This is one that stayed with me over the lingering days of late summer. Over an extended visit home, seeing old friends, meeting new ones, family, moving around, hearing stories, creating stories, Adriana’s “pearl of flames” finds its way into my hands at Cosmos, a mythical venue for the experimental musical hearts in Lisbon.
“pearl of flames” is a self-released object born from a series of encounters, residencies and past works put together in an installation format for the collective exhibition “Casa das Novidades” at Centro Cultural Raiano, curated by João Reis and with works by Inês Mendes Leal, Francisco Tropa, Jimmie Durham and Adufeiras do Rancho Etnográfico de Idanha-a-Nova.
Adriana is an alchemist of strange sonorities with infused ancestral scents, mysterious lights and miraculous spaces – you may ask yourself, how did I get here? With wonder.
Most musical works I adore are ones in which sound play with taste, touch, smell and vision – it creates extra sensorial aptitudes. All tracks, and even “pearl of f lames” itself, are named as a wordplay of senses, or just suggest colour a texture, an aura; sometimes a title is two titles, so you have a better grasp.
“pearl of flames” is a not only (as if not already enough) a multi-sensorial and multi-format oeuvre, but also a multi-instrumental one – from violin and voice to Portuguese traditional instruments like the viola beiroa, the beiroínha or the adufes, Adriana stitches all together with an exquisite taste, fusing traditional with fantastic, delicacy with mysterious boldness. An omnipoeticness.
Adriana João has been a prominent figure in the experimental music scene in Lisbon in the past years, alongside with her haunting work with photography and installation.
Favourite track: burnt yellow / amber
