Marta Pereira Da Costa
BIOGRAPHY
Marta Pereira da Costa is the world´s first and only professional portuguese guitar female player in Fado, the soulful music from Portugal recently acknowledged by UNESCO as part of the World´s Intangible Cultural Heritage.
She started playing the piano at the age of 4, later at 8 learned the classical guitar and at 18 began to study the Portuguese Guitar through the hand of Carlos Gonçalves, one of the most important Amália Rodrigues guitar players.
Marta had the opportunity to play with names like Mariza, Camané and Carlos do Carmo for several occasions. She became a member of Mário Pacheco´s musical group, having participated in many concerts in Portugal and abroad, mainly after the recording of his album " Clube de Fado - a música e a guitarra", acclaimed by Songlines magazine as the best of World Music in 2005. In 2008, invited by the famous composer and spanish producer Jaime Roldán, she recorded " Pasa"in "Unidad de Canciones Intensivas".In 2012 Marta recorded the Portuguese Guitar for Rodrigo´s " Fados de Amor", the first album in history of Fado where the Portuguese Guitar is solely played by a woman, recently awarded Best Fado Album of 2012 by the prestigious Amália Rodrigues Foundation.
2012 was also the year that Marta decided to abandon her work as a civil engineer in order to pursue her professional career in music as a Portuguese Guitar player. In March that year she gave her first solo concert in Toronto, where she returned one year later. Then, in June, she performed at the portuguese Embassy in Ljubljana ( Slovenia), where she returned in October. Also in June, included in the program of " Festas de Lisboa", she presented her first self-titled performance in Lisbon to a large audience and huge success. In the same month she performed in Madrid at Teatros del Canal for the II Fado Festival. During the rest of that year she played at TEDx Boavista, in the prestigious venue of CCB in Lisbon.
BIOGRAPHY cont
In 2016 Marta embraces a new adventure by being part of the famous portuguese singer Dulce Pontes`band, and travelling all over the world and playing in the most important venues like Palau de la Musica ( Barcelona), Teatro Nuevo Apolo ( Madrid), Teatro La Fenice ( Veneza), touring in Holland, playing for Pierre Cardin in Festival Lacoste, and many others.
Alongside touring also with her own band she kept playing in portuguese auditoriums such as Lethes Theatre in Faro or Carlos Paredes Auditorium in Lisbon, as well as in Guitar Festivals in Almeirim and in Oeiras where Marta invited a sax jazz player Ricardo Toscano.
Besides the road concerts, in 2017 Marta produces her first huge concert gathering on stage all the musicians that recorded the album for a big production with her own signature, which took place in May at BBVA Tivoli Theatre in Lisbon, It was the confirmation of Marta Pereira da Costa as a praised name in Fado and also in the portuguese musical scene.
The second half of this year she was invited to do some private and public events. Plays at Casa de Mateus ( Vila Real Palace) on a private concert for Iberdrola, and also plays at Igreja da Misericórdia in Tavira, in the 1st edition of the Mediterranean Diet Festival. Still during the summer played as guest in several concerts. Late in November she was the artist chosen to perform at the cerimony of the private reception of the Colombian Republic President in Ajuda Palace.
2018 is expected to be a great year in Marta´s career. After the first concert in Portugal, where she was invited to perform at Court Atlante Festival 1st edition which took place in Santarem, she travelled Italy for two concerts at Real Teatro Santa Cecilia in Palermo, in the mythical Brass in Jazz Festival. Both concerts sold out and the band was invited to play there again late this year.
AWARDS
Instrumentist Award 2014
( Amália Rodrigues Foundation )
DISCOGRAPHY
CONCERTS
CONCERTS cont
THE CD PROJECT
This first solo album has 4 themes composed by Marta, in which she pays tribute to her main musical influences:
- To the Portuguese Guitar and its masters that made history, by playing her own interpretation and honoring names such as Carlos Paredes, or the music and composer Pedro Jóia with whom Marta played.
- To Fado itself and its players and singers, inviting Camané, one of the biggest names in nowadays Fado scene.
- To the Portuguese music inviting both Dulce Pontes and Rui Veloso, two major references, to compose , sing and play in the record;
- To the World Music: the guitar as part of what brings alltogether, the known and the unknown, the obvious and the unexpected sounds. For instance the iranian singer Tara Tiba, is here with her own story forced to leave her country because by tradition women can not sing in Iran; the camaroon bass player Richard Bona is present also playing a theme. And, finally, also the fusion between jazz and portuguese Fado music, from the great Mário Laginha. Musical Producer Filipe Raposo.
THE LIVE CONCERT
SINOPSIS:
In her concert, Marta Pereira da Costa brings to the stage secrets never unraveled that become ours when presented live. On stage Marta delivers what can not be recorded: the heart of the woman who made the guitar an extension of her feminine soul.
In her perfomances she comes with a quintet formation, composed of portuguese guitar, viola, contrabass, piano and also accordion, and percussion, playing her own songs including Minha Alma, Terra, amongst others not only from the album but also from the portuguese repertoire as well as from of course her main references like " Variações à volta dos verdes anos" from Carlos Paredes, " Além Terra" from Mário Pacheco or even "Variações em sol" from Fontes Rocha, as she takes her journey and adventures in new challenges and sonorities yet to debut . Tradition and innovation side by side. Following this context the song " Folia" by Mário Laginha and " Encontro" by Rogério Charraz arise.
We witness a dynamic and intense show, where beauty, daintiness, surrender and expressiveness take place in a very special way in each song. Here, the guitar and the woman are one and the same. Marta Pereira da Costa is from the race of those who don´t settle for less and that for those who applaud her, is the guarantee that she will always be regarding the infinite. She has been praised all over the Fado universe, but also outside it, by those who recognize her tremendous value, endeavor and courage to devote herself to such a demanding instrument, difficult and hard, and to an art that fascinates her.
THE BAND
Marta´s Quintet Artistic Sheet
- MARTA PEREIRA DA COSTA - Portuguese Guitar
- ANTÓNIO PINTO - Classical Guitar
- NELSON CASCAIS - Counterbass
- ALEXANDRE DINIZ - Accordeon and Piano
- ANDRÉ SOUSA MACHADO - Percussion
Technical Crew
- CANDIDO ESTEVES - Sound Technician
- ANABELA GASPAR - Light Technician
- ROAD MANAGER
GUEST VOICE
- JOSÉ QUARESMA - Voice and Fado Guitar
VIDEOS
"Terra" - Marta Pereira da Costa
"Fado Lopes" - Live in concert - Marta Pereira da Costa Trio feat. Ricardo
"Mendes"Encontro" Live - Marta Pereira da Costa feat. Richard Bona
"Moon" - Marta Pereira da Costa feat. Tara Tiba
"Terra" LIVE CONCERT - Marta Pereira da Costa
LINKS
