Pianists Pedro Burmester and Mário Laginha “celebrate freedom” by performing together, in concert, themes that marked the revolutionary period of April 25, 1974, by José Afonso and Sérgio Godinho, among others.
The starting point for this tour, which begins on the 19th in Águeda, in the district of Aveiro, was to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Carnation Revolution.
“It was impossible not to commemorate the 50th anniversary of April 25 [1974], and we, and fortunately many others, felt that way. Pedro {Burmester] and I chose repertoire by composers who are completely unavoidable, and who we like a lot, like Zeca Afonso, Fausto, Sérgio Godinho and José Mário Branco,” Mário Laginha told the Lusa news agency.
Laginha said he was thrilled to meet these composers again, referring to a “golden period and a golden generation”. “All of them were incredibly inspired, all of them different, too, but it’s a pleasure to be working around this music.”
The pianist considers it essential to celebrate the April Revolution, to which we owe a life of freedom.
“I’m sure my life would have been different, for the worse, without April 25, freedom is a wonderful and indispensable thing, and I can’t conceive of life any other way, my whole adult life has been in democracy. I think democracy is a wonderful thing and I think we owe a huge debt to those who made it happen and to those who made democracy possible,” said the musician, who celebrated his 14th birthday on the day the Revolution took place.
Regarding the concerts, Laginha said “I have some hope that, from time to time, very quietly, they will sing those songs, which are in their imagination, with lyrics and music that were so important”.
The concerts begin at the Águeda Arts Center on the 19th and continue until December, with a concert on the 13th of that month at the Coliseu dos Recreios in Lisbon.
Between these two dates, Pedro Burmester and Mário Laginha “celebrate freedom” on the stages of the Casa das Artes in Famalicão, on July 20, and the Colina de Camões Amphitheatre in Quinta das Lágrimas, in Coimbra, as part of the Festival das Artes, on July 18.
On July 19, they will be at the Municipal Auditorium of Vila Nova de Cerveira, in the district of Viana do Castelo, and on November 29 at the Coliseu do Porto.
Mário Laginha and Pedro Burmester, two musicians from different musical backgrounds, have been playing together since the late 1980s and, since 2007, have performed several concerts with a third pianist, Bernardo Sassetti (1970-2012), whom they will pay tribute to on the 18th, as part of the 19th Portalegre JazzFest.
