O Espirito da
Paz
The work that I'm about
to accomplish is not easy, and it is rendered much more difficult
by my condition of great fan. I hope to be interesting.
From a musical point of
view and, in a certain measure, from a thematic point of view,
this album is organized in movements, as well as a symphony. The
critics which are not familiar with classical
music interpreted this organization as a "loss of
creativity". These are the critics who whould label as a
"loss of creativity" the repeating of the main theme in
the first movement of the 5° Beethoven's Symphony (this don't
want to be a comparison at all!). The answer is that in every
speech, every concept have to refer to the considerations made
before. The first movement is formed by the Concertino, in which
the girl starts her initiation travel wondering if this is her
destiny. The second movement is formed by Os senhores da guerra,
Pregao, O mar and Os moinhos, in which the girl face the world as
an entity (sea, sun, war). The third movement is formed by the
Tres Ilusoes, in which the girl thinks about her inner feelings
(love, guilt, sadness). The fourth movement, sublime for
coherence and strength, is composed by the last four songs, in
which the reflections on the ego and on the world interlace in
the conclusion of peace of Ajuda.
"O espirito da paz" is the most
difficult album of Madredeus; not from a musical, but from a
conceptual point of view. This work born as a concept album, that
is a musical composition which has to carry a message through the
narration of a story. In this particular case, the story is
simple on the earthly level (a girl which travels and sings to
spread a message of peace), but enormously complex on the level
of personal meditation. So, that's not the story of an event, but
the story of a reflection. The words unveiled the themes of this
opera only after a long study: the sea, the war, the sun, love,
silence, destiny, journey. At this point it seems impossible to
find a leit motiv able to carry us to the discovery of the hidden
message of this album. The two "commandments", the two
unifying elements comes up after one year and a half of
passionate listening: the relation between the ego and his
inconscious and the relation between the ego and the reality. The
extreme novelty of these two apparently known elements is in the
extreme deepness of the analysis, which brings to conclusions and
considerations of great value.
War is not analyzed in
it's material effect but in it's origin as a human phenomenon.
The most real meaning of peace is searched. Peace, not viewed as
a state of warlessness, but as the consciousness of being part of
a community of "...homens...unidos no destino da
terra...". The sea becomes the earthly incarnation of
infinity. The song O Mar seems to describe the astonishment of
the man who perceive the existence and the concreteness of
infinity and his inability to part with it (what is the origin of
this affinity of Man for Infinity?). Vem seems to contradict my
thesis. It proposes an ideal dialogue between two lovers far from
each other. Though, the total love emerging from the words
"...perdi a luz do teu viver..." (the most intense and
meaningful 
declaration of love I've ever
heard!), renders the two lovers a unique entity with two souls
binded by a "...mesma luz...mesmo amar...". In a sense,
this song sings the concept so well described by John Donne in
his Valediction (if you have never read it, read it! It's a
masterpiece). In that poem the author compares the two lovers as
the two linked legs of a compass, which can even get separated,
but remains part of the same thing. So, even this song narrates a
personal reflection. In all the compositions, the analysis of the
most inner ego (the feelings of guilt, sadness and love) brings
to the discovery of the universal characteristics of umanity, and
the contemplation of reality (the sun, the sea, the war), brings
to the discovery of our most deeper feelings. This is the point
which hide the real message of O espirito da paz: the reflections
on our ego and on reality is the only instrument that can help us
to understand in which way our individuality is part of a
universal one. This consciousness of sharing with every man the
most inner traits of the soul is the espirito da paz. That's it.
Everybody will read his own reflections in those of the girl, and
this is the concept which preserve the identity and peculiarity
of people. Everybody live and suffer of the same feelings, but
the way in which we relates to them, is different from each
other. Infact, at the end of the composition (Ajuda), the girl
says that she is the greatest mistery of his world, but says also
that she is in the centre of a World.
O espirito
da paz is an enourmous album that I think should be listened all
in a time. It has been certainly undervalued 
at
the first listening by all of us. His strength is hidden in his
organicity and in his extreme authonomy. The words are the most
conceptually stimulating part. About the music and about the
voice, Her voice, well... mmm.... I can't say and I don't want to
say nothing. Now that I have described this opera in the
most common way, I would like to express some extremely personal
opinion regarding this music. O espirito da paz is an abstract
... ultramundane composition. The voice of Maria Teresa seems
more the voice of our conscience, than that of a person talking
us. The music that accompanies her evoke in me images, sounds,
colors, scents. This is, I do think, the goal and the main sense
of art. If Ainda describe with astounding deepness the scent that
only Lisboa emanates, O espirito da paz makes me feel the
sensation that everybody who has seen Portugal felt. Those among
you who has been there are now perfectly understanding me. This
music recalls me that sea, that blue of an unrepeatable sky, that
sun, that soil, that warmth. Portugal is an intense land which
gaves itself totally and immediately to everybody who touches it,
reveals it's secrets,
it's wounds, it's jewels; is a
land which narrates you the sea you are going to see, and tries
to remember it to you even when you're not able to see it. In O
espirito da paz I've found the same characteristics of the land
which gave birth to it. It is intense, warm, but
peaceful and serene. This is a music and a land which
doesn't need to scream in order to be strong and to make you feel
the trill of emotion. The most cosmopolitan opera hides the most
portughese soul of Madredeus. This is the true fado overcoming.
This is what I feel as a fan, as a "critic", as a
musician, as a man. This is my only instrument able to make you
understand this beatiful musical flower which gladdens my life.
Do not trust the people who use the name of Madredeus to appear
as musical acculturates. This is not a music for learned people,
but for people who listen with the heart and not with the brain.
Corvinus
Music
Institutional