Past Projects

Some of the most relevant projects I joined over the years.


Aldebaran

Nuno and Ricardo have been playing together on and off for more than 20 years now. After a long number of projects and collaborations they felt that it was time to play as a duo, to explore their long forged musical chemistry.

In the winter of 2014 they started to work on a set of original compositions and in 2015 they recorded some videos and played extensively in the north of Portugal, mainly in Porto.

After a busy 2015 season the repertoire gained an extra level of cohesion and it was a natural decision to start recording some of the songs. And this was the sparkle that motivated the recording of Nunos' debut CD "Espiral".

Due to geographical distance, and because Nuno decided to bear the burden of producing the album all by himself, "Espiral" was developed as a solo release with the primordial participation of Ricardo on some of the most important percussion tracks of the album.

Due to geographical distance between band members the project slumbered as oportunities to play live became very rare. Nuno and Ricardo continue to collaborate in diferent projects to the day.

sl

Zambra Del Moro

sl

Zambra Del Moro was born in 2015, out of the friendship and previous endeavours of two musicians from Porto, each one with its specialty and genre of interest. Ferrer Leandro with his passion for flamenco guitar and me with all the arabic timbres and influences, together we did our best at merging these into our music.

Without the goal of reproducing tradition, our mission was primordially to compose original music. As Ferrer usually says, his is not a flamenco that "flows in the blood", fueled by the lifestyle and the emotions of those who are born into it. Instead, his flamenco and my passion for middle eastern modal music, were created and live in our dreams. Not that we haven't done our fair share of travelling in order to understand the music and places where it has grown, it's just that the distance, both geographical and musical, allows a different number of influences to sink in, and at some point it becomes impossible to follow a single musical path.

After developing a solid repertoire of original compositions and versions of classic pieces, the duo played local gigs in the north of Portugal in 2016-2017, until it disolved due to personal disagreements.


Adducantur

Addūcantur was born in 2012 from the ashes of Elementos, a spoken-word music project. It was born from the realization that poetry no longer had a part on the sound of the project, and that we wished to continue our evolution as a band with a melodic singer.

After rearranging and composing new material, the band performed live during 2012 in different cultural spaces and events such as Hard Club in Oporto, the Festival do Caldo de Quintandona in Lagares and the Festival de Músicas do Mundo Etnias/Ollin Kan in Oporto.

In March 2013 Addūcantur release their first self-produced 4-track E.P. entitled “Semente”, where the new musical orientation of the band is clearly represented.

Fast-forwarding three years, in March 2016, Addūcantur finally release their debut album entitled “Mosaico”. “Mosaico” contains 8 tracks that show Addūcantur’s wide range of influences and instrumental approaches.

After a small promotional tour that followed the bands first full length release, the project sliped into a slumber due to geographical/economic constraints.

sl

Dorahoag

sl

Dorahoag started out as the solo project of Ruben Monteiro, focusing on exploring ethnic string instruments in a personal and original way. I joined the project in late 2014 and stayed with them for 2 years, mainly to strengthen the ethnic component of the project with my very own string instruments, mainly the persian santur and turkish baglama.

The band's very distinct sound can be heard in their debut CD "Silk Road", in which I played persian santur on 5 tracks. The folk and rock influences are very noticeable and give their music a rather youthful appeal!

After touring a bit in Portugal, I guess the highlight of my time in the project was having the oportunity to play live with Efren Lopez and Miriam Encinas Laffitte. After meeting Efren Lopez in his workshops, it was great to have the oportunity to play some of his rather complex and very beautiful compositions in a nice venue such as the Torres Vedras Auditorium.

The band continues to the present day with a different line-up.


Mandragora

Mandragora was a folk music project I joined in its early days around 2000-2003 and later on rejoined for a couple more years, around 2009-2010 give or take. It was a good time for the world music scene then, a time of growth and freshness!

I played mainly percussion and 12 string acoustic guitar and later greek bouzouki and hammered dulcimer.

The band's rather undefined and progressive genre of world music had a very appealing side to it, and it was very gratifying both to record and play live since the band had a very thick musical chemistry. From the numerous live performances I have a particular good memory of participating in the 2002 edition of Eurofolk in Parthenay, France, as I remember it was the first time I heard instruments as the kanun, the bouzouki or even an arabic style violin player!

Around 2010 I left the project to pursue a more specific musical path.

sl

Serpent Lore

sl
Serpent Lore was formed in 1994 by me and some friends of mine. As the passionate music listener I've always been, dark heavy music was my first source of inspiration! I really enjoyed discovering all the underground metal styles from the 80's and 90's, they were a huge influence for me back then and a source of motivation to come up with my own brand of dark heavy music!

Serpent Lore performed on some enthusiastic underground gigs and recorded a four song demo tape back in 1998. After recording the demo we were reduced to a quartet and, being left with the task of composition solely to myself, I started to develop my technique and musicality, consequence of the long hours spent at Paulo Barros' studio in Valadares practicing and also of incorporating other influences into Serpent Lore's sound, which came from broadening my musical taste to other styles such as prog rock, classic and world music. I also started to learn piano and music theory then, so the last compositions of Serpent Lore were quite complex for me then and very interesting to play!

Unfortunately I guess there wasn't a necessary professional attitude towards music then, and the only attempt we made to record what would be an E.P. containing the new songs didn't work out... This, along with everyone following their different paths, contributed to the band's dispersion and recording that stuff just didn't happen! And this is a mistake I've learned from, to never leave music you are proud of unrecorded! First record it, and then move on! :)

Anyway, these were great years, great experiences, and I honestly believe that heavy music is a great school for exploring your creativity. I think it teaches you to search in the music you hear and play for emotions that no other music style does.

Contact Details

Telephone: (+351) 939 949 593
Email: nsworldmusic@gmail.com
Website: www.nsmusic.eu

Rua de Cedofeita 170, Loja 11,
4050-173 Porto,
Portugal

Other Links:

Join our Newsletter

Sign up for our newsletter for all the
latest news and information