MIGUEL GIRÃO - Prologue
Private Label
This is a short seven track CD produced by Miguel and Marco Silva in Atlântico studios in Portugal. Miguel is a guitarist, performer, composer and tutor of classical and traditional music, originally from the Portuguese midlands but now living in Glasgow where he is studying Traditional Music at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland.
The opening track is a fine arrangement of The Snows They Melt The Soonest, beautifully sung and tastefully accompanied on guitar. Similarly, on Derwentwater’s Farewell Miguel takes another Northumbrian ballad and puts a lovely up-tempo slant on the traditional standard. The remaining song in the selection, Dorme, Dorme Meu Menino, is a softly tender rendition of a Portuguese lullaby remembered from childhood. The other tracks bring together a very pleasing and eclectic mix of instrumental guitar-based tunes ranging from Bulgarian and Portuguese, Polegnala & Todora / Burgalesa, to Virginia and a modern Mike Vass tune, Bad Timing, which follows Queen Of The Earth, Child Of The Stars.
Two tracks showcase Miguel’s own compositions, Meet Us Where the Party Is / The Watchmaker Jig, dedicated to friends Marco and Bruno Fonseca who guest on the album (flute and fiddle) along with Andrés Fuzeiro (bodhrán) and Marco Silva (mandolins), and The Restless Will which concludes the track list.
I played this CD repeatedly in the car and loved the freshness and musicality of the playing and arrangements. Hopefully Miguel will continue in this rich vein and produce a full album in the near future.
www.miguelvzgirao.com
Gerry Jones
This review appeared in Issue 144 of The Living Tradition magazine