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The best kept secret in music
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Jose Maria's As Luck Would Have It is a surprisingly fun and beautiful introduction to Portuguese music. A voice adorned with the slightest of vibrato combines fast, finger-picked guitar riffs, and then steeped in the bluegrass of the Blue Ridge Mountains, this album is a great blend of American roots rock with unmistakable melodies of Portugal and other parts of Europe.
Jose, struck early with wanderlust after reading work by American Beat writers, left home at an early age and traveled all over Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, and America, before settling in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.
His music is as varied as the locations he's lived--integrating lightly strummed guitars, occasional trilling piano scales, clips and claps of castanets, and the uniquely bluegrass-like sound of slide guitars and mandolins. It ranges from melancholic quietude of a solo guitar accompanied only by the tap of a snare drum to fully orchestrated tracks integrating a full repertoire of instrumental sounds.
Perhaps the best aspect of Jose's music is his voice. While almost none of the album is in English and no translation is provided, the feeling is evident. His voice fairly drips with sorrow on one track; then bounces with elation the next. This is the sound of a musician whose purpose is not to make beautiful music, but to express a feeling. Luckily, in expressing the feeling, the beauty is evident. And that's a rare quality for a musician to have.
By Amanda Lee Anderson
- Indie-Music
Discography
As Luck Would Have It
Photos
Feeling a bit camera shy
Bio
Jose Maria performs traditional and contemporary Portuguese music with a strong influence from his many travels. .Jose's musical narratives touch on themes such as home,journey,loss and fulfilment.Its an exotic music but always familiar and distinctive.
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