Both, Galician singer Sara Vidal and her former group Luar na Lubre, have given birth to a new musical work.
matrix (Latin matrix, -icis, breeding female, uterus, main trunk, registration, origin, cause)
After being, between 2005 and 2011, the voice of the Galician group Luar na Lubre, one of the most recognized internationally, and of multiple participations in several Portuguese groups, it is Sara Vidal's turn to perform in her own name, with her first MATRIZ solo album to mark 15 years of career.
With an acoustic sound and the confluence of multiple instruments, the voice assumes itself as the main driving vehicle among a musical selection composed entirely by traditional themes, which here gain a new pulse and breath by the musical direction of Manuel Maio and Rui Ferreira. In MATRIZ, we are invited to travel through Portuguese geography and to discover the traditional songbook of each region under a common denominator: the female condition in the different stages of life.
The artistic relevance of this work is based on the valorization of traditional music, as a cultural and ethnographic vehicle of our identity matrix. At the same time that it is intended to deconstruct the recurring idea that traditional music is poor and limited, this album intends to raise awareness of new audiences for popular culture, through new sound approaches, which may be more attractive and stimulating to discover.
MATRIZ is the maturing of 15 years of musical career by Sara Vidal, who has a vast professional career in root music, between Galicia and Portugal. She currently develops her musical work in the groups Espiral, A Presença das Formigas, Diabo a Sete, Cantos da Quaresma and Companhia do Canto Popular, all within the scope of world music, being recognized as one of the leading voices of folk and traditional Portuguese music , both nationally and internationally.
Luar Na Lubre was founded in 1986, with the aim of promoting and making Galician music and culture known. After more than three decades of successful history, 19 albums published, and more than 1,500 concerts offered in more than 30 countries, Luar Na Lubre has become one of the most international and reference groups in folk music.
Constancy and fidelity to the folk universe define, from the beginning, the work of Luar Na Lubre. Since the publication of their first album, ‘O son do ar’, a song covered by Mike Oldfield, the Galician group has stood out for offering its own sound, inspired by Galician music.
A work that is reflected in each of the albums published by the group led by Bieito Romero: Beira Atlántica (1990); Ara Solis (1993), Full Moon (1997), Cape of the World (1999); XV Anniversary (2001); Spiral (2002); There is a paradise (2004); Saudade (2005), Ways of the end of the earth (2007); Live (2009); Solstice (2010), Sounds of the Lubre on Moonlight Nights (2012), Mar Maior (2012); Breoghan Tower (2014), Extramundi (2015), XXX Anniversary (2016) and Ribeira Sacra (2018), Scallops and scallops. Stories of pilgrims (2020).
Today, the music of Luar Na Lubre, with its own recognized and consolidated identity, is part of the collective heritage. After the success of the album ‘Ribeira Sacra’ (2018), the group returns to the stage to present their new album ‘Vieiras e vieiros. Stories of pilgrims ’(2020), an album that visualizes the artistic, cultural and natural footprint of the old‘ way of the stars ’, through the stories of those who, with scallops, walked its paths: the pilgrims.
Photo Credits:
(1),(3) Luar Na Lubre
(2) Sara Vidal
(unknown/website).
