DRUMMING GRUPO DE PERCUSSÃO

The Portugal’s relationship with the sea is of indisputable importance: it has defined the country socially, culturally and strategically, marking and defining its long history. Currently, with technical and scientific advances, benefits that the sea can provide have been discovered, representing new opportunities and relationships that we should build and protect: the sea is an important source of energy, of fossil fuels and of food that we cannot ignore. Besides this strategic importance, the presence of the sea also has a strong influence on our culture and countless artistic manifestations over the centuries have reflected our maritime experience, from the Manueline to Fernando Pessoa, from gastronomy to the visual arts … and to music.
Our starting point is the conviction that music embodies thoughts that the artist captures and expresses based on contemporary reality and the enjoyment of these reflections can be crucial for the clarification of new perspectives, for awakening our subconscious. For this reason, Drumming Grupo de Percussão invites us on a sound journey through the worlds of the composers Viet Cuong, José Manuel Lopez Lopez, António Chagas Rosa, Isabel Soveral and Fernando Villanueva.

PROGRAMME
“Haikus del Mar”, José Manuel López López
“Water, Wine, Brandy, Brine”, Viet Cuong
“O Dragão Watatsumi”, Isabel Soveral
“Yemaya’s Song”, António Chagas Rosa
“Sea Miniature” (electronic interlude), Fernando Villanueva
“Mares”, António Chagas Rosa

Drumming Grupo de Percussão emerged in 1999 from the first percussion degree course taught in Portugal, five years earlier, at the Escola Superior de Música e Artes do Espetáculo do Porto, with the support of the Instituto Politécnico and Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho.
Directed by Miquel Bernat, a percussionist and teacher of international prestige, the group, formed by students and teachers, has given dozens of performances in all the major concert halls in the country, as well as abroad. It was the resident group for the musical programme of “Porto 2001, European Capital of Culture”. Drumming is supported by DGArtes and is resident at Teatro Campo Alegre, under the Teatro em Campo Aberto programme.