Musician, singer, songwriter, and lyricist Miguel Araújo initially joined the band Os Azeitonas, which he left in 2016 to pursue a solo career, and has since embarked on various collaborations, including one with João Só in 2010 with the project Mendes e João Só.
From the list of 20 songs that make up ‘Recantigas – As Canções de Miguel Araújo’, more ‘obvious’ tracks like ‘Os maridos das outras’, ‘Anda comigo ver os aviões’, or ‘Fizz Limão’ were excluded, with the idea of “promoting some of Miguel’s songs,” said João Só, the ‘ideologist’ behind this tribute.
“We wanted this to be a mirror and a reflection of Miguel’s work as an author and to bring out some lesser-known songs, as well as songs he wrote for others, and give them new life with other performers and singers,” he stated.
The album features a mix of “friends and companions of Miguel” and artists admired by João Só and Miguel Araújo but with whom the latter has never worked, such as Joana Espadinha.
“I love hearing my work sung by others and so does Miguel. We were curious about that too,” he shared.
For João Só, “it’s the repertoire, the versatility of the repertoire, the lyrics” that make Miguel Araújo worthy of homage.
“His audience ranges from very young children to older people. He is a highly relatable artist through his work rather than his persona. Of course, Miguel is tall and recognizable, but to me, he’s truly an artist, perhaps like Bob Dylan or Paul McCartney,” he said.
João Só emphasizes that, for him, Miguel Araújo “has reached that super-complete status.”
“Because he writes both the lyrics and the music. The lyrics are closely tied to the music, and I tried to ensure that this was captured as much as possible in the production [of the album],” he explained.
In ‘Recantigas – As Canções de Miguel Araújo’, António Zambujo recorded ‘Cartório’, Mafalda Veiga ‘Capitão Fantástico’, Nena ‘Recantiga’, João Só ‘Um tanto ou quanto atarantado’, Bárbara Tinoco ‘Sangemil’, Os Quatro e Meia ‘Dancemos um slow’, Joana Espadinha ‘Nos desenhos animados’, Camané and Mário Laginha ‘A incrível história de Gabriela de Jesus’, Ana Bacalhau ‘Fado dançado’, and Buba Espinho ‘Reader’s Digest’.
The lineup is completed by Elisa with ‘Serenata do Norte’, Jorge Palma with ‘Matérias do coração’, Carolina de Deus with ‘Lua’, Mimi Froes with ‘Valsa Redonda’, S.Pedro with ‘As velhas que cosem as meias dos netos’, Joana Almeirante with ‘Sete passos (Carolina)’, David Fonseca with ‘Chama por mim’, Carminho with ‘Ventura’, HMB with ‘Talvez se eu dançasse’, and Samuel Úria with ‘Ainda estamos aqui’.
Recreating ‘Recantigas – As Canções de Miguel Araújo’ is something João Só believes can happen, “although it will be difficult because there are many artists involved.”
The album will be available digitally from today and will be sold in “very limited” CD and vinyl editions at Miguel Araújo’s 20th career anniversary concerts, scheduled for October 28, 29, and 30 in Porto at Pavilhão Rosa Mota, and November 1 in Lisbon at MEO Arena.
The concerts will feature guests including António Zambujo, João Só, Os Quatro e Meia, and Rui Veloso. These guests are the same with whom Araújo recorded duets, including two versions of his songs and two new tracks, on the EP ‘Cê Barra’, released this month.
Miguel Araújo’s first solo album, ‘Cinco dias e meio’, was released in 2012, and the most recent, ‘Chá lá lá’, in 2022, earning him the 2023 José da Ponte Award from the Portuguese Authors Society.
Miguel Araújo also composes for other artists, including Ana Bacalhau, Ana Moura, António Zambujo, and Carminho, and in late 2021 released ‘As Canções da Esperança’, the soundtrack for the SIC series ‘Esperança’, by César Mourão and Pedro Varela.
With António Zambujo, he sold out 28 concerts at the Coliseums in Lisbon and Porto in 2016. They reunited last year for ten more concerts at the MEO Arena, Pavilhão Rosa Mota, and Coliseu Micaelense in São Miguel, Azores. These concerts resulted in a live album, ‘Ujos nas arenas’, released this year.
Miguel Araújo’s achievements also include two books: ‘Penas de pato’ (2018) and ‘Seja o que for’ (2020).
In April, ‘Enquanto invento algum sentido meu’ was released as part of the Letra Poema series, included in the Plural collection by the Imprensa Nacional — Casa da Moeda, a book that gathers song lyrics authored by Miguel Araújo.
In total, 127 lyrics are compiled in the book, from songs like ‘Anda comigo ver os aviões’, ‘Quem és tu, miúda’, ‘Os maridos das outras’, ‘Fizz limão’, ‘Ainda estamos aqui’, ‘Talvez se eu dançasse’, ‘Karma kamikaze’, ‘O pica do sete’, and ‘Ciúme’.
