpipes, jackdaw, banjo, harp, bodhrán, piano, melodic, concertina, duduk, accordion, loop station
You can listen to the entire interview, on Saturday, the 21st, at 14 pm, on Rádio Universitária do Algarve (RUA FM), which can be heard on 00 or by clicking here.
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