Sängerin und Cellistin Joana Guerra bringt Mitte November ein neues Album heraus, das sich in klagenden, rituellen Soundscapes der schleichenden Austrocknung ihrer südportugiesischen Heimatregion widmet. “Chão Vermelho” – auf deutsch “Roter Erdboden” – lässt mit einem soliden Aufgebot an Gastmusikern an akustischen und elektronischen Instrumenten die endzeitliche Stimmung, die dieser Vorgang mit sich bringt, lebendig werden und trägt zugleich der ästhetisch-sinnlichen Seite dessen Rechnung.
“An environment of experimentation and risk transports us to an apocalyptic scenario in which the extreme dryness of a ground where nothing can grow anymore is accompanied by dramatic, theatrical compositions. As a murmur or a pagan prayer, the pieces evoke the ever imminent possibility of regeneration: “The name of the album is inspired by the area where I live, with muddy soil. It fascinates me a lot, although the drought and its cracks make me feel terrible”, explains Joana. Perhaps because the floor covering the earth, like a skin of deep cracks, attests to the tiredness, the wrinkles, of civilization.
Small blue-metallic flowers, a white animal about to go extinct, rare stones that only exist in two latitudes, the colour red as a warning sign, ecological sound, but also as a sign of renewal, as in women in their blood cycles. All of this makes up the universe of Joana Guerra’s Chão Vermelho. And as long as the mycelium feels our presence, perhaps there is hope for this ground and for such a woman who in her cycles of renewal is too earthy to be holy.” (Miasmah/Morr Music)
Porträt © Estelle Valente