From England with Love...

Ahead of my first Portuguese gig next week at Primeiro Andar, I have just had to conduct my first Portuguese interview to promote the concert. This promised to be a fun happening as my two interviewers could understand 'the gist' of what is being said in English, whilst not being able to speak it well, and likewise I could understand 'the gist' of their questions in Portuguese, whilst not being able to answer in the local tongue. Therefore it was a bit like a Chinese Whispers interview conducted at a children's party.

After some difficulty finding the venue and avoiding an unsavory local - having to ask someone and being promptly identified as English by one of  Lisbon's keen-eared cocaine dealers, who proceeded to give me his relentless full sales pitch and wasn't keen on believing I had only three euros in my pocket - I managed to seat myself in the back room of the small but cosily decorated venue, under the watchful eye of the scissor-bespectacled gentleman pictured below, to begin deciphering the questions.

The venue had the feel of an old English antique shop, with slightly broken old arm chairs that looked like they had been borrowed (or stolen) from Grandma's house nestling among wonky legged tables and floor standing lamps and the numerous, and obligatory in Portugal, Rooster ornaments.

The venue is clearly the home of some of the more bohemian elements of Lisbon society and the mostly handwritten posters on the wall tell of many 'uber-cool' underground nights that have been hosted here alongside pro-cycling propaganda, vegan menus and quirky English slogans such as "Home Sweet Home".    

So that's exactly how I felt as I began to tell my interviewers the story of my musical career so far and what they could expect me to sound like at my concert - piano lessons at 10, I like the Beatles a lot blah blah blah, whilst hoping that the short hand notes that were being taken would tell a story at least approximating to what I was saying.

After resolving the interview, I exchanged contact information with my interviewers so they could link to my music and put an appropriate photograph in the blog, had a good look at the PA system I'd be using the following week and headed for rendez-vous with my lift home... everyone seemed happy enough and contented. It is not a very common thing in England to be interviewed as part of the promotion for such a tiny gig and I couldn't help but feel impressed once again by the efforts and attitudes toward live local music in Lisbon.

I had a little smile and a positive thought that when I returned to Primeiro Andar next week for the concert, I'd be playing to a very small, but hopefully very well attended little room of happy and contented Lisbonese bohemians - and at least would be enjoying a plate of nourishing vegetarian food :)

You can read the blog/interview here... It's in Portuguese, but if you 'right-click-translate' you should be able to recognise me from what's written. Thank you very much Ana and Manuela for the kind words and excellent translation skills.