The Portuguese duo Lavoisier shares with Brazilian Wave Magazine — in an interview with journalist Mariana Schuetze, LJI Reporter — their musical journey, the influences that shaped their identity, and the projects they have explored over the years. With a unique fusion of traditions, influences from different cultures, and a constantly evolving artistic vision, the band members, Patrícia Relvas and Roberto Afonso, discuss the milestones of their career, their collaboration with the Cantadeiras do Campo de Gêres, and their recent tribute to José Afonso, an icon of Portuguese music. The interview also offers a glimpse into the future of the band, with details about their new musical project.
WAVE: To begin, could you introduce yourselves and tell us a bit about the Lavoisier group? How did the band come about, and what are some of your influences?
PATRÍCIA RELVAS: Lavoisier started a few years ago, I’m not exactly sure how many, maybe 10, 11, or 12. We were in Berlin, having just finished studying in Caldas da Rainha. Roberto studied image and sound, and I studied ceramic and glass design, which, of course, is connected to music. Then we decided to start making music. We had some informal projects, and when we went to Berlin, we decided to form this duo called Lavoisier. Finding a name was very difficult, but it came about because we believe music is about transformation, right? There’s no place of possession. So we thought that the concept “In nature, nothing is lost, nothing is created, everything is transformed” would be perfect to associate with music. Additionally, we started working with traditional Portuguese music in Berlin. It was there that we got to know more about traditional music because, often, when you’re in your own country, you don’t realize these things. Another important factor was the influence of Brazilian music, which has always been present for us. We also read an important book by Caetano Veloso, A Verdade Tropical, which talked a lot about anthropophagy and the fusion of different cultures. We were also children of the 80s, so we listened to music from Pakistan, Brazilian music, and suddenly we also wanted to listen to music from our roots, traditional Portuguese music. So this whole fusion, with an electric guitar and two voices, tropicalism, and anthropophagy in terms of concepts, was very important for us.
ROBERTO AFONSO: I think it has everything to do with that. First, there was a need to make music because neither Patrícia’s nor my academic background was related to music. We didn’t study music formally. We learned by ourselves. I started playing guitar quite late, but something called us, and in Berlin, I think we found the ideal place to start because there are many places where you can present your project. And Berlin is a city that’s very open to new projects, not judgmental. People just went to our shows and really liked what we were doing. I think that gave us even more motivation.
PATRÍCIA: I think that’s also true. Plus, we came from an art school, so for us, making music had to have a concept or something meaningful. We had many artistic reflections on why we were making music and what kind of music we wanted to make. All of that was important. And Berlin, of course, being a city full of artists, influenced us a lot because everyone influences each other. We wanted to make music and have a space for thought and reflection, and everything we do has a political aspect, as it’s obvious. It’s not party politics, but politics in the sense of us positioning ourselves. In that sense, being outside Portugal and, in some way, engaging with Portuguese folk music was a stance we took in our work. After spending four years in Berlin, we decided to return to Portugal and try to live off music. If it didn’t work out, we’d go back to Berlin. The truth is, we’ve been here for 10 years. Sometimes it’s not living, it’s surviving, with ups and downs, but we’re in Portugal.
WAVE: During the performance, you also mentioned the album Polifonias Singulares, which featured the collaboration of the Cantadeiras do Campo de Gêres. How does this project connect with the idea of musical transformation? What was the creative process behind it?
PATRÍCIA: It was a very interesting process that happened during a very atypical time, during the pandemic. They invited us to do an artist residency and work with the Cantadeiras group, stay there for two weeks, learn the songs and voices, and then perform a concert. It was a great opportunity because we were getting a little tired of Lisbon, and when we arrived at the village, the countryside, just nature, it was wonderful. The process was very good: we spent two weeks with the ladies, learned the songs, and then did the concert, which was part of a festival. The relationship with them was so good that we thought about continuing because they didn’t have any record of the songs they were making. So, the idea of recording an album came up. But there was also the need to make a studio album, without the pressure of having to present it live. That’s why we called the album an “album-study.” On side A, we recorded the traditional group, the Cantadeiras do Campo de Gêres. We brought in a very important sound engineer, José Fortes, a long-time friend, who is 85 years old. He is our “Sound Guru,” and he was essential for the project. We recorded the Cantadeiras in Gerês, where we also sang with them, and then went to the studio to make our versions of these songs, as we knew and wanted, always exploring the studio, but with the goal of creating a study work, Polifonias Singulares Volume 1. We want to make more volumes, and maybe even move away from Portuguese folk music culture. Perhaps we’ll record something in Bahia, Brazil, because Brazilian music also influences us a lot. This is Volume 1, but we hope to reach Volume 7.
