things to talk about but I thought maybe we could start by just talking about
your background you grew up in Victoria I don't have your parents from the same
island in the Azureus off Portugal yes they are
which just just to say the word makes me think of what a beautiful place that
that must be the remains of Atlanta who so they say
tell us about how this is sort of impacted your life and shaped you as a
person and as a musician your your background your Portuguese heritage wow
well first of all every time I go to the Azores and every time that like my feet
touch the ground in San Miguel I just feel like a different person I just feel
connected to my ancestors my bloodline can be traced back there for like six
hundred years and so was you know beginning there and some girl and I just
in Portuguese has been a big part of Who him to you know I'm first-generation kid
you know my parents were immigrants although I was born here and they made
sure I didn't forget where I was from and I think the traveling there in the
summertime help for that the other part was the music my father used to take me
to these things I mean I'm sure a lot of you have heard about 50 music UNESCO
World Heritage style of music video cassette so old and so great a little
bit of those who might not
photo is the song of saudade which is this
Portuguese word that means long in and it really has no direct translations
like nostalgia their Portuguese people that are not in their heads as she went
and so it sort of the the sadness but also the the longing yeah the memories
yeah it's such a beautiful rich like traveling and being a drama queen which
I can connect to know it's know that it's it's a few very beautiful but in
nylons for most famous photo singers Amalia Rodrigues she passed away about
15 years ago I think but anyway my father would take me to event that kinda
like with Abby twinkly lights and affection like Portuguese festival and
they're being staged in there be a couple of like 12 string guitar players
Portuguese guitar and there would be you know all these men and their hats with
feathers and tweed coats and everything and it would take me out if you really
late at night and I'd see these people singing on stage and they would kinda be
battling each other because the diffuse telephoto lens is a few especially when
you bring that to like a village on the island was kind of the rough-and-ready
version of 500 people were just kind of up there just kind of telling stories
about their neighbors the subpoena on stage and battling back and forth in one
would sing a verse and the other would come right back so I'd be like John you
know of telling you about whatever happened last week you know a church or
whatnot and then you come back and you have a rebuttal so to me it felt very
much and then all of a sudden my father would appear on stage at of nowhere and
he'd be singing in a bit of 50 and to me it felt very spontaneous and I think
that's where I got my love of like the microphone to just like the fact that
they could grab a microphone in the powerful you have a microphone and kinda
like change people's minds in some way and that also gave me this idea for like
the sort of free thinking that I sometimes do where the lyric and melody
just comes to me all of a sudden
Newman nine with the times and in you and the way things but I gotta say
thank you coming
don't need no drama wow just talking here we are at a festival of of
creativity and the arts
let's talk about how you how you work and how you collaborate with other
people that I think that's a big part of how you have worked straight yeah you
choose to work with them then if you told me want to go to studio right after
I be down to go with you it's a simple and fat could wear whatever you like I'm
just so I love collaborating with the weather that's coming up tomorrow is
participating in contemporary colours yes I am totally fascinating project
that David Byrne has put together
tell us about you know how this came to be how you got involved with it and and
a bit about what you're doing well he asked me to be a part of contemporary
color and he called me I was in I was like in London last august and was like
over there do some creative stuff and I was walking around Camden Market with my
sister and then I get a phone call from David Byrne I was like wow this is neat
such a colorful place Camden Market colorful I like some $5 had I just
bought and walking around like a low it's David and I want you to be a part
of his things contemporary color thing and I'm like really me
he told me all the cool people that are a part of the show and he said i was
like 20 minutes thing like what song he sings while I can write something new
like rain about what it was and what the whole project was about was kinda like
its color guard it's amazing like folk art from these hot like high schoolers
and they wave around colored flags and they throws swords and rifles and as for
me I like stuff like that the group of former wind is actually from kitchener
auto oh yeah they're called ventures yea and they're all girls from 14 to 19
years old and they spend five days a week rehearsing color guard and a lot of
these kids are like kids who wouldn't normally have been in
you know the cheerleading team or the marching band even and they're attracted
to color guard because it attracts little bit more of an insular type of
person or maybe somebody with the different disposition and that's what
attracted David Byrne to this type of folk art and he's making a documentary
about it so you're gonna see if you're at that show I hope I hope some people
here going to the show because yeah it's on I was at rehearsal in New York two
nights ago and it's phenomenal the band is amazing
all the artists involved from two yrs st. Ben's Devonte hi Mark David Byrne we
have all this people and they've watched their color guard group and they've
created customized music for this so it's so creative and its orchestral is
really beautiful and she really loved it I was I'm so happy to be a part of it