It's a vicious circle. The Moçoilas went to Serra to get the traditional Algarve songs and return there whenever they can to “give them back”. But Serra insists on giving them more material. When you can't (and don't want to) win, the best thing is to keep returning to the source of inspiration, as will happen today, Saturday, May 27th, and tomorrow, Sunday, when the musical formation will perform in Alte (Loulé ), Santo Estêvão (Tavira) and São Brás de Alportel.
The path of this musical group of exclusively female voices began about 23 years ago, but the passion for tradition, in its purest state, has not faded. For this, it also helped the entry of new blood, namely Teresa da Silva and Inês Rosa, who joined Margarida Guerreiro, who has been part of Moçoilas since the beginning, to give new impetus to the project.
The three artists were in conversation with the Sul Informação and with Rádio Universitária do Algarve Rua FM (102.7 FM), as guests of the Impressões program, and talked about this project, they told what they have been doing and what they want to do in the future.
For now, the focus of Margarida Guerreiro, Inês Rosa and Teresa da Silva is on the three concerts this weekend, which will be especially busy. The Girls start playing this Saturday at Festival Fusos, in Alte, where they will share the stage with DJ Miguel Neto (Discossauro), a new experience for the group.
«We will be at Alte no Fusos, a festival of artistic fusions, where we will perform on Saturday at 18:00. Our merger is with Miguel Neto, who does something very different from what we do. Therefore, I think it will be an interesting fusion», considered Inês Rosa.
The Moçoilas return to the road the following day, May 28, to perform at 16 pm at the Barro Cal event, which is taking place in Santo Estêvão, in the municipality of Tavira. From here, they will proceed to the neighboring municipality of São Brás de Alportel, where they will take the stage at 21 pm, within the scope of of the historical recreation São Braz d'Alportel 1914.
The Moçoilas were born in 1994 from the desire to rediscover the soul of the Algarve and «to be able to take it to other places». «It was, at the same time, a discovery of that Algarve soul, because until then, it had been hidden. It's not that it didn't, but, somehow, I believe that it emerged a lot from the discoveries we made and from this manifestation to the outside world», believes Margarida Guerreiro.
«The group was born within the scope of a local development project of the In Loco association, at a time when people were somewhat afraid of calling themselves mountainous. But people started to want to say that they were from Serra. And that was fantastic, because it gave rise to a series of things of pride, identity and soul of the Algarve interior», he added.
And where did so much material come from? «Of the Serra, of the people. They still know many songs and songs today. There was a series of collections – we started with songs by Hélder Raimundo and Daniel Vieira, who were collecting things – but even today we bring songs from there. Not long ago we were acting in the countryside and they soon came to tell us two or three secrets, those fantastic ones, from their grandmothers. Therefore, we continue to explore», summarized Margarida Guerreiro.
And there is a great desire, on the part of the mountain people, to share their memories. "I particularly remember our trip to Pão Duro (Alcoutim), where we were very well received," said Teresa da Silva. “It was a fabulous experience. It was raining when we arrived and people were waiting for us with a cook, we were singing together while the meal was being cooked. They sang with us, sang for us, danced, talked all night long and prepared their homes to welcome us. All the ladies made a candy», reinforced Inês Rosa.
With a Serra that welcomes so well, it is no wonder that the Moçoilas insist on returning there.
Listen here to the full interview with Inês Rosa, Margarida Guerreiro and Teresa da Silva:
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