Love is, without a doubt, the most recurrent theme of popular music, explored in all its aspects.
For this reason, it is not surprising that Pedro Branco chose it as the title, motto, and guiding principle for his new record, not least because, for the musician, “singing love is, above all, like breathing”.
“Amor” was recorded between October 2021 and April 2022, in the mountain house, refuge of José Mário Branco, Pedro Branco’s father – Casa do Plátano –, in the middle of the Montejunto mountain range, where the peace, the altitude of the mountains, the fallen leaves and the shade of the plane tree, which gives it its name today, activate magical, unique and contagious energy, which give the present work an enormous sentimental symbolism. There, the studio was set up, which received all the participants for 1 week, who were enchanted by the whole atmosphere.
To give voice to “Amor”, Pedro Branco invited fifteen singers, with whom, in some way, he identifies, and who suit, each in their own way, to the different songs of this work. There are fifteen voices, fifteen absolutely disparate personalities, both in musical geography and in generational terms, that illustrate this “Amor”: Capicua, Ana Bacalhau, Amélia Muge, Luanda Cozetti, Filipa Pais, Sopa de Pedra, Rita Dias, Ana Sofia Paiva, Marta Plantier, Catarina Wallenstein, Eliana Rosa, Maria Anadon, Cláudia Andrade, Uxía and Rita Matos Rocha.
An absolutely remarkable group of voices, without which “Amor” would not have been possible. For the musical treatment, Pedro Branco once again had the collaboration of Gonçalo Alegre, who this time took over almost all of the album’s arrangements, as well as its production.
It should also be noted that the last song on this album is also their only male duet. Arranged by Marco Oliveira, it is entitled “Sempre Refeito”, and is interpreted by Pedro Branco and his son Diogo Branco, reinforcing, in an extremely personal and intimate way, the enormous emotional charge that runs throughout this work.
Pedro Branco dedicates “Amor” to the men and women who, passing through his life, leave(s) their place well marked. And that is now perpetuated like this. To tell the world that we can be more beautiful.
Pedro Branco was born in Paris, in 1965, as his father, José Mário Branco, had been exiled to France since 1962. His childhood was spent between France and Portugal, where he returned in 1974, to Porto. In 1980 he moved permanently to Lisbon, to live with his father. During that time he embraced two projects, which proved to be fundamental in his training: the Drama Workshop (in the Commune) and Bombo da Festa, a Portuguese popular music group that he founded and within which he explored his musical abilities.
Over time, he has been performing, solo or in partnership, in various Portuguese music shows, with José Mário Branco, Francisco Fanhais, Carlos Alberto Moniz, and Jorge Palma, among many others. In 2018 he released the album “Contigo”.
In 2020, with Alexandre Honrado, he composes and produces for the children’s project “Contos de casa”, which would become part of the National Reading Plan. Since 2021, he has been part of the “Partes” project, with Rui Gato, Ricardo Romano, and André Pereira. He is currently involved in many other projects, related to music, theater, and writing.
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