WAVE: This was your first time in Canada. How was this experience? How did you feel playing for a Canadian audience?
ROBERTO: I think the experience of playing abroad is something we’ve lived quite a bit. We’ve managed to take Lavoisier to various places, and we really enjoy playing for a foreign audience that doesn’t understand the language but is sensitive to the emotion we try to convey. We feel that it’s a good test when we have this opportunity. Of course, there are places where the references are more similar, and the contact is more direct, but overall, we really enjoy playing abroad. We feel that the audience is receptive to our work because we bring a different side of Portugal. Portuguese music and culture exported often get associated with fado. And we feel that this is very limiting, so whenever we get the chance to present our work, which mixes various references, we also show a more contemporary Portugal, a living culture.
PATRÍCIA: Now in Toronto, it was very beautiful, the venue was spectacular. And the silence in the room was a big revelation for us; it already showed us that we were all there in communion. A space, an energy, and for us, that’s enough to achieve the goal of a concert: to be all together.
WAVE: During the celebration of Sons de Portugal, you also presented a documentary about the group Wanderer Songs, which brings together other Portuguese artists and aims to bring José Afonso’s music into the 21st century. For those who are not yet familiar with this project, what is the importance of José Afonso to Portuguese music, and how was it to pay tribute to him in this way?
PATRÍCIA: Well, Zeca, we call him Zeca, José Afonso, is a very special person, very important for us, for Portugal, and for all musicians. He was a very relevant figure in the pre and post-25th of April period… especially in the pre-period, of course, and then, after 25th of April, he wasn’t as remembered as he should have been. But he is a complete artist, an activist, extremely aware of his time, highly politicized, with immense strength and desire to help, especially the people, those without money, those without a voice. This project came about because last year we celebrated the 50th anniversary of the 25th of April, a very significant date. Pedro Afonso, Zeca’s son, had the idea of bringing together contemporary artists and going through these songs for a special concert. Nuno Saraiva was the one who reissued all of Zeca’s albums. And we did an artist residency last year, Roberto and I, PS Lucas, Selma Uamusse, Tiago Correia-Paulo, the musical director, Diogo Sousa, and Augusto Macedo, along with Nástio Mosquitto, who did all the visuals with Vic Pereiró. The project also had a special focus on Mozambique because Zeca lived there, and it all made sense. Zeca was one of the first to embrace this fusion of influences. He took popular music and gave it a new look, changed lyrics, and made new arrangements, always with the idea that popular music and culture should be dynamic, always in mutation, and not purist. Zeca was very visionary with this approach.
ROBERTO: When you live in a dictatorship, your identity is very restricted, and you lose pride in who you are. Zeca gave that pride back, he showed us what it means to be Portuguese, what it means to have popular culture. He was fundamental for that because he told us that we don’t need to be ashamed of who we are, we are who we are. Doing this project with this collective was a way of… I wouldn’t say “updating,” because Zeca’s music is still very current. If we listen to his albums, they’re still amazing, fresh, and modern. The way he made arrangements to tell stories is tremendously modern. What we did was more of a filter of our generations. And it’s essential to do this because Zeca was censored during the dictatorship, but he was also censored after the dictatorship because he touched on wounds that the government didn’t want to address. He talked about issues like colonization, which is very relevant today, but he was already addressing it 50 years ago.
PATRÍCIA: And if we can bring Zeca’s work to more people, especially a new generation, that’s what matters. Singing his words and music is an immense pleasure, but our goal is to spread Zeca’s work to as many people as possible.o, mas nosso objetivo é espalhar o trabalho do Zeca para o maior número possível de pessoas.
