BIOGRAPHY
- Long Story Short -
Nuno Silva is a full time musician from Porto, Portugal that dedicates himself to producing and performing with projects in the field of traditional and ethnic music, with a special emphasis on the traditional music of Asia Minor and North African countries.
Having initiated his musical carreer playing in portuguese rock and folk bands, around 2009 he discovers the universe of modal music of the middle east which he adopts as his school, influence and way of expression. Since then he undertakes the study of this musical language taking up the oud (arabic lute) and the persian santur as his instruments of choice. Being most of the time a self learner, through out the years he studied with great masters of different music styles such as Ali Bahramifard (santur), Efren Lopez Sanz (oud), Gürsel Torun (oud), among others.
Currently he collaborates with national and international music projects that focus on world music through production and live performance and, at the same time, persues a solo carreer as composer and productor.
- Once Upon a Time -
As a young human, some of Nuno's favorite hobbies were nibbling on his father's broken acoustic guitar and recording loops on a small casio keyboard before doing a handstand in his parents bed! However, it was only at the age of 14 that he discovered his passion for music, when he independently decided to start having classical and electric guitar lessons.
In the early 90's his first music explorations led him to the underground and sub-genres of heavy metal. With his friends he creates his first band and starts composing and performing live in the north of Portugal. The late 90's see a broadening of musical influences such as progressive rock, classical and world music which make him decide to expand his musical knowledge and start taking classic piano and music theory lessons at Porto Jazz School.
In 1999-2003 he joins the world music project Mandragora where he plays percussion and 12-string folk guitar, recording an E.P. and actively participating in the composition of the band’s first album. During this time he performed live in many occasions, with the highlight being the EuroFolk 2002 in Parthenay, France.
In 2000-2003 he attends the Production and Music Technologies course at ESMAE where he acquires knowledge in the field of music production. Parallel to interest in playing and composing music, in 2005 he decides to study computer science, completing a masters degree in 2011. Having developed an interest for audio signal processing, he worked in audio research for the following of years.
In 2007, together with José Correia, he creates the project Elementos, later redefined as Adducantur. In 2008-2010 he returns to the project Mandrágora playing greek bouzouki and hammered dulcimer.
Being a multi-instrumentalist by nature, by this time he had come across instruments such as the persian santur, oud, saz, among others, which sparked his curiosity. The growing interest in these instruments ignites yet another one: their place of origin and their traditional music. As a consequence, in 2009 he starts studying these instruments and their traditional repertoire.
At first Nuno studied with David Lacerda, with whom he learned the basics of modal music, ornamentation and several classical pieces. Then he continued his studies by attending several short workshops with Efren Lopez and Ross Daly, gathering online material and also by having online skype lessons, the most relevant of them being with Nizar Rohana (oud) and Sepher Rafiiean (persian santur).
From 2012 on Nuno joins several world music projects such as Troubadouros, Intia Mundon Trio, Dorahoag, Aldebaran, etc, with whom he records and tours in Portugal.
From 2012 on Nuno joins several world music projects such as Troubadouros, Intia Mundon Trio, Dorahoag, Aldebaran, etc, with whom he records and tours in Portugal.
In 2015, after a busy summer season, Nuno decides to prioritize music in his life in a more serious way. This reflects in having less parallel time-consuming compromises. The production of his debut CD "Espiral" starts then, with the desire to cristalize several years of musical experience. "Espiral" is released in March 2017. Although not widely promoted, "Espiral" was well received and opened a few doors for Nuno as an independent musician and producer.
In 2018 he joins the Meridianum Ensemble, a very exquisite string ensemble based in Bristol, that explores original arrangements for different genres of acoustic music. He also teams up with Gambuzinos, a medieval inspired band that creates very entertaining street performances and with whom he is currently recording an album.
In the winter/spring of 2019, fulfiling an iminent need to improve his knowledge on his main instruments, he travels to Tehran, Iran where he learns persian santur with master Ali Bahramifard and to Istanbul, Turkey to learn oud with master Gürsel Torun and makam with kanun player Serap Çağlayan.
To the present day, Nuno works is a professional musician with several freelance activities, in Portugal and abroad, continuosly studying, teaching and performing.
