Interview with Teresa Salgueiro at Brazilian Television -- TV CULTURA -- "METROPOLIS"

METROPOLIS - Madredeus is considered the best example of the contemporary Portuguese music. Therefore, they don’t play, they dont sing the fado, but they have a close relation with the Portuguese traditions, the Portuguese mucis traditions. But who will explain this to us is the vocalist of the group, Teresa Salgueiro. Teresa, what are the influences of Madredeus?

TERESA - I think that the influences of MadreDeus are many, we have, for example, classical instruments as the cello, popular ones as the guitar and the accordeon and modern ones as the sintethizer. The aims of the group, since the very beginning, were always to compose music to accompanish the "sung word", the Portuguese words.

METROPOLIS -Valorization of the word?

TERESA - Yes, valorization of the word and also the exploitation of the sonority of the words, try to find words that have a beautiful sound...

METROPOLIS -Musical words...

TERESA - Yes, look for the musicality of the Portuguese words...

METROPOLIS- Well, maybe this was the reason that made the film director Wim Wenders to get so enchanted about your music, that used MadreDeus songs to the soundtrack of his film "Lisbon Story", but in fact you didn’t make the songs for the film, the songs were ready and he used it, right?

TERESA - No, it’s not quite right, we made the music for the film indeed...

METROPOLIS- But it was not made specifically for that film, you didn’t compose the music based on the images of the film...

TERESA - No, the film was shot after...

METROPOLIS - ...after the music...

TERESA - Yes, he contacted us in order to use musics that were already released to the soundtrack of the film. We were about to start the record sessions of the previous album, "O ESPÍRITO DA PAZ", and we recorded some extra songs because we had many songs at that time. There were some songs that were ready, about Lisbon, and some other songs were composed later, there on the studio, also about Lisbon, and we had the opportunity to record songs specifically about our city, something that maybe would be impossible to release in an ordinary release, not related to a film...

METROPOLIS - And what about the film? Did you like the way images and songs were related in the film?

TERESA - (smiles) I thought it was great. (smiles) We always wanted to relate our songs to the Portuguese landscapes, and it was a very special opportunity to do so, even because it was the only opportunity for us to be avaiable to act in the film, it was the only opportunity that Wenders would stay in Portugal to shot a film, so everything got together in the best way... And also the way he interpretates our songs in terms of images was truly great.

METROPOLIS - Well, it’s the third time MadreDeus come to Brazil, but they have also made a big tour in Europe... Are the audiences growing? In which places, besides the countries in which Portuguese is the official language, do you have a public that understand and like your kind of music?

TERESA - Well, since the very beginning, Belgium and Greece, and lately Spain and Italy... But we have already made a tour to Germany and France, and also Japan, which is a very special place...

METROPOLIS - Well, so, let’s listen MadreDeus!

(MadreDeus plays "Milagre"live, and Teresa’s magical voice pervates the air... the lights fade little by little, in a magical atmosphere...)

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