The new cycle of weekly showcases was announced, taking place at Café Concerto Coimbra, curated by Blue House and co-produced by Convento São Francisco, being financed by Coimbra City Council.
The first name that was presented is Martim Seabra. Café Curto takes place at 7:30 pm and lasts, as usual, 30 minutes.
This cycle emerged in October 2020, in a pandemic context and adapted, developing and incorporating new skills, whilst maintaining the focus on young artists and emerging projects.
On the Café Concerto stage, 127 Café Curto sessions have already passed. For this first quarter, some of the names chosen, in addition to Martim Seabra, will be: Miguel Gouveia & Paulo Soares (January 16th), EACMC Jazz Combo (January 23rd), Francisco Fontes (February 6th), Capital of Bulgaria (March 5) and Malva (March 19).
“Café Curto and its continuity are a good example of the dialogue work that the City Council, through Convento São Francisco, maintains with local agents and demonstrates the enormous receptivity and inclusion of good artistic projects in this great municipal facility”, highlights the president of the CM of Coimbra. “It is in this permanent dialogue with the municipality’s agents and constant artistic challenges for Convento São Francisco that we want to continue”, concludes José Manuel Silva.
For Ricardo Jerónimo, programmer at Blue House, “the focus of Café Curto’s programming, in 2024, continues to be diversity. Whether in genre or musical influences, type of training or geographical origin, every Tuesday accept the invitation to a Café Curto allows you to attend a ‘showcase’ that can present pop, folk, world, electronic or jazz music aesthetics, among others. Throughout the weekly agenda, we also seek a balanced mix between artists emerging and already established projects on the national and even international scene.
Our curatorial vision has been based on the quality of the proposals, to which the public has responded with consistent support. The informality inherent to a café-concert space has also been considered when defining the performances to be programmed, with a consistent result between proximity and appreciation of the artistic presentation.”
João Silva, coordinator of Blue House, tells us “Café Curto, in 2024, will go into its fifth year, it started in October 2020 in the middle of the pandemic, and from year to year we have always tried to create and add new dynamics to the programming cycle, mainly with elements linked to the creation and support of emerging artists. In 2024, we will have new partners, some of them outside the Coimbra Region, so that the cycle and its artists can circulate and show their work to other audiences and continue their work as musicians and creators.
We will maintain the MIC (Música Independente de Coimbra), created in 2022 which is an open call for new artists from the Coimbra region. In the two years of MIC, we selected 12 artists, with whom we worked in the studio, recorded a song, prepared their debut on stage at Café Curto and together with Tiago Cerveira, we filmed a video for each of them. In 2024, the MIC will return, this time the territory will be the entire central area, to expand the spectrum of artists who can apply and form partnerships with entities that work to support creation in these same territories, such as This is the case of the APURA Association. In 2024, 8 more projects will be selected, which will have guest mentors to help them develop artistically and professionally.
In 2023 we created Café Duplo, an express artistic residency, which provides the meeting of two artists who do not know each other, and which poses the challenge of preparing a show in 24 hours. It was a beautiful surprise, as we were constantly surprised by the generosity, professionalism and creativity of all the artists to whom we launched the challenge, and there were 20, in 10 residencies. In 2024 we will continue Café Duplo, and we will continue with the extension of the cycle to the Municipal Theater of Bragança, which began in September 2023, and also invite visual artists to create an image that illustrates the theme that will emerge from each of the residences artistic. Lisa Teles, Claudia Guerreira and Bruno Lucas will be the first three invited artists, to illustrate the first three residencies.”
09 JAN | MARTIM SEABRA
After making his debut singing in Portuguese with “Tudo O Que Disseste”, Martim Seabra presents his most recent album “Bela Mar”. Never forgetting the foundations of rock ‘n’ roll and folk, he presents a compromise between more pop choirs and melodies and the guitars that have always excited his ears. The album’s sound marks the artist’s reconciliation with his rock heritage.
k ‘n’ roll and blues made in Portugal in the 70s and 80s, after an adolescence spent with ears across borders in search of the same references. As a result, we obtain a work that is markedly different from what Martim has accustomed us to in the various projects in which he has been involved: a celebration of his own identity.
