The Squid's Ear Magazine


Alforjs (Mestre Andree / Bernardo Alvares / Raphael Soares): Demons 1 (Shhpuma)

A darkly ritualistic, scrabbly album of darkly ritualistic improvisation from the Portuguese trio of saxophonist Mestre Andre, also on electronics, percussion, mbira and voice, double bassist Bernardo Alvares and drummer/percussionist Raphael Soares.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Mestre Andree-tenor saxophone, electronics, percussion, mbira and voice

Bernardo Alvares-doublebass, voice

Raphael Soares-drums, percussion


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UPC: 5609063800296

Label: Shhpuma
Catalog ID: SHH029
Squidco Product Code: 23828

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2017
Country: Portugal
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded by Alforjs at A Bruxa Teatro, Evora, in December, 2015.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"The first recording of the project Alforjs, Jengi, gave us the idea that, if there's an urban shamanism, the origins of this magical practice of invocation through music are in the African forests and the Mongolian steppes. A shaman music of the city could only include elements of those ancient world views.

In this new album, the Lisbon trio formed by Mestre Andre, Bernardo Alvares and Raphael Soares gives this a higher evidence: we hear the Baka pigmies behind the obsessive- compulsive beat of the drums and the knife-cutting arpeggios of the double bass, alluding also the krautrock band Can, and we recognize in this hypnotic and enchanting music the spirits of Saint John Coltrane (very present in the interventions of the tenor saxophone), of Lemmy during the times of the psychedelic collective Hawkwind and also of the still very alive Steven Stapleton with the electro-acoustic and industrial Nurse With Wound format.

Ritualistic, tribal, neo-primitivist and retro-futurist, Alforjs has a very special place among what is out there of more intriguing and radical in this final stretch of the 21st century's second decade."-Shhpuma



"Bernardo (double bass) and Raphael (drums) met in the workshop Carla Bozulich did at the Out.fest in Barreiro, Portugal. Soon they realized they had a friend in common, Mestre André (electronics). ÄLFORJS was born."-Alforjs Facebook page


Artist Biographies

"My name is Bernardo Alvares, I was born in 1989 and I live in Lisboa. I originally came to Lisboa to study. First I took an BSc in African Studies in FLUL (University of Lisbon) while studying jazz doublebass in Hot Clube de Lisboa. Soon I grew tired of conventional jazz and became part of the free improvisation movement. Later I continued my studies with an MSc in Urban Studies in ISCTE-IUL (Lisbon University Institute) and FCSH-UNL (New University of Lisbon) and wrote a master thesis about the relations between precariousness and counterculture in the contemporary city. As a musician I've been developing mostly doublebass and electric bass in languages such as free improvisation, free jazz, rock, noise, drone and hip-hop. I have allready worked with musicians such as Alan Courtis, Carla Bozulich, Helena Espvall, Paulo Raposo, Ernesto Rodrigues, Maresuke Okamoto, McCloud Zicmuse, Roland Ramanan, Mário Babrem, LBC Soldjah, Hezbó MC or Ondness. My most consistent musical projects includes Zarabatana, Alforjs and Luís Severo but I was also been a part of the doublebasses drone duo ABBA, the free-punk band dUASsEMIcOLCHEIASiNVERTIDAS, the Cornelius Cardew inspired anarchist ensemble Tratado de Cardew, the free-improv trio Chaparreiro/Álvares/Morão, the spokenword band Tapete, the William Burroughs inspired noisy duo S for Seward and several other ad-hoc formations. I've also worked with other artists such as Flora Detraz and Elizabete Francisca (dance/performance), Stéphane Blumi (video), Nacho Durán (multimedia), Paula Alonso (actress), Manuel Badás (dancer), Yaw Tembe (plastic arts), or Cristina Delius (tapdancing). I've also made sound instalations for the exhibitions "Partida, Largada, Fugida" from Mariana Marques and "Zones d'habilité" from Aude Barrio and Barbara Meuli. I've gave workshops of improvised music in Portugal, in CACAU (São Tomé, São Tomé e Príncipe) and Paraiso LC (Oviedo, Spain). I've been working with Alan Courtis on a music project with Out.Ra and Associação Nós, an association in Barreiro, Portugal, for the inclusion of people with mental diversity. This group debuted live in March 2016 and continued in 2017, although we're looking for a way to fund it. I curated Leitmotiv, which was a music and publications monthly cycle where musicians interpret graphic scores made purposely for this cycle hosted by Zaratan Gallery. Music related, I'm also a DJ, a producer and occasional sound technician. I've also made regular music critics to jazz.pt magazine between 2013 and 2015 and was part of the associations Pantalassa and Associação Terapêutica do Ruído."

-Cargo Collective (http://cargocollective.com/bernardoalvares/Contact-About-Bernardo-Alvares)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Raphael Soares is a percussionist known for the groups Alförjs, SUNFLARE, and The Sound Of Typewriters."

-Discogs (https://www.discogs.com/artist/2426071-Raphael-Soares)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Ajiba 14:14

2. Denis Prelude 1:32

3. Abajo 12:55

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Electro-Acoustic
Electro-Acoustic Improv
Trio Recordings
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Clean Feed

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