Stockholm Lisboa Project

Stockholm Lisboa Project are a four-piece band that fuse together the rich musical traditions of Sweden and Portugal. The quartet brings together the Iberian warmth of Luis Peixoto's Portuguese mandolin and the breathtaking fado singing of Liana, with the frenetic polska sounds of Sweden's Sérgio Crisóstomo on violin and Simon Stålspets on Nordic mandola. The result is an eclectic beauty to behold.

Liana's truly gorgeous vocals are bursting with a contagious passion that will have you alternately weeping and jumping for joy -- she's one of those singers who is certain to provoke a reaction, no matter at which end of the emotional spectrum she pitches her expressive and uncompromisingly beautiful voice.

The different tones of the string instruments intertwine perfectly; on the slower numbers the fiddle murmurs sensitively alongside the dancing strings of the mandolin and the lower, sturdy tones of the mandola. The faster polskas allow the strings to burst forth with the driving fiddle underpinned by the rhythmic strumming of mandolin, mandola and bouzouki. The energy pours forth right from the opening track, "Sol de Janeiro / Ombyggnan," with fingers darting effortlessly up and down fret boards, carrying you away on a wave of intense and unbridled joy. There are many such moments to be found on Sol.

For me the album hits its highest spots with the fado songs, laced with the seductive tones of Liana's exquisite voice. On the graceful "Naufrágio," Liana's expressively enunciated phrasing will make you fall instantly in love -- you can almost feel Liana's breath gently caressing your ears as she delivers her impassioned performance. Crashing through any language barriers, there can be little that you would hear that stirs your emotions quite like this. Even on the livelier traditional numbers, such as "Desgarrada," Liana sings at an energetic pace whilst still retaining a sultry fervour and edginess to her vocals.

Sol is well produced, faithfully reproducing the sound of the acoustic instruments as if you're listening to a live performance -- in particular the clarity of the vocals and their dominance in the mix is spellbinding. Sol represents a beautiful marriage of two European traditions, which could well be a love story in itself! - folking.com (U.K.)

Rural traditions from Portugal. Via Scandinavia.

Stockholm Lisboa Project is European fusion at its the best. Nomis, is a great example of how two considerably different cultures can find common ground and fuse together to produce a sonority that celebrates both traditions in equal measures. The four – pieces band consists of Swedish mandola player Simon Stalspets and three Portuguese musicians – Luis Peixoto on the Portuguese mandolin and bouzouki, Sergio Crisóstomo on violin and singer Liana. Both Peixoto e Crisóstomo are associate with Portugal-based fusion projects (Dazkarieh and At-Tambur respectively), while Liana is considered of new fado movement.

While Sol features some polskas and fados, the Portuguese tunes include present a number of rural traditional songs, some lifted from important research work carried out by experts, including the ethnomusicologist José Alberto Sardinha. Given the backgrounds of all four members of the Stockholm Lisboa Project, its hardly surprising that the musical traditions of Portugal and Sweden get treated with great respect and expertise. When you consider the degree of international success fado currently enjoys, sticking to the Portuguese urban song ignoring its rural counterparts would have been a safer route. The band's decision to do otherwise and include songs such as "Mentiras" and "Desgarrada" deserves praise. From a energy-infused "Sol de Janeiro/Ombyggnan" to melancholic "Rua do Capelão", Sol travels through a range of sounds and emotions that fit together perfectly well.

- Songlines

Stockholm Lisboa Project was nominated for the 2010 Songlines Music Awards in the "Cross-Cultural" category - Songlines U.K.

"Liana is an impressive and attractive singer", "this is a proper group, beginning to transcend the sort of cros-cultural experiment that the name suggests, with an appealing album" - Andrew Cronshaw, Diagonal 2009 Westpark Music - fRoots Magazine

"I shiver from pleasure";
"They convince!" - LIRA, Swedish Music Magazine

Liana (lead vocals), Luis Peixoto (mandolin, bouzouki), Sérgio Crisóstomo (violin) and Simon Stålspets (mandola, harmonica) are the Stockholm Lisboa Project. One wonders what that means. It simply means traditional and contemporary Swedish polskas, schottis and vals on one hand, and traditional and contemporary fado songs in Lisboa style on the other hand. It is most interesting that Portugal's and Sweden´s traditions shake hands. Both Swedish spelmansmusik, which is instrumental music for dancing, and Portuguese fado, which is blues-like vocal music, have meaning, display emotions and passion, and are melancholical and powerful at the very same time. Northern mandola and southern mandolin blend very well together. The musicians are excellent, Liana has a gorgeous voice (her being a Portuguese National Fado Award Winner twice). - folkworld.eu (Germany)

"four virtuoso musicians [...] ingeniously combine the folk musics of their countries"

worldmusiccentral.org - worldmusiccentral.org

"beautiful record"
"heavenly voice of Liana"

MazzMusikaS (Belgium) - MazzMusikaS (Belgium)