16 JAN | MIGUEL GOUVEIA AND PAULO SOARES
On January 16th, guitarist Paulo Soares and reader Miguel Gouveia will perform at Café Curto with a program based on Miguel Torga’s Diaries. Published in Coimbra between 1941 and 1993, the set of 16 volumes, one of the most ambitious in diary literature of the 20th century, offers us a unique vision of Portugal and the world. As he wrote in Coimbra, on August 3, 1970: “This diary (…) is not a chronicle of my days, but their parable.”
23 JAN, 12 MAR | COMBO DE JAZZ EACMC
The ‘Combo de Jazz’ showcases are the result of a partnership with the Artistic School of the Coimbra Conservatory of Music (EACMC). Young musicians in training take the stage at Café Concerto do Convento São Francisco to showcase their talent in the making, through a concert featuring original compositions and classic jazz standards.
06 FEV | FRANCISCO FONTES
Francisco Fontes entered the music scene as a self-taught drummer, until taking on his solo career at the beginning of 2021 with the release of the EP “Gravidade”. His songs transcend voice and guitar, creating a vulgar atmosphere, where simplicity allows, at the same time, each poem to be disseminated in a perceptive and unique way. “Cosmopolita”, his new album, a collection of songs that portray feelings and stories that happen in urban spaces, was released in October 2023 by Lay Down Recordings and presented at Musicbox Lisboa.
13 FEV | JANINE MATHIS
Janine Mathias is known for her musical cadence. Based in Curitiba since 2009, it was there that she was born professionally into music. She sings about the self-esteem of the Black woman and celebrates, in each song, her ancestry. It is samba, it is RAP, it is soul, it is musical and cultural diversity. Singer, songwriter, actress and cultural entrepreneur, she has shared the stage with big names such as Criolo, Sandra de Sá, Fabiana Cozza and Nei Lopes. Her second solo album, “o RAP do meu Samba”, was released in 2022 and features musical direction by Rodrigo Campos. She undertakes her first international tour at the invitation of fans who have become friends, creating new paths and sensations for those who sing and for those who listen.
20 FEV | HIDDEN HORSE
Hidden Horse is the new duo of the founders of Beautify Junkyards. João Kyron is the alchemist responsible for the synthesizers and samplers, while Tony Watts takes on the percussion with pieces that he finds in old microphones and processed by effects combined with electronic drums. On their second album of originals, “Incorporeal”, released on vinyl by Holuzam in September 2023, Hidden Horse reinforce a personalized sound of an electronic nature, between post-industrial and contemporary ambient currents, between rhythmic deconstruction exercises and laboratory experiments of analogue textures.
05 MAR | CAPITAL DA BULGÁRIA
Capital of Bulgaria is the artistic name of Sofia Reis, singer, songwriter and producer from Sintra. The artist, signed by Sony Music, already has four singles released, all of which are part of her debut album that will be released in the first quarter of 2024. With a unique ability to address what’s in her soul in powerful songs and, at the same time communicate with the outside world in a spiral effect of humour and well-honed senses, Capital of Bulgaria has already demonstrated its full potential in writing, voice and even production. Owner of a multifaceted ability, Capital of Bulgaria has left her artistic mark on all creative processes, from song, design, photography and video direction. She refuses labels for the music she makes and can’t say if she has direct inspirations, however, she does know that everything she consumes feeds her. Names like Yebba, Labrinth, Bill Withers, Bo Burnham, Finneas, H.e.r., Rex Orange County, Victoria Monét, Yuri N5, T-Rex and Salvador Sobral are part of his daily life.
19 MAR | MALVA
Carolina Viana made herself known in redoma, a duo from Porto with a rap sound and deconstructed and poetic rhythm, which she formed with producer Joana Rodrigues. In 2023, she takes a solo step outside the dome, in search of an individual language. She assumes the artistic personality of Malva, the name given to flowers that accelerate the healing of wounds, and releases the first single ‘extremities’. The debut, under his name, portrays the limits of the body and soul and the conscious and unconscious excesses of these limitations, through a raw and visceral sound. After ‘extremidades’, she collaborates with INÊS APENAS on the track ‘Tensa’, written by both and produced by Joana Rodrigues, with direct entry into EQUAL Global, Spotify’s editorial playlist. Malva is now releasing her first album, ‘Vens ou Ficas’, which includes the singles ‘Extremidades’, ‘Como se start’ and ‘Morning’.
