Bicho Carpinteiro reveal their presentation single “Fado Beirão”, which is now available on all digital platforms
According to the dictionary, the definition of a Bicho Carpinteiro (“carpenter bug”) is “To be restless; do not stop still in the same place“. Now, taking into account the projects of musicians Vasco Ribeiro Casais and Rui Rodrigues in recent years, this is certainly a beautiful definition for what he has done. Interestingly, Bicho Carpinteiro is the name of this new musical adventure.
“As we spent our lives inventing new projects and we couldn’t stand still, we thought that the name Bicho Carpinteiro fit like a glove on our personalities and that it made sense with the music we make“, Vasco Ribeiro Casais tells us and that Rui Rodrigues adds with “we wanted a name that, in addition to representing us, was linked to the Portuguese imagination“.
Both have a common musical curriculum (they crossed paths in the Dazkarieh for example) and at the same time different (Vasco with Seiva and Omiri and Rui with Casuar:). But in common, there is also the fact that the projects want to revitalize the traditional by introducing new instruments, new dynamics, new sounds. For Vasco Ribeiro Casais “tradition is a living thing and if we want to preserve our roots, we also have to adapt them to the times in which we live so that the new generations feel identified with them. Fortunately, this is being done by many artists and in many ways, all of them super interesting“, he reveals to us. For Rui Rodrigues there is also the “passion we have for instruments, sounds, melodies and rituals. For me, this whole imaginary is worth it“.
“Fado Beirão” is the presentation theme of Bicho Carpinteiro. But, what is Fado Beirão? “It is an instrumental Fado composed by us and played on Viola Beiroa and Viola Braguesa, two traditional instruments that are not usually linked to traditional Fado. In addition to using these instruments as the main voices, we also use others such as the ukulele and adufes, allies to electronics“, Vasco Ribeiro Casais explains to us. In times of a pandemic, how did this theme be created and recorded? Rui Rodrigues tells us that “the music was composed and produced between Lisbon, Setúbal and Castelo Branco. Therefore, in addition to being played on an instrument originating in Beira Baixa, the melody was also born in Beira lands, in the hands of a native Beirão“.
“Fado Beirão” is now available on all digital platforms. Watch the video below:
