When a band appeared was considered marginal, after ten years, "Naifa " is still marginal?
Mitó: A little bit, although it is by option. We do not go to television shows, most often by our choice, because a person that does music, visual arts or theater also positioned themselves and we know what we want and do not want. If we look at the reality of the radios in Portugal , the idea I have and maybe it's something very unique , we move through the law of quotas, a legal framework I find ridiculous , but it is thanks to this that we are played, because before that, " Naifa " simply was not heard. Regardless of the support of some radios when we were on tour, but it was public service, and something that was agreed in meetings, we do not know at what extent there was a genuine interest in passing "Naifa ". It's my opinion.
LV: No one wants to be marginal to nothing. We make music and the more people like it the better. Now, there are things that are not compatible, when we are asked to put one of our songs in a soap opera, we do not see this type of program, so we not let them use our work, does not plug, and is an inconsistency. Radio stations want to show it, show it as much as possible, the "Naifa "is popular music. We liked it. Now, as Mitó said there are some barriers, as in this case, the TV shows. We do not like it, does not fit with our work; therefore, it is not shown. If the soap operas are the mainstream then we are marginal like you said there is nothing we can do. But it is not our will; we do not want to stay either in the left or right corner.
Mitó: Do not position ourselves outside, but obviously have artistic coherence and this is clear in the work we do. We are not a band proudly alone; we do not like to be isolated. We liked to show our music all over the country and if we had not been in Madeira was with a sincere feeling of regret, the more people hear our music the better, of course.
Why them you had to wait ten years to play on Madeira?
Mitó: It's true. The fault is not ours. We tried to come here many times, but we are not in charge. We need to be hire by someone to come; there has never been such interest in the archipelago. And in fact, was the great spine crossed our throat , especially because despite being a outsider band outsider, not played a lot on the radio, we always made a point of playing across the country , we were never limited to Lisbon and Porto. As early as 2005, the first tour, when no one knew us we went everywhere, including the Azores. Whenever we launched a record it is a question of honor we do a national tour. Do not know why, we were never called here.
In 2004 you released an album that broke with the canons of time, i.e., the Portuguese guitar mixed with pop rock. Currently there is a wide margin of bands that do the same. You considered yourselves pioneers in this type of sounds?
LV: I think actually in 2004 when we started doing this there was a certain bias in looking at "Naifa "as a sounding Portuguese. The sound that is made in Portugal and bands, or who made music, aligned in the Anglo - Saxon trend, also in the melodies and harmonies, not to mention that 90 % of the time they sang in English. If we heard radio this year in our country we passed thru several radio stations it was all in English, even the Portuguese. It is true that now things are different. There are a lot more people making music sung in Portuguese, with harmonies and melodies that refer to our musicality and there's a lot more musicians using the Portuguese guitar, fado is played with battery, there is a certain comfort to try things and this is very positive. If we remember at the time of the blues, its origin dates back to the southern U.S. plantations, on those days was enough a guitar and a voice, and today if you look at it there is the Texas, Chicago, electric blues and there are hundreds of options, we also t realize that fado that in its root is also a three-chord song, can walk and have many more options. And maybe this moment we see this, there are many proposals and experience is always a good idea, without prejudice. In Portugal we are very lucky, everyone has folklore, but fado is specific, if we go to Holland or Norway those nations lack of their own musicality, they cannot export it, they have Anglo - Saxon music. We have it, and when we present our sound worldwide they consider our music very exotic, because they never heard, they like it. We have this treasure and it is good we experiment and not only present the Portuguese guitar, the guitar and vocals.
Mitó: I agree, but it remains to do on folklore what we did in fado. And we have not only that, there are themes that explore this style, but I think it should be investigated further than it actually is. Still, there will be a movement that will surely renew folklore.
Some say that your music refers to the soundtracks on places, cities, etc... What is the universe that you each explore when you play?
LV: It referred me to Madeira. (laughs) I was looking back through the lights of the houses looked forward and saw the people, the locals. I think that what refers to the idea of the soundtrack is how it been sings and how we construct the instrumental or song, around what is written. That's the main thing. When we take the poems we tried to go after what it is said in the texts, the environment they impose and try to build the instrumental around it, giving strength to the poem and this creates you a picture, it seems like cinema. What matters is what is said.
Mitó: I agree a little with what he says. When I sing I'm very focused on what I'm saying , do not see it as a soundtrack , I do not refer to sites . Only if the "Antenna", which speaks of a landscape, or "the old neighborhood "that brings me to the streets of Lisbon. My background is theater and I am very focused on interpreting what I'm singing , so I'm not imagining sites unless the poem take me to these places, I am very immersed in what I'm saying . The poems, though there are these exceptions that I mentioned, most do not take us to sites, but to realities, feelings, moods.
I know you are preparing a new album.
Mitó: Already prepared, finally.
What brings you back to this route of "Naifa "?
LV: The CD is recorded, will be released on November 4th. It is the first time that we say this, because we have not started doing promotion.
Mitó: It is a unique yet nobody knows what we actually recorded.
LV: Over the years, since 2004, we always making arrangements for some songs that are not ours and we liked.
Mitó: You hear in this concert the "leafless" of Simone and "ascent to heaven "of the three sad tigers.
LV : In 2005 after releasing our first album , as we had it we needed to do a concert with at least with one hour , then decided to make versions of some songs we liked , if memory does not fail three and then it became a rule , was as a gift to the public in each show . And seeing things at this distance we noticed that we already have 9 versions.
Mitó: Even more.
LV: Yes, we have 10, but we recorded nine. We thought it was time. After the concerts people often came to us and spoke of the songs we played that were not recorded anywhere, we even received emails on the subject. Conclusion, we decided to record them all, the ones we made the arrangements and interpretations that were not recorded. On the other, it was nice to have a different experience than usual. Normally, when we recorded the original discs we used the studio as a laboratory, we build things slowly, like a fan that we set up in the end we have an album and then the songs go to the stage. Here was the reverse process, these versions were all played on stage and we wanted to try first the four of us to go into the studio and record all at the same time, which is different from the remaining albums. And we tried to get this emotion, this chemical, which is achieved when performing live versions in these unique takes. It's a novelty in terms of "Naifa "records, because it is much more alive than the others. Here was caught the moment where we are more attuned. It is a range of songs that makes sense for the choice of the lyrics.
If there was a word or a phrase to define it what would it be?
Mitó: The title is the "songs of Naifa " and I think that's the phrase that defines it, are themes that accompanied us as artists , young teens and we made our versions of them .