Café Duplo
In the last session of each month, ‘Café Curto’ provides a 60-minute show, the result of a process of synergies and co-creation in an artistic residency environment, in which two artists — one from the Coimbra/Centro region — present their themes and come together on stage for joint and unprecedented musical moments, developed in a previous residency, at the Blue House studio.
From these meetings, creations have emerged from Luís Figueiredo & Maree Lawn, Helder Bruno & Rui Maia, Diogo Alexandre & Ana Deus, João Mortágua HOLI & St James Park, Filipe Furtado Trio & Cabrita, Pedro Branco & José Valente, Mara Simpson & Diogo Mendes, Luca Argel & Vânia Couto and April Marmara & help!. These last four meetings have reached the Municipal Theater of Bragança, in the first extension that this cycle had.
For the year 2024 and in January, we will have a partnership between Tiago Saga & Surma. In February and March, we will have Miguel Cordeiro & Nacho Casado and Paulo Vicente & Bia Maria, respectively.
30 JAN | TIAGO SAGA + SURMA
Tiago Saga is the creator of the Time for T project, a pure mutt that celebrates artistic fluidity and the fusion of diverse roots and has already been to festivals such as Vodafone Paredes de Coura, Meo Sudoeste, NOS Alive, Green Man and Sundance Film Festival. He performs accompanied by his guitar and joins Surma in this Double Café. Surma has shed a special and rare light on the Portuguese music scene, drawing inspiration from silence to create his universe of jazz songs, electronica, and a multiplicity of influences, exploring paths that are not always obvious, but with a strong identity. The new album “alla” is a challenge without barriers, surrounded by several participations from different musical genres to further deepen and consolidate its unique world.
27 FEV | MIGUEL CORDEIRO + NACHO CASADO
Miguel Cordeiro is a singer-songwriter from Tondela who found his poetic nest in Coimbra. From his wonderful voice to his lyrical sensitivity, he balances the contemporary flair in his songs with the comfort of the traditional songbook. In this Café Duplo we join Nacho Casado, Spanish composer, author, guitarist and singer, a fusion of Brazilian singer-songwriters across the waters of the Mediterranean. The beginning of his solo career took him touring Europe with American artists such as Damien Jurado, Neil Halstead and Olof Arnalds. His most recent work, titled “Disco Bleu”, had repercussions in South America and Japan, the country where he will release an exclusive album with the Tokio Hayabusa Landings label.
26 MAR | PAULO VICENTE + BIA MARIA
Paulo Vicente, born in Bragança, is a music producer with collaborations in different areas such as theatre, dance, painting and ceramics. His music reveals textures that touch on the sounds of ambient electronics and experimental jazz. He is one of the founding members of the improvised electronic music collective Desterronics and has collaborated with musicians such as Vitor Rua, Jari Marjamaki and Carlos Santos. Bia Maria, born and raised in Ourém, is the patron saint of the act of “writing”. In a precipice between Beatriz and Maria, her pen leaves a diary of colours and unpleasantness. She summons melodies originating from fado, pop, bossa nova and popular song, to condense them into themes that are sometimes down-to-earth, sometimes dreamy. In 2024, she is preparing to release her debut album Any Um Pode Cantar.
MIC | Música Independente de Coimbra
The ‘Café Curto’ also includes an aspect of artistic and professional training, materialized in the MIC | Independent Music of Coimbra, an initiative that seeks to support the creation and promotion of emerging music, by encouraging the professionalization of selected artists.
The chosen projects are part of the ‘Café Curto’ program and also have the opportunity to record an original song in the Blue House studio and produce the respective music video and photo session with photographer and videographer Tiago Cerveira. For 2024, the novelty is the possibility of 2 projects participating in the Apura Festival, in Coimbra.
The mentoring component is the fundamental vector in this project, being supported by the close work and care of professionals, with high technical and artistic knowledge, of young artists. In 2024, all projects will have professional mentoring linked to the artistic environment in which they operate.
This initiative has received increasing attention, having registered, in the 2022 edition, 33 applications and, in 2023, 36 proposals. For 2024, the MIC opens space for 8 projects and applications begin on January 15th. The presentation to the public begins in the 2nd quarter of 2024.
For the first time, the call opens the territory to the districts of Aveiro, Viseu, Castelo Branco, Leiria and Guarda, maintaining the connection to Coimbra.
Always confirm with the concert hall or promoter the conditions of access, confirmation of the date or time, ticket place of sale, price, and availability.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok and see the exclusive content for social networks